Superheroes are always box-office hits. Well, in the US maybe. But in Egypt, it is different.
Egyptian audiences are familiar with American Superheroes and eagerly follow the fortunes of Batman, Superman and the Avengers, but when it comes to Egyptian films, superheroes offer great comedy.
Few Egyptian films feature superheroes, but Tag was released this month.
Tag acquires superpowers — superhuman strength, abilities to make himself invisible, run faster and jump higher than any lesser mortal. Tag later discovers that the powers were inherited, but his family had used their power for evil. He also finds that he has a twin brother, who appears only in the second half of the movie.
Tag, the quintessential goodie, knows that with his superpowers can save lives and change the world. However, his twin Haroon, the black-hearted baddie, tries to exploit his brother and draw him into criminal activity.
Directed by Sara Wafik, the screenplay was by singer Tamer Hosni, who plays Tag and Haroon.
At the beginning, Tag stops a bus from falling off a bridge, rescues a girl on a bicycle from the path of a speeding bus, helps an old woman and catches a thief. These scenes are reminiscent of Batman, Superman and Flash.
The movie is comedy-fantasy even though there are instances of sexual innuendo and dubious language.
Good versus evil is the main theme with a predictable, naïve plot and out-of-date comedy.
To play identical twins, who differ in their characters requires high level acting skill, but Hosni concentrated on appearance and changed the eye colours rather than focus on the different characters themselves.
Tag is the latest in a long line of superhero films such as Al-Ataba Jazzaz (1969), starring the legendary Fouad Al-Mohandes, introducing the character Fravero’, an Egyptian Batman who does not know that he possesses special powers, but whenever he hears the song Al-Ataba Jazzaz he turns into a superhero.
Mohamed Sobhi in Uncle Zizou Habibi (1977) plays a young man who is constantly bullied. One of his relatives injects him with a strange substance said to be of extraterrestrial origin which gave him great strength.
TV series with superheroes include El-Ragol El-Innab (2012), starring Ahmed Fahmy and SuperMiro (2019) with Egyptian actress Emy Samir Ghanem.
