Is it a coincidence that the movie Unbreakable (2001) has been running on TV for several days, AND health and vitality has returned to me? Last week, three times I ate the same apparently spoiled tuna fish and had recurring sickness and recovery. Problem identified and eliminated (our refrigerator no longer harbors contaminants). By Sunday I was fortified; by the end of Monday, I was back to cooking some barbecue and having a few beers. Where I was thinking I had channeled Mr Glass during the week, I now feel pretty indestructible.
Over the weekend there’s been several anti-hero hero movies on cable. All of the main characters seem to have some serious underlying health or well-being issues associated with their superpowers. Several movies by M. Night Shyamalan have odd anti-heroes. Marvel’s Deadpool was injected with chemicals, tortured and burned, Wolverine’s latest film has mutants with terminal illness; his is due his metal skeleton that his rejuvenating body cannot overcome. In Shyamalan’s Unbreakable, David Dunn the only survivor of a horrific train crash, is unharmed but has such a beaten-down, conflict personal life he seems the least likely hero. Even something recently in theatres, I streamed as background noise at bedtime, Passengers, has a sick “infallible” spaceship. Given that the film is mostly CGI, with a couple of A-list actors, the anti-hero engineer apparently spends a year alone on a spaceship after some anomaly woke him. He doesn’t seem overly worried that systems are having intermittent failures until a crew member wakes and lives long enough to give our heroes a means to save the ship.
Popular culture now seems eager for the average-guy hero. There’s an alien invasion? Get the injured gal from 10 Cloverfield Lane, who takes out the doomsday-prepper (with a few quirks like kidnapping and murder) and the aliens with homemade chemical suit and a molotov cocktail. But the real world of work is calling me back. Other than eating too much, drinking a few more beers this weekend than I drank all of last month, and burned out on movies, the restful weekend was perfect. My dogs expect a hero-walk in the morning, and work is likely to be less exciting than facing imminent death while repairing an ion-drive. I should be well-fortified in body and spirit for any threats. I’ve got fresh barbecue chicken, backyard-grown fruit and vegetables. the missus’ baked goods and refreshments to prepare Dexter, Comet and me to save the world if needed.
It's a Dog's Life 