When night falls on Hammer Town, he is the only man who stands between us and the crime-ravaged streets. He is Defendor! He is also Arthur, a simple man who lives in the workshop of the construction company that employs him. Defendor is the clever and original feature debut from Vancouver-born Peter Stebbings. Harrelson is superb as Arthur, a man trapped in his own childhood. Steeped in comic-book iconography but stripped of the elaborate trappings of modern movies of the genre, Defendor is a pointed, emotionally affecting poke at our comic-saturated culture. —Jesse Wente

Rated 14A