It is one of the earliest superhero films to feature an African American in a starring role.
Plot
Jefferson Reed is a mild-mannered school teacher in Washington, D.C. His neighborhood is terrorized by a local gang called The Golden Lords, led by Simon Caine and allied with drug lord Anthony Byers.
One night, Jeff steps in to rescue a woman from the gang, but ends up running from them. Hiding in a garbage dumpster, he manages to escape. As he climbs out, he is struck by a glowing green meteorite. His spine is crushed, and he receives severe burns. A small fragment of the meteor was left over and taken by a vagrant named Marvin. Reed awakens several days later in the hospital. When his bandages are taken off, he is miraculously healed of his injuries.
Jeff soon discovered that the meteorite had left him with spectacular superpowers, such as flight, x-ray vision, laser vision, superhuman strength, speed and hearing, invulnerability, healing powers, the ability to absorb a book's content by touch, super breath, telepathy with dogs (which he uses to communicate with his own dog Ellington) and telekinesis. Confiding this to his parents Ted and Maxine, they convince him to use his powers to help the community. His mother designs a costume and, as the Meteor Man, he takes on the Golden Lords. He shuts down 15 crack houses, stops 11 robberies, brings peace between the police, the Crips and the Bloods, and they begin to work together to rebuild the community that they destroyed, and plants a giant garden in the middle of the ghetto.
The Golden Lords learn Meteor Man's secret identity and his slowly diminishing powers. As the violence gets out of hand and the Golden Lords continue their attacks, the community members plan to make a deal with them. Jeff instead teaches them about fighting for their beliefs. A now-powerless Jeff fights Simon and is beaten up. Simon points his gun at Jeff, but Jeff's neighbor Earnest Moses throws a vinyl record at him, successfully knocking the gun out of Simon's hand. Suddenly, Marvin uses the meteor fragment to strip the Golden Lords of their guns. This enables the locals to stand up to the Golden Lords as they fight them alongside Marvin's dogs. Marvin accidentally drops the meteor, and both Jeff and Simon grab the rock from both sides, gaining superpowers, and engage in a brawl.
When Simon is about to throw a dumpster at Jeff, he hears Ellington barking, telling Jeff that he can win. Simon instead throws the dumpster at Ellington, seriously injuring him. This angers Jeff, and he disappears and returns as Meteor Man. They continue with their brawl, with Meteor Man winning and draining Simon of his powers by absorbing them. He then defeats the rest of the Golden Lords. The locals gather around Ellington, who is now lying on the street, whimpering in pain. Jeff uses his x-ray vision to see that Ellington's ribs are broken. Before Jeff can do anything, his powers fade away again. Marvin comes over and uses the last of his powers from the meteor fragment to heal Ellington's injuries, thus saving Ellington's life. The locals all applaud.
Anthony Byers and his gang confront Meteor Man but are outnumbered by the Bloods and the Crips, who show up to protect Meteor Man. Anthony Byers and his gang are arrested by the police after attempting to "take a vacation to the Bahamas".
Cast
Robert Townsend as Jefferson Reed / Meteor Man, Teacher Who Gains Powers From A Meteor Fragment
Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a score of 25%, based on 16 critic reviews.[6]
Peter Rainer of the Los Angeles Times compares the film to "a fairly clunky sitcom", with its sense of righteous do-goodism, and, although the film intends to inspire, it instead sends the message that it would take a superhero to clean up inner-city gang violence.[7]
Stephen Holden of The New York Times opined that "the movie collapses on its own confusing and contradictory impulses. On the one hand, it would like to create a valid superhero for Black children. On the other, it is much more concerned with sending up the superhero genre. And the heroics and spoofing thoroughly undercut each other."[8]
Desson Howe of The Washington Post wrote that "diehard Townsend fans will probably have a good time with it. But they should probably stop reading from here: This review has nothing positive to add. For those who considered Townsend's Five Heartbeats at least four too many, this movie is only slightly less excruciating. Slower than a stationary bullet, about as powerful as a . . . a loganberry, capable of running into buildings in a single bound, it's a bust, it's a shame, it's super dull."[9]
Ty Burr gave it a "C" grade in Entertainment Weekly, and said that it was "very much like its writer-director-star: self-effacingly funny, kind of confused, but really, really nice".[10]
Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film 2.5 stars out of 4, writing, "The movie contains big laughs and moments of genuine feeling, but it seems to be put together out of assorted inspirations that were never assembled into one coherent story line....Kids may like the film and anyone can enjoy the moments of inspiration, but 'The Meteor Man' could have been better if it had tried to do less, more carefully."[11]
