Title: The Toxic Avenger Part II (1989) and The Toxic
Avenger Part III: The Last Temptation of Toxie (1989)
Directors: Lloyd Kaufman and Michael Herz
Cast: John Altamura, Ron Fazio, Phoebe Legere, Rick Collins
Today I’ll be reviewing both of these Toxic Avenger movies together
because the ‘plot’ of both films is interconnected and they where both filmed
back to back with a budget of 2.3 million dollars, which by the way is a lot
when talking about Troma Films. So watching both of these movies back to back
(which I’ve just done) is sort of like watching one gigantic Toxic Avenger Epic.
For all intents and purposes, Troma fans should love both of these films, yet, there
seems to be some disdain for both of these movies, even from the perspective of
Troma fans and the filmmakers behind these films themselves! For example, CitizenToxie: Toxic Avenger IV (2000) starts out by giving us a summary of
Toxic Avenger’s origin then they warn us “then came two shitty sequels, sorry about
that. This is the real sequel!” This is something that I cannot understand
because Toxic Avenger II and III are in my book, same as most (if not all)
Trauma movies, they are really no different in terms of
content and style than parts I or IV, so why the hatred? The Toxic Avenger II and
III have everything a Troma film should have; they are purposely imperfect, as
if they revere the fact that they are cheap. These films are loud, incoherent,
perverse, childish, cartoonish, and offensive to the max. They are also
grotesque, gory, violent, and nonsensical with tons of bad taste to spare; but thankfully
they can also be fun. When you pay for a Troma film, this is what you are going
to get! In my book, both Toxic Avengers II and III are exactly what Troma films
are all about.
The Toxic Avenger II starts out by showing us how The Toxic
Avenger has successfully eradicated evil from Tromaville, he’s done such a good
job that he has no villains to fight. People are so happy in Tromaville that
they literally dance in the streets all the time! Out of happiness! The way The
Toxic Avenger’s body works is, he has these cells called “Tromatons” and they
start acting up whenever evil is near. As soon as these Tromatons detect evil, Toxie
can’t control it; he simply goes on a destruction binge until said evil is destroyed.
And said evil is a corporation known as Apocalypse Inc., a corporation that tries
to take over Tromaville. But thanks to the protection of Toxie, Apocalypse Inc.
is effectively kicked out of Tromaville, or so he thinks. For a moment there,
at least in the Toxic Avengers eyes Tromaville is safe. Problem is that since
there’s no evil for him to fight, Toxie feels as if his life has lost all sense
of direction. He is so depressed and bored that he ends up visiting his shrink,
who suggests that Toxie should try and find his long lost father, who apparently
calls himself ‘Big Mac’ and resides in Japan. So off goes Toxie to Japan ! Will he
find his father? Will Apocalypse Inc. make a come back and try and take over
Tromaville?
The Toxic Avenger Part II is in my book a fun sequel; it has all
the zaniness and nuttiness one could want from a Troma movie. Have you ever
seen The Toxic Avenger turn an evil black midget into a basket ball? And then
slam dunk said midget? This happens on this film, and it is not the craziest of
ideas you will see in this movie! In the huge action sequence that opens the
film (well huge for Troma standards) Apocalypse Inc.’s evil minions attack a
home for the blind! And blow it up! If you know anything about these movies,
then you know that blowing up a home for the blind is just a way of getting
warmed up. Both of these Toxic Avenger movies are a barrage of gags and ideas
that never stop. Like a Sam Raimi Evil Dead movie, these Toxic Avengers never
give you a break, the gags just keep coming and coming!
The problem for me with The Toxic Avenger Part II is when
Toxie goes to Japan .
Now, here’s a cool idea, send Toxic Avenger to Japan ! The idea alone makes you
think that you’re going to be seeing something totally different. And you do,
it’s kind of funny seeing this monstrous deformity known as The Toxic Avenger
roaming the streets of Japan
as Japanese people freak out and run the other way. For a whole segment of the
film, we simply see Toxie walking around all these Japanese landmarks, posing,
as if someone was taking a Polaroid of him. Unfortunately, after a while you
realize that the film sort of looses its steam. Where in its first half we get
an avalanche of non stop craziness, once Toxie reaches Japan the film
kind of comes to a complete halt. There is a moment in which Toxie fights some Japanese
goons, but it comes so late in the Japan segment that by that time you
feel bored. It’s not until Toxie returns to Tromaville that the film picks up its
previous frenetic, coked up pace. This in my book is the films only true fault,
the Japanese segment is sort of a let down, it’s kind of boring, if you ask me,
it should have been crazier. But fear
not my friends, once Toxie gets back to Tromaville things get nuts again! The
whole film ends on a high note for me, with this nonsensical car chase in which
Toxic Avenger commandeers a taxi driven by a latino, so he can chase down one
of Apocalypse Inc.s minions. The whole thing is made even more hilarious because
a pair of old timers are riding in the back seat of the car, screaming their
heads off! This was a very fun way to end the movie.
The Toxic Avenger Part III: The Last Temptation of Toxie is
a better film in my book. It never leaves Tromaville, the town where people never
stop dancing in the streets! Once again Tromaville is at peace. There’s no evil
to eradicate and again, Melvin Junko a.k.a. The Toxic Avenger falls into a
depression. Things are so happy in Tromaville that all Toxic Avenger
ends up fighting is an old lady who is cheating in a card game and making sure a
baby eats his veggies. With no true evil to fight, The Toxic Avenger gets
depressed, unfortunately, Melvin is also unemployed! He has no income! But
wait, here comes a letter offering The Toxic Avenger a job at Apocalypse Inc! In
order to help his girlfriend (who is blind!) regain her eyesight, he decides to
take the job so he can pay for her eye operation. Unfortunately, this means
that now Melvin will be working for Apocalypse Inc. Will his soul become
corrupted? Will greed take over The Toxic Avenger? Yes my friends, this is yet
another film that hates Big Business, huge corporations hell bent on taking
over the world. At one point when Melvin is offered the job at Apocalypse Inc. the
chairman of said company offers it all to him as if it was Satan, offering
Jesus the kingdoms of the world. But unlike Jesus, who refuses Satan’s
offerings, Melvin takes the job and so unknowingly sells his soul to the devil.
Basically Toxic Avenger III: The Last Temptation of Toxie
turns Toxie into a Yuppie, which at first Toxie thinks is totally okay because
he’s making some money, but then realizes is a mistake, because he is now a
slave to an evil corporation that wants to enslave the citizens of Tromaville. The
only reason why Toxie agrees to work for Apocalypse Inc. is because he wants to
make enough money so that his blind girlfriend Claire can get an operation that
will restore her eyesight. It’s kind of funny seeing Toxie walking around,
dressing up like a yuppie, jogging while listening to his walkman, using a suit
and a tie, reading The Wall Street Journal and talking the yuppie lingo.
Toxie's girl, Claire
Something I’ve always enjoyed about the Toxic Avenger films
is that they have this “made by the people for the people” feel to them. Aside
from the fact that the production of these film itself involves a lot of “real
people” and not Hollywood robots, in these
films, The Toxic Avenger is always going after some evil corporation that
either wants to turn everyone into slaves, or wants to privatize everything. Toxie
is there to protect the people against these evils, which is funny because ‘the
people’ always end up becoming a part of the action. Both of these Toxic
Avenger movies start and end with the whole town present, standing up against
the evil, right next to The Toxic Avenger and we always get to see their facial
reactions to the gruesome ways in which The Toxic Avenger takes care of
business. So these films are cool in that way, ‘the people’ always stand up for
themselves as well. Another element that sets The Toxic Avenger Part III apart is
that Toxie ends up fighting against Satan himself! When Satan decides to
finally fight against The Toxic Avenger himself, ‘mano a mano’ as they say, he
chooses to do so as if he was in a videogame. You see, old Beelzebub knows that
Toxie likes playing a video game called “The Five Levels of Doom” so Satan decides
that he’ll go up against Toxie as if they were in this video game, each level a
bit different then the next. Nifty idea!
There’s something to be said about The Toxic Avenger
himself. Here’s a guy who used to be a nerd of gargantuan proportions, he got
dumped into a vat of toxic waste and now he is hideously deformed, yet has
gained super strength! It's one of those the worm turns sort of stories, where the one who used to get picked on, now gets to pick back! His new found powers enable him to fight evil! It is a
very strange character because even though he takes bad guys and rips them
apart (literally!) he has a certain nobility to him. He isn’t a complete ass,
in many ways he is in fact a good guy. He protects the people, even if he does
go to extreme measures to do it. In fact, Toxic Avenger fits the description of
a rebel, a true rebel. A person who hates those that abuse humanity, and takes
manners into his own hands to protect the innocent, he is a rebellious leader, no
doubts about it. He’s methods are just a tad too extreme, but sometimes that’s
what it takes.
So that’s my take on these two Toxic Avenger movies. In my
book, they are both fun times and on a technical level they are superior then
the sequel that followed Citizen Toxie: The Toxic Avenger IV (2000) which
somehow manages to look even cheaper then these two films. In fact, if I am not
mistaken, The Toxic Avenger II and III are the most expensive Toxic Avenger films
Troma ever produced! All other Toxic Avenger films cost less than 500,000,
including the latest one! And to be honest, you can tell they had more money. There’s
more explosions, more stunts, more gore, more make up effects. All in all,
these are a fun pair of films, I mean, they aren’t Shakespeare (that would be
Tromeo and Juliet!) but they sure are fun to watch. You have to get into a
certain ‘low budget’ mindset to watch these films. If you don’t like excessive
violence, b-movies, foul language, nudity, sex, gore, vomit (and other bodily
fluids) decapitations or cheap production values in your movies…then don’t
bother with these, but if in the other hand you are easily amused and enjoy,
silly movies that don’t take themselves to seriously, then indulge! A dip in
Tromaville’s pool of cinematic toxic waste is fun every once in a while.
Rating Toxic Avenger Part II: 2 out of 5
Rating Toxic Avenger Part III: The Last Temptation of Toxie:
2 ½ out of 5
