Ty Watches "The Toxic Avenger" (2023)
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A while back I watched the original "Toxic Avenger". I had seen a few Troma movies prior to that one, but that was the main Troma movie I wanted to see. I had heard so many interesting things about it and the time had come to finally sit down and watch. And it was fine. It was pretty much what I expected. It was gory, silly, kind of stupid and upsetting at parts, purposely.
After seeing the original I happened to come across a new interpretation of "The Toxic Avenger". I saw that they had a solid cast and I kind of figured I would watch it at some point. Well that day was yesterday. I had some free time in the afternoon, I usually watch movies while folding laundry, so I decided to watch the remake, or reimagination.
What stood out right away to me was that this new version was going to be just as silly and slapstick as the original. The movie starts out with a voiceover by Peter Dinklage, he is the main character, but all the while he is doing voiceover, he is making jokes throughout. I was in from that moment on. I like Peter Dinklage. He was my favorite part of "Game of Thrones". I love his minor role in the MCU. His work in "Elf" is wonderful. He is as reliable as they come in Hollywood. And he is funny as hell. He gets to do a ton of jokes in this movie and I'm here for it. He also plays this put upon scaredy cat before he transforms and he nails that as well. And when he turns into Toxie, although the hero is played by someone else and voiced by Dinklage, his voice work is so perfect for this type of movie. I loved seeing him in a starring role in something goofy and gory. Dinklage has earned the right to star in more movies, and I hope he gets that chance soon.
Joining Dinklage is a pretty solid cast of actors. Jacob Tremblay plays his step son. He is an anxious riddled ball of nerves, and when he finally gets his voice, Tremblay does some good work. I had only seen him in "Good Boys" prior, which is an underrated movie, but seeing him in something like this was a nice change of pace. Taylour Paige plays a former worker of the corrupt company in the movie who is out to show the world how evil the company truly is. She is a very good actor, and I've never seen her do comedy before this. She is the "straight man" in this role, but when she needs to make a joke or a funny face or do anything comedic, she is up to task. Elijah Wood plays the injured brother of the CEO of the corrupt company. He is bald on top, but has long stringy hair in the back. He uses a cane, talks with a raspy voice and needs an inhaler. He is head of security, but all I could glean security was in this movie was killing people who speak out against the company. Don't worry, minor spoiler, Wood does save someone near the end, but he still has a not so happy ending. And Kevin Bacon plays the CEO of the evil corporation, and he is so good as the villain. He is vile and mean. But he's also being controlled by a mob boss and he gets to play a scared person whenever that guy is around. Bacon has become so good at playing a villian, even in a silly movie like this, and he nails it here. The big fight between him and Dinklage at the end is pretty epic.
Besides the acting, the action and gore in this one is very over the top on purpose. Heads get ripped off, limbs get pulled around, multiple shots are fired to and about faces. It is an endless orgy of gore, but that is the whole idea of Troma movies. They purposely go over the top, and there's nothing left to the imagination. One of the bad guys gets half his head ripped off. Another bad guy gets his arm ripped off by accident. Dinklage uses a mop covered in acid to fight off the bad guys. They do a throwback to the classic fast food restaurant scene in this movie and it gets way more amped up and violent here.
This new version of “The Toxic Avenger” is, overall, a better movie because people make better movies now. That's just a fact. But I think I prefer the original a little more. I like the whole low fi idea of the original movie. But this one is still very funny and a good time. You need to know what you're getting yourself into when you watch a Troma movie, and if you can deal with the gore and goofiness, I'd recommend both the original and this reimagination of "The Toxic Avenger". They're a good time for what they are.
Ty
Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.
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