Mirageman - Movie Review

In 2007, when superhero movies were becoming the endless treasure trove that all of us geeks knew they could be, there was an independent flick from Chile making the rounds and I happened to catch the trailer for it – Mirageman.


Marco Gutierrez is a humble, private man whose only life companion is his tormented teenage brother Tito who has been in a mental hospital for ever since the their parents were murdered by men who savagely beat Marco and heinously raped Tito. Now, all Marco does is train in martial arts in his sub-complex apartment and work as a bouncer at a night club. His closest associates take advantage of him because he never stands up for himself, but his life changes when he saves the life of local celebrity news reporter Carol Valdivieso. She tells her story and Tito soon springs to a new life, inspiring Marco to use his fighting skills to become a full fledged crime fighter, even setting up an e-mail address for people to contact Mirageman.

Mirageman is one of the better superhero films I have seen in a long time. The film style is almost a documentary, even the costume looks homemade. Marko Zaror does an excellent job of doing much with little while playing Marco. He hardly speaks but his face tells it all and he is an outstanding martial artist. The laughs arrive when we see the difficulties of being a superhero – changing in public, losing your clothes, and Ivan Jara fits the comic bill well as his meek sidekick Pseudo-Robin. The drama builds when Marco receives a mauling at the hands of a gang that his guarding a rampaging child molester known as Red Pedofilia, and he yearns to grow closer to Carol but he doesn’t trust her to keep his secret since she is a cut throat reporter who wants ratings.

The fight scenes are paced nicely and shot cleanly. Thankfully director/writer Ernesto Diaz Espinoza doesn’t buy into the shaky cam routine which has ruined a plethora of potentially epic fight scenes in several movies like Christopher Nolan’s Batman series and the Jason Bourne series. The whole movie reminds of the late 1970’s live-action Spiderman series starring Nicholas Hammond has Spiderman/Peter Parker as Chile seems to have a natural 70’s vibe.

Mirageman is a good martial arts movie dressed up as a superhero flick. It is a well told tale and a well filmed independent movie; definitely worth viewing.