Viewtiful Joe: Red Hot Rumble

A party-style brawler drawing its cast and comic-book flair from the Viewtiful Joe series and its animated show, Red Hot Rumble frames its action as a movie in the making. The eccentric director Captain Blue is hard at work on his latest film and hits upon a novel way to cast its lead: rather than a simple audition, he stages a full-blown battle tournament, pitting the series' colorful heroes and villains against one another to decide who is worthy of the starring role. As the contestants clash across chaotic, cinematic stages, however, something begins to go wrong on set. Unauthorized props and equipment appear out of nowhere, and increasingly strange, dangerous occurrences threaten the safety of the assembled cast. What starts as a lighthearted competition for the spotlight gradually reveals a mysterious force at work behind the scenes, and Joe and his fellow combatants must fight their way to the truth lurking beneath Captain Blue's production.