Alter Egos (2012)

Number Rolled: 13

Movie Name/Year: Alter Egos (2012)

Genre: Comedy

Length: 77 minutes

Rating: R

Director: Jordan Galland

Writer: Jordan Galland

Actors: Kris Lemche, Brooke Nevin, Joey Kern, Danny Masterson, John Ventimiglia, Christine Evangelista

There was this thread on reddit that I was browsing through a few weeks ago. I can’t remember the exact question, but I’ll give you the gist. It asked readers what three unrelated movies would fit together as a trilogy to create a good story. I wish I could remember the wording or find the link for it, but I forgot to save it. If I can ever find it, I promise to credit whomever it was that posted it. If you have the link, please post it in the comments below or contact me privately and I will edit this post later.

Stop asking what the hell this has to do with the movie. I’m getting there.

Up until recently, my MMORPG poison of choice was City of Heroes (RIP). On the last day that it existed, my very first hero (Icy Redemption) stood on the steps of City Hall in Atlas Park on the Virtue server, with her torch held high. There was something like nine years of time I put into that game and I had a ridiculous amount of characters. I saved the pictures and back stories for all of them, and felt like a moron when I cried of the loss of the game. I’d just finished college, just graduated. I suddenly had time to play, and the game was just gone. It was still very popular, too.

Now, ever since I read through that reddit thread, I’ve been making those connections in my head every time I see something that could fit. Not just with movies, but also with TV shows or video games, even books. Alter Egos just became a movie that I found one of those connections with.

City of Heroes was an MMORPG that was based around exactly what it sounds like it was based around. Heroes. A city of them. They roamed the streets, kicking the asses of evildoers and the evil Nemesis or Rikti or Crey… and everything was a Crey conspiracy. The heroes had funding. Their starting point in the beginning of the game (not including training zones or Praetoria) was City Hall.

Alter Egos is about a city full of heroes that have lost funding and public support. You follow the story of Alter Ego Fridge (Kris Lemche) and his mundane counterpart, Brendan, as he overcomes the stresses in this post-heroes-are-cool world. You get to see him face issues as both of his personalities.

This movie debuted at the Fantasia Film Festival on July 24, 2012. If it had debuted after NC Soft closed down Paragon Studios (the development team responsible for City of Heroes) on August 31, 2012, I would swear this movie was made specifically as a continuation of City of Heroes.

All that being said, the movie has gotten some crap reviews. Its current rating on Rotten Tomatoes is about 25%. Personally, I think it should be higher. I really enjoyed this movie. I’m sure that believing it fits as a sequel to my dearly departed City of Heroes has a hand in how much I enjoyed it, but even without that, it was a decent movie.

I thought the actors were good and I thoroughly enjoyed the story line. In fact, if we lived in a world where superheroes existed and lost funding, I think that’s how it would have turned out.

I think the reason the rating is so low is because it is an independent movie with a low budget. Some of the effects were a little ‘spilled some ketchup’ and the costumes were more equivalent to Kick Ass than The Avengers. It’s not what people expect. We’re currently living in a superhero obsessed world. We’ve got all the Batmans and Supermans and X-men and Avengers that we can handle. So, when a little movie like this comes along that’s pretty good, but has less insane superheroes (and a smaller budget), it gets overshadowed. I think this movie is worth a shot, especially if you are still mourning the end of City of Heroes.

Overall Opinion – 4/5

Update: I found the Reddit thread I mentioned: http://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/15twl7/what_three_completely_unrelated_movies_can_you/