There have been some heinous cinematic crimes committed in the name of blaxploitation over the years and Abar (aka Abar, the First Black Superman and In Your Face) has a rap sheet as long as your arm. But it’s so unremittingly awful in just about every respect that it transcends its limited imagination and resources and, almost by accident becomes great fun.
The plot brings the traditional mad scientist into the ghetto for a blaxploitation spin – the scientist in question is one Dr Kincade who offends racist sensibilities by being an educated black man in an up-market, all-white apartment block. Bigoted taunts soon turn to acts of violence and local activist Abar steps up to the plate to defend the doctor and his family. Little do the white folk know but Kincade has developed a serum that will make anyone it’s administered to invincible and he tries it out on Abar. Imbued with super powers, Abar sets out to kick whitey’s ass and restore peace to the community.
You can’t fault writer James Smalley and director Frank Packard’s intentions here – Abar is an unusual blaxploitation film in that the hero tends to think and contemplate rather than resort to fists, snappy one-liners and guns to solve his problems. It tries, valiantly, to raise important issues and even tries to offer some half-baked solutions to the problems, but the film is so ineptly made that the clumsy editing, lousy acting and can’t-believe-your-ears dialogue tend to undo any good the film may have done.
Abar desperately wants it both ways. There are some awkward martial arts fights and some poorly staged gunfights but it doesn’t quite have the conviction to go all the way and become a full-on ass-kicking adventure romp. It prefers to pontificate instead, which is fine, but the script simply isn’t up the job and instead of meaningful insights into the plight of black America in the late 70s, we get dull platitudes and hare-brained philosophy instead.
The film’s oddest moment – and there are plenty of them – is the out-of-nowhere dream sequence which moves the action out of the 70s inner-city landscape and into the Old West. Added to pad out the film’s meagre running time, it’s a genuinely jolting moment that just edges out the moment when Kincade tries to kill a rabbit he’s given his serum to by repeatedly shooting it as the film’s best and funniest moment.
Abar is certainly not subtle. The racism meted out to Kincade and Abar is so crude and obvious that it’s hard to take seriously – there are even swastika-wearing Nazis strutting around the estate! And not a single one of the whites presented in the film are seen in a positive light – they’re all violent, racist scum with not a redeeming feature among them. This may have played well to the film’s target audience but surely restricted its crossover appeal and may explain its relative obscurity today.
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