Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Unknown Origins’ on Netflix, a Spanish Satire of Superhero and Serial Killer Movies

From the It Was Bound to Happen Dept. comes Unknown Origins, a Spanish Netflix movie that blends serial-killer and superhero movie tropes into one spoofy soup. Perhaps coincidentally but possibly not, the film debuts on what would have been the 103rd birthday of Jack Kirby, the greatest comic artist the world has seen and the guy who co-created the Avengers, the X-Men, the Fantastic Four, Black Panther, Devil Dinosaur and Moon-Boy, and dozens of other classic characters. Whether the movie and its bevy of Gold and Silver Age comic book references pay proper heed to the master is probably beside the point, but I bring it up to illustrate my heavy nerd cred, and to superfluously mention Devil Dinosaur and Moon-Boy. And now, let’s see if this is the Worst. Movie. Ever. Or not.

UNKNOWN ORIGINS: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

The Gist: A cop rushes into a burning building and rescues an old woman. Others are still trapped inside. He ignores the advice of another officer and rushes back in. The ceiling collapses. There’s no subtitle, but it’s implied: SOME YEARS LATER, the cop’s father, Cosme (Antonio Resines), lives with his adult son Jorge (Brays Efe), who looks like 2020 Silent Bob plus 75 lbs. Jorge is a Dorito-munching slob with omnipresent crumbs in his beard and all over his dorkwad superhero T-shirt. In accordance with that stereotype, he runs a comic book shop/nerd emporium that’s the epicenter of everything David Valentin (Javier Rey) looks down upon with a scowl above his Agent Mulder trenchcoat. Valentin and Jorge are two guys who have diddly-shit in common, so wouldn’t it be nuts if they ended up partnering on a serial killer case? TOTALLY.

So what happens is, soon-to-be-retired detective Cosme mentors Valentin as they investigate gruesome crime scenes. Jorge looks over his dad’s shoulder and notes how one victim looks like the Hulk, but back in the 1960s, when he was grey, not green, which is the kind of thing a total virgin putz would know. The next death has something to do with an arms dealer and a man in a metal suit, which Valentin sees as an impenetrable riddle, but Jorge, and you, and I, anyone who’s been awake for the last decade, know how much the scenario has in common with Iron Man. Before you know it, Norma (Veronica Echegui), the head of the homicide dept. who happens to be an anime cosplayer and frequent attendee of poindexter parties at Jorge’s shop, throws a laminate around Jorge’s neck so he can help Valentin suss out clues at grisly crime scenes.

So Valentin and Jorge banter antagonistically until it becomes a little brotherly or, more appropriately, hero-sidekickly. Bodies pile up in gruesome homage to pulp classics, and maybe there’s a tie here to Valentin’s tragic past, but most definitely there’s a heap of geek-culture references for you to collect and polybag and never touch but brag about owning. So is this a funny and compelling setup for a movie, or is it just Holy Jumping Cliches Batman?

What Movies Will It Remind You Of?: Unknown Origins borrows the fundamental structure of Se7en (which is pronounced “suh-SEVEN-en,” by the way), tosses in some visual references to The Dark Knight trilogy and paints it with some Kick-Assish satirical tones.

Performance Worth Watching: Echegui gussies up the movie with some spirited moxie, a good feel for one-liners (even when they’re clunky with Game of Thrones references) and a willingness to wriggle ever-so-slightly free from the grip of character cliches.

Memorable Dialogue: “‘Valar Morghulis’ to everyone except the suit guy. To him, ‘Dracarys.’” — Norma gets all High Vlayrian-and-mighty on Valentin

Sex and Skin: None.

Our Take: It takes a decent chunk of time for director David Galan Galindo to settle on a tone, and by the time he eventually asserts that this is supposed to be funny, it’s too late, because we haven’t laughed — laughed at the gratuitous gore, the flippant and cynical medical examiner character, the fact that Jorge is yet another gumpster who smells like Fritos and wears a permanent sweat-sheen on his chubby face. Unknown Origins pushes back against that stereotype by shoehorning in a scene in which Jorge’s buddies reveal themselves to be self-made types and judges and whatnot, flying their freak flag proud and high.

But this circa-2002 dynamic is weary, because hasn’t the past decade-and-a-half of billion-dollar superhero movie and TV franchises determined that geek culture is the mainstream, allowing normies the freedom to set foot in comic stores to buy funnybooks and gaming card decks stigma-free, to openly debate the merits of the final season of Game of Thrones on Facebook without the threat of being undie-grundied and wet-willied by homunculus jocks?

Once we’ve finally determined that the film is supposed to be satire, we realize it lacks the wit to sooner establish Valentin as a stereotype of brooding neo-noir detective characters, or do much more than make us feel smug for snatching its Big Kahuna Burger and Sailor Moon references like Willie Mays to fly balls. This is tricky material, but it’s not impossible to navigate — I liked that a comic hero dubbed White Blackbird exists in this narrative — and in the right hands, it might burst with color and comedy. It seems restrained by a modest budget, as if a decent action sequence wasn’t affordable. And Jorge and Valentin aren’t written or performed with the verve they need to be OTT elbow-jabs in the ribs of the current pop-cultural zeitgeist.

Our Call: SKIP IT. If only Unknown Origins made us laugh a little more frequently, we’d be more likely to overlook its tonal and conceptual bumbling.

John Serba is a freelance writer and film critic based in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Read more of his work at johnserbaatlarge.com or follow him on Twitter: @johnserba.

Stream Unknown Origins on Netflix