Captain Barbell (1986)
The story revolves around a wimpy boy named Teng-teng. He’s thin and seems to be feather weight. Sifting metals is what he does, and after collecting all the salable metal scraps he then sells it to a junk shop. All his life turned three-sixty degrees as one day a man want’s to sell his rusty barbell, so he asked Teng-teng if it can be converted into monetary value, but sadly Teng-teng confirmed it is not. But because the boy had pity to the old man that made him buy the rusty barbell. It was a heavy barbell that not an ordinary human can carry it. He was then blessed by the old man the powers to carry it.

After discovering that he can carry the mysterious barbell, he cleans it until it turned shiny and as if it wasn’t rusty. Touching it automatically summons the old guy who tells him that, by holding the barbell over his head and shouting the name “Captain Barbell”, he can transform into, Captain Barbell itself. A strong, muscular guy who can fly everywhere to help the ones in need. Soon after he discovered that he can transform into a supernatural human being, his first enemy rose. A werewolf, and not just an ordinary werewolf but a flying werewolf. This then lead to an aerial chase. After all the fighting in the air, Captain Barbell figured out that the beast’s weakness is anything that has something to do with Christ. He then plucks up a big cross and flies after him with it. The fight finally finishes when Captain Barbell pinned him down into the ground with the big cross he was carrying.
The fight gave Captain Barbell a spot in the limelight. Wherein he was in headlines and in the news. Many admired him, including Teng-teng’s crush, who is played by Lea Salonga. Teng-teng gets irritated every time he is compared with Captain Barbell.
As every superhero movie runs, that was his first enemy therefore it is the weakest. It is just to demonstrate his powers, just like any superhero movies. His big bad rival then reveals. She is Gagamba, a slinky human-spider hybrid who comes complete with a crew of fright masked minions who look like they raided the Halloween section at Walgreen’s. Gagamba’s scheme, whatever it is, involves kidnapping lots of school kids and throwing them in a big cage. As Gagamba was considered as Captain Barbell’s big bad enemy Darna came to the rescue to help Captain Barbell defeat the human arachnid.

The movie was produced way back 1986. So technically speaking the effects were a little hilarious because It was not that defined yet unlike the movies released in our era. Despite that, it was exceptional as technology back then was not yet that innovated. They clearly illustrated the flying and action scenes anyway. The cast was in the topline. Edu Manzano as Captain Barbell and Herbet Bautista as Teng teng or the kid who was given powers to transform into Captain Barbell. Other high class celebrities were also in the film naming, Lea Salonga, Sharon Cuneta and many more.
Captain Barbell was a big hit back in its days. Considering that it’s a movie about a superhero so basically it caught the kids’ attention. Not only kids enjoyed the movie but also adults who read the comics and watched the first version of the film which was star by Dolphy Quizon. The film also had a touch of horror. As the villains’ attributes are like of the one you see in horror movies. For me, they did well in articulating the famous comic book into a movie. It wasn’t new as majority of the superhero films came from DC’s and Marvel’s comic books. This makes avid fans of the comic books to watch out for the movie.
It was a good movie, perfect for any ages, be it young or old. It suits everyone who’s in for a fictional action movie.