It’s not environmentally friendly, but it is theater friendly.
“The Toxic Avenger” is a remake of the 1986 cult movie about a janitor who becomes the deformed superhero The Toxic Avenger, thanks to some toxic waste. The poster even joked: “The First Superhuman-Hero…….From New Jersey.” I think this new version wants to enter cult movie territory, especially when it doesn’t have the big ad campaign to sell it at the Marvel or DC level. It’s definitely a B-movie in the tradition of “Grindhouse,” “Ghosts of Mars,” and “Hell Ride.” And you might want to see it at drive-in theater. But at the very least, you can see it in regular theaters at night.
Peter Dinklage plays Winston Gooze, who is so miserable as a janitor that he would cook an egg with blood in it for breakfast. He needs to break free from the stepdad tropes, especially when his stepson (Jacob Tremblay) needs the courage to perform on stage, and he wants to be a better father to him. He also works at the BTH Flagship Factory, which has enough toxic waste to destroy the environment. And he has enough headaches to develop a terminal illness, without the insurance to give him the right medication.
He ends up being killed by a group of goons, who are supposed to target the whistleblower (Taylour Paige) trying to expose the BTH CEO Bob Garbinger’s (Kevin Bacon) crimes. However, his body is thrown in toxic waste, which mutates him. And his weapon is a mop with the ooze on it, which can immediately hurt or kill his victims. It’s sure campy fun that reminds me of the chainsaw scene in “Fight or Flight.” With the right or wrong tools, enemies can be eliminated or injured in the process.
Disclaimer: Luisa Guerreiro plays the Toxic Avenger, while Dinklage dubs his voice. That’s why he doesn’t look like Dinklage, but sounds like him. Without these facts, you might have thought Dinklage carried a lot of baggage of production values, especially when Jim Carrey was disguised as the Grinch and Dan Aykroyd looked hideous in “Nothing But Trouble.”
The villain also has a younger brother/ lackey named Fritz (Elijah Wood), who almost looks like Danny DeVito’s Penguin in “Batman Returns.” He looks gloomy and has black hair, it almost looks like a good portion of it got burned off. And he also has the shady Mayor Togar (Sarah Niles) in cahoots. I think Fritz is my favorite of the two, because he looks so funny and creepy at the same time, and Wood does a good job displaying those personalities.
There’s a lot of craziness and a little too many for me to name in “The Toxic Avenger.” And you’ve probably haven’t heart about this movie without the big campaign ad to sell this movie. But if you have heard about it, then you might enjoy as a night time cult movie as much as I did. I saw this the other night, and I was laughing and entertained by the goofiness and versatility that goes on with Dinklage’s performance and the violence and make-up that the small budget can afford.
The filmmaker is Macon Blair, whose last directing credit was “I Don’t Feel at Home in This World Anymore” and whose acting credits include “Green Room” and “Oppenheimer.” His latest job is a B movie that finds the right status and doesn’t care what critical people have to say about it. I’m not totally in love with everything that goes on in this movie, but I still was enjoying myself with the zaniness of it all. This won’t pollute your theater.
