Disturbing yet enthralling

Entertaining from beginning to end, it maintains the spirit of the franchise while establishing it's own seal with a fun cast

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

I will admittedly mention a few spoilers upfront so brace yourself.When I was a young lad about 8 years old, I remembered a scene of the main character, Andrew, having superpowers like super speed and getting shot into his arm with a needle by his best friend, Dr. Jeff Cote and the needle just being destroyed. These are the fond memories of the TV series.Fast forward about 2.5 decades later, and I thought I'd catch up with the show I was somewhat fond of.As a grown man watching this show, the show was rather cheesy and was mostly for children from my strongest opinion. If I had to describe the series, it was boring, cheesy, lame plots and what really sucked the most was that the season finales did not ever have any cliffhangers and it was just boring plots filling the gap to just make a show.However the characters I most admired would have been Dr. Jeff Cote, a mild mannered yet brilliant scientist who could be described as Einstein but in reality if he ever existed would have won a Nobel prize for creating a plasma ray that gave his young friend, Andrew, the human feat superpowers we all would dream to ever have.The other character I found interesting since season 2 would be Kirk who in my best description would be seen as a girl chasing "bad-ass". I would compare Andrew to be a woos in personality with super powers and Kirk with no super powers more of a daredevil personality.The plots were just so boring I had to force myself to watch the episodes. I mean there were some good story lines in season 2 but by season 3 I read the episode description and God! they were so boring I just deleted the whole season off of my computer I didn't think twice to give it a chance (and I thought Family Matters and Full House was cheesy enough)! Anyway, more about the show, in season 1, the acting was just bad in the sense that logically Andrew is doing things that the bad guys did not even question "how he is doing it". Don't believe me?? Friends, watch the end of season 1 episode 1....it was SO ridiculous that I only wonder how it even made it to 3 seasons but at the same time, understand why it never got passed 3 seasons, too.I think the show was just more of a family time series and not any real daredevil adventurous series finale cliff hangers like a science fiction TV series should be nowadays.The introduction theme song sucked. Andrew's character was also very immature, especially in season 1; but I guess he improved since season 2.Lol they had a dog only in the pilot episode, but kept the dog in the theme song of season 1, where the hell did the dog go anyway?? I guess the supporting characters were okay like the annoying neighbor that Dr. Jeff Cote had.Personally, I know that it is just a TV show but if this was real life, okay even if it was a TV show, I would have zapped myself (if I was Dr. Jeff Cote, and given super powers to myself). Seriously who wouldn't?? What are you going to do with a ray shooting beam gun and leave one child to "accidentally" falls into the beam ray and becomes a "super hero". Realistically, if I was the doctor that invented that gun, let me tell you, I would have taken away his powers so fast that he wouldn't even have a chance to use his powers (But I know then what would be the point of the show and title itself)? Yes I am just blabbing now. I never understood what he would have ever done with the beam ray in the entire series; it was never foretold what was the purpose of it besides the main character getting super powers from it.Finally, what really was bad is that Andrew couldn't even tell his own mother who should at least have known about it; I don't see what kind of threat it would be if she knew about it. In general, he couldn't disclose what his super powers he had to anybody. Understandably then the word would be out and everyone would want to have that kind of ability but if I was the writer here is how I would change some things 1. Leave cliffhangers to build on the show for the next upcoming seasons 2. Have an arch nemesis that will retrieve similar powers as Andrew but even more to be a decent kind of enemy on the show.That is my review. Please let me know what you guys think and hope this was helpful to you before you go out to Netflix and download it or whatever.

I remember "My Secret Identity" with Jerry O'Connell. This was a really cool show from the late 80s and very early 1990s that revolved around a 13 year old kid named Andrew Clements that gets superpowers from his nerdy next door neighbor's plant growing laser beam. The series seemed to revel in it's campy setting, and there were plenty of injokes for comic book fans. Jerry O'Connell did this show after "Stand By Me" but before "Sliders", "Jerry Maguire" or any of his really big hits from the mid 90s to the present, so he was a recognizable 13 year old name but not a huge, elite name at the time. And while he was no longer "the fat kid" like he was in "Stand By Me", he didn't yet look like some big studly jock, so the character of Andrew Clements had a very believable dorky aspect to him.Andrew like most 13 year olds, just loves the idea of having superpowers. He's not like many heroes who hates having the powers and the responsibility of being a hero. For Andrew it's the greatest thing in the world to be a superhero, he even calls himself "Ultraman", but in a move that grounded the series in some mode of reality...he never goes public with his powers, only him and Dr. Jeffcoat (whome he calls Dr. J in a very dated reference now) know about the powers...ala "The Greatest American Hero". I think what ruined the series was when Andrew moved from middle school to high school and sprouted into this big, 5'10+ hulking guy. Jerry O'Connell blossomed into this huge athlete and no longer came across as the uber geek anymore during the 1990-1991 final season. That best friend he had was just plain annoying, it seemed like Andrew lost some of his friendship with Dr. J and hung out more with his new high school pal. The magic was just gone as a result of the kid getting older and losing his innocence. But watch the 1988-1990 part of the series, especially the first season, it was a very different and unique series about a middle school boy that is as excited as ever about getting superpowers.

My favorite thing to do was to record the show on audio cassette and listen to them when I was laying in bed trying to go to sleep. I didn't have a TV in my room, but I was so obsessed with the show that I never wanted to stop being in that world.I remember this particular bit...Andrew was in his room, supposed to be studying geometry, but he was completely bored with it..."I, Andrew Clements, invested with the powers of Ultraman, do hereby declare that all trapezoids, squares, triangles, and all other stupid shapes shall be banished from this planet and replaced with one long straight line!" Aw, good stuff.

This engaging Canadian-shot series cast Jerry O'Connell (after "Stand By Me" and before "Sliders") as teenager Andrew, a superhero fan who after getting hit by a ray from his neighbour's laser machine developed super powers - flying, superspeed, impervious to pain - and took it upon himself to battle evil as "Ultraman," though his lack of a uniform and the fact that only said neighbour Dr. Jeffcoat ("Dr J") knew about his secret identity meant that he never became a household name - much as he wanted to, but as the doctor put it in one episode where Andrew saved the day without superpowers, "What's wrong with Andrew Clemens saving the world now and then?" (There was one episode where most of the main characters were trapped in a snowdrift and Andrew convinced Dr. J that it would be better for him to get them out and expose his secret than to remain there - but they were rescued just before he could do it!)In spite of being created by "Family Matters"'s Fred Fox Jr. and "Beethoven"'s Brian Levant, the show worked because Andrew, unlike most other heroes nowadays, was positively gleeful over his abilities; he enjoyed being a hero, and the show conveyed the overall lack of cynicism. People need a break from angst sometimes, without going all the way into "Batman"-style campiness. The show also had likeable characters and actors, and some decent writing to go with them - it even succeeded in giving Andrew a little sister who wasn't a pain. It only really slipped in the third and final series when the producers gave Andrew a new male best friend, and lost some of its appealing innocence as a result, but this was a fun show all round.