If you’re a comic book fan, you are familiar with Kurt Busiek’s Astro City, which looks at the world of super heroes from a realistic and humanistic perspective. The stories are often touching and are more about relationships than they are slugfests. It seems that the writers of “Becoming Tomorrow” may be fans of Astro City, but they don’t give themselves enough credit to do stories of the same caliber.
Stan (William Van Cyuk) gets a Dear John letter in the mail and is heartbroken. Then he receives a package from his uncle, Captain Tomorrow, which contains all the tools necessary for Stan to become the next Captain Tomorrow. With this new power and responsibility, Stan gets the courage to introduce himself to his attractive neighbor, Lisa (Marissa Matarazzo), who just happens to love super heroes. Will true love blossom? Will it matter?
Granted, six minutes isn’t a lot of time to become involved in the film, but the people behind this try their hardest to pump some emotion into it. Unfortunately, it still seems hollow. The concept is great, but it goes nowhere, and viewers aren’t able to bond with the characters, which makes caring about this short film even more difficult. Stick with Astro City for your super heroes as real people fix.
