A dying janitor (Peter Dinklage) becomes a nuclear-powered super-creature and must battle an evil nuclear billionaire/new-age body care mogul (Kevin Bacon), a Danny DeVito’s Penguin-looking Elijah Wood, and his heavy metal band/assassin that involves a clown rapper, a giant goon in leather, and a giant chicken mask.
So when the movie starts out, it feels like a quirky family drama. This janitor, Winston, is trying to connect with his stepson after his mom died, and he’s really trying, and Peter Dinklage brings a lot of heart and sincerity to those scenes, and that is one of the strongest aspects of the film. And then he learns he’s dying, and then it kind of becomes just like dark comedy about the Medicare system, and you’re hoping everything works out for this guy… And then the villain shows up.
Kevin Bacon, like his last name, is very hammy lol. It’s a very broad performance, but Kevin Bacon brings enough charming charisma to the role that he works well as someone you want to see Peter Dingle’s Winston overcome.
I liked Elijah Wood in the movie. Despite his character’s appearance, I liked how down-to-earth and sincere Woods played the character. Now, he does have his over-the-top moments because it is Elijah Wood, and he likes “weirdness” in movies, but he does bring heart to the role that I appreciated.
Now, while I overall like this movie, I do think there’s a little too much going on in this movie, like everything I’ve explained is enough to get a full movie out of… whether there’s this other plot involving a whistleblower that’s like this mini low-budget Jason Bourne chase film, which I thought was really impressive given the budget. Taylour Paige was really good in the role as well, but that’s not all….
There’s also this famous rock band that are also assassins that work for Kevin Bacon and Elijah Wood that involves a Juggalo clown rapper, Bladedressed up like a cowboy, a dude in a straight jacket, and a dude who is in big Frankenstein boots, leather pants, an army jacket, and a giant chicken mask… like, I get it. It’s trauma; they’re gonna go crazy, and that’s part of their brand and why they’re successful and why we like them, but in contrast to the whistleblower storyline and the Winston and his stepson drama, there are, like, all these different tones and storylines and plots and characters going on that it feels like a lot. It’s like eating too much at Thanksgiving; you just feel like it’s too much, lol.
Peter Tremblay is good as the stepson. I kind of wish we had seen him and this stepfather have maybe more scenes together or more of a connection. I mean, so much of the movie is about Winston trying to do right by this kid, and they don’t spend a lot of time together, so their connection doesn’t feel as strong as it could be.
I will say I did like a lot of the homages they did to the original film and Troma in general; plus, I thought the director cameo was cute.
The second half of the film does have a pretty fun heavy metal soundtrack and some creative and fun action that I found quite enjoyable.
The climax got a little too over-the-top for my taste; like, it was fun at points, but again, from where the movie had started to where we were, I feel like we jumped tones a little too much.
But my biggest compliment to the film… it got creative. You can tell the filmmakers were having a lot of fun making this, just like they wanted to, and that kind of excitement and enthusiasm is infectious, and it made the movie quite fun. Could it be messy at times? Yes, but I appreciate and am happy to see when people get to make a movie and get to do it exactly how they want and complete their vision, so good for them.
Also, shout out to seeing the movie with my buddies; that was the best. 🤘😎
I give the movie three stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️; it’s a fun, wild film that I hope leads to more Troma movies.
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