Secret Headquarters – Review
104 Minutes, Rated PG
Written by Christopher Yost
Directed by Henry Joost & Ariel Schulman
Synopsis:
While hanging out after school, Charlie and his friends discover the headquarters of the world’s most powerful superhero (The Guard) hidden beneath his home. When villains attack, they must team up to defend the headquarters and save the world.
Walker Scobell was in a quasi-superhero movie that released earlier this year with Ryan Reynolds called The Adam Project, which was a direct to streaming entry on Netflix.
That one, Ryan Reynolds aside, was pretty decent, and set Scobell up for future success.
Then this one comes out.
Ugh.
Comparisons to the Spy Kids franchise is inevitable, but so too are comparisons to the Tim Allen feature Zoom, along with a dash of Sky High (only tolerable for the incredibly young and adorable Danielle Panabaker and the snarky gym coach played by Bruce Campbell).
Owen Wilson plays Scobell’s father (as opposed to Reynolds as his older self), and the group of friends is suitably wacky, but…
It’s just silly. These kids can work the alien technology without effort or difficulty, and can immediately grasp everything that is going on without so much as a
There is almost nothing in this one that is original, down to a super suit that is more than inspired by the Iron Man armor, and Michael Pena’s villainous turn is more Ant-Man‘s Luis than its Darren Cross tech-genius megalomaniac.
Secret Headquarters is terribly predictable and decidedly average in every way, and even Jesse Williams is wasted as the would’ve-been superhero (but for Wilson’s acceptance of the role) who has been shunned by the military and society at large as he attempts to convince them of The Guard’s origins and purpose.
Throw in the terrible product placement of the new, all-electric Volkswagen bus (which only underscores the film’s ham-fisted eco-centric messaging), and you’ve got a recipe for cinematic mediocrity.
I still hope to see more of Scobell moving forward. This movie is not his fault.
Secret Headquarters is available exclusively on Paramount+ beginning August 12 and stars Owen Wilson, Walker Scobell, Jesse Williams, Keith L. Williams, Momona Tamada, Michael Peña, Abby James Witherspoon, and Kezii Curtis.
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