After a 2 year delay as the film sat in distribution hell the remake of The Toxic Avenger has finally hit theaters.
Changing the story from the original we now follow single father Winston who after being terminally diagnosed decides to rob his workplace. After being shot in the process and thrown into toxic waste he mutates into what we know as the Toxic Avenger.
The story here is simple but as a big fan of the original is a let down. Winston is a likable character trying to raise his dead wifes kid who doesn’t look at him as his real father, but its just generic. While the original didn’t break walls with its story at least the underdog nerd killing crazy jocks and corrupt criminals and city officials was fun. Here we get him going after a few criminals and an evil drug corporation.
Its sad though that this almost feels like someone attempting to remake a Troma film without ever having seen one. While it was clear some of the things in the original film didn’t age well, this just isn’t really fun. The dialog here rarely lands so jokes are constantly falling flat. Conversations often feel forced and lifeless and characters aren’t memorable and if they are, they aren’t used enough.
Not even the kills here work either. A heavy reliance on CGI and over the top green screen moments make the kills feel cheap instead of fun. While the make up for our Toxic Avenger looks great, thats where it ends.
Even our villains in the form of Kevin Bacon and Elijah Wood, who both give great performances, are underused. The tone of the movie itself even can’t seem to figure out what it wants to be. We start with a 3rd person narrative that knows the joke then just quickly abandons that.
Worst of all the hype just doesn’t live up to it. Even having the ‘Unrated’ bit on the title card only for the director to say it was just it for hype and nothing was changed from when it was sent in is just bad.
Overall this has its moments and the performances try their best with thats given. It just feels tame and honestly lame. From a film that still has memorable moments to it to this, is just a let down.
Score :
2 / 5
