review for Abar, the First Black Superman on AllMovie

Director Frank Packard's little-seen urban superhero fantasy In Your Face certainly ranks alongside Jamaa Fanaka's delirious Soul Vengeance (aka Welcome Home, Brother Charles) as one of the most offbeat cinematic metaphors for the struggles faced by the African-American community. A black scientist (J. Walter Smith) and his middle-class family move into a white California suburb, and almost immediately are subjected to threats and harassment by their openly racist neighbors. Protection arrives in the form of militant Abar (Tobar Mayo) and his black biker gang, but they are unable to prevent the murder of the family's young son. The grieving scientist convinces Abar to ingest his experimental invincibility serum, which gives him extraordinary powers with which to fight their oppressors. Though delivered in broad, comic book strokes, the film's underlying message -- the black community's desire for a leader that possesses the strength of Martin Luther King Jr. (whom the scientist admires) with the power of Malcolm X (Abar's role model) -- is a compelling one, and In Your Face tackles it with an admirable boldness. Whether this message will reach viewers through the smokescreen of low-budget production values and hyperbolic performances and scripting is another matter, but the film remains an intriguing curiosity worth seeking out.