Rating : - These drugs are gonna blow my a$$ off!
Once again we are back for another Toxic Avenger review. After two rather lackluster sequels (which I, surprisingly, enjoyed), Lloyd Kaufman and crew return with the hilarious, gory, and very violent Citizen Toxie: The Toxic Avenger Part IV.
What seperates Citizen Toxie from the other sequels is the care that was taken with this sequel. Sure, Toxie 2 and 3 were labors of love, as all Troma movies are, but they were missing some key ingredient that made the original Toxic Avenger so fun and enjoyable- a truly cohesive story... well, as cohesive a story as a Troma film can have. For instance, the thing about Toxie 3 that made no sense was his willingness to get involved with the Apocalypse, Inc company after all the evil they did in Toxie 2. Plus, those films were less about Toxie doing what he does best- fighting crime- and more about stunts and gags that truly felt way too long and way too often, whereas the fight scenes in Toxie 2 felt more like an obligation instead of something that truly belonged. It was almost like, with these sequels, Kaufman said, 'okay, let's try to develop the character of Toxie even more!' when, truly, there isn't too much more you can expand on about Toxie. He's a hideously deformed creature of superhuman size and strength- what more can you do with that?
And that's what's great about this film, is they don't really try to do much more in terms of changing Toxie's character and persona and instead simply show Toxie fans what we want to see- bad guys getting violently killed, and the frailty of the citizens of Tromaville when it comes to loyalty to Toxie.
The film opens with the Diaper Mafia invading the Tromaville School for the Very Special. What follows is a mix and mash of 'special' people being killed, and Toxie showing up and avenging their deaths. Enter Tito, The Retarded Rebel, one of the funniest characters in any Toxie film, if not the funniest.
After a huge explosion destroys the school, Toxie is transported to an alternate dimension, called Amortville, while his evil doppleganger, Noxie, or The Noxious Offender, ends up back in Tromaville. Noxie wreaks havoc in Tromaville while Toxie tries to figure out a way to get home, all the while battling Evil Kabuikman, Evil Mad Cowboy, and a host of other characters.
One of the best ideas Troma could have had with this film was to include many more colorful characters outside of Toxie and Sara (who finally goes back to her real name, after being called Claire in Toxie 2 and 3.) We have Sergeant Kabukiman, NYPD, who is hilarious as a drunk superhero who pretty much has no powers. As mentioned before, Tito, the Retarded Rebel, is absolutely hilarious and had me laughing in every scene he was in. Then we have Sweetie Honey, who some will either love or hate, but I can't imagine anybody hating her- she's another hilarious addition to the cast. On top of the other superheros, including Mad Cowboy, Vibrator, Dolphinman, and Mastur- er, well, if you're reading this, you can probably guess what comes next.
The effects in this film, too, are excellent, aside from one headcrushing scene, in which using a watermelon really didn't work for Troma here. But we have disembowelments, a cross through the throat, gunshot wounds, and a magnificent head crushing scene involving a Bible and a State book. Troma really outdid themselves with some of the effects here- just wait till the awesome hospital slaughter scene. This film will definately not disappoint gore hounds.
The comedy is certainly in every reel of this film. There's jokes ranging from retard jokes to certain, um, 'favors' performed by the lovable old Chester, who can be a little bit TOO lovable. Tito has some of the best lines in the film, including, 'These drugs are gonna blow my a$$ off.' I laughed all the way through this film- even most straight up comedy movies fail to do that nowadays, and combining the blood and guts made this just eye candy for me.
Certainly, however, this film is not for everyone. It takes a special person to appreciate a Troma film, and I am more than proud to say that I love these movies, no matter how weird people might look at me for it. However, I have only seen the unrated cut, so I couldn't tell you what is so different between the rated and unrated cuts, but I can imagine, after seeing the rated Toxie 2, that it probably butchers the film.
This is a definite buy if you enjoy these kinds of movies. It has everything a Troma fan could want.
And yes, if you are worried, there is nudity. Plenty of it.
Plus, the making of the film, Apocalypse Soon, is almost 3 hours long and is very entertaining to watch, making this package a completely loaded DVD worth your time and money.