The Toxic Avenger

After two long years of waiting, The Toxic Avenger has finally splattered its way onto the big screen and believe me, this delay had nothing to do with quality. Much like this summer's The Naked Gun revival, Macon Blair's reboot of the cult classic knows exactly what it is and leans into it unapologetically. The result? A crude, raunchy, blood-soaked horror-comedy that never once apologizes for its absurdity and delivers the splatterfest fans have been craving.

This fifth installment in the franchise-and a reimagining of the 1984 Troma classic-is every bit as outrageous as its predecessors but with a modern twist that blends old-school grindhouse charm with slick, updated filmmaking. There are tits, dicks, off-color jokes, and buckets of gore flying across the screen exactly what you'd expect from a Toxic Avenger movie, and then some. If you grew up on Lloyd Kaufman's wild, politically incorrect originals, you'll feel right at home. If you're new to Tromaville and more accustomed to the squeaky-clean tone of modern superhero flicks, buckle up. This one will either shock you or convert you.

Peter Dinklage absolutely owns the role of Toxie. He brings heart, grit, and just the right amount of tragic hero energy to a character that could have easily slipped into pure parody. His journey taking on the evil BTH corporation, led by Kevin Bacon's vile Bob Garbinger. Bacon, for his part, is clearly having a blast as the sleaziest CEO imaginable, chewing up every scene with cartoonish villainy.

The balance of practical effects and CGI is one of the movie's strongest points. The gore here is gloriously over the top but still tactile enough to keep that Troma DNA alive. Limbs fly, heads explode, and the screen is painted red in set pieces that rival some of the best splatter moments of the past decade. But what makes it work is that, underneath the carnage, there's still a story with heart, a hero who, despite his grotesque transformation, just wants to do the right thing.

The humor is as sharp and unapologetic as ever. Blair doesn't try to sanitize the material to make it "palatable" for modern audiences. Instead, he embraces the outrageousness of the original films and turns it up a notch, creating a film that is self-aware without ever becoming self parody.

The Toxic Avenger is a filthy, funny, and fantastically bloody good time. It's rare for a reboot to honor its source material while carving out its own identity, but Macon Blair and Peter Dinklage pull it off. Whether you're a lifelong fan of Toxie or a newcomer looking for something bold, brash, and completely insane, this one is not to be missed.

Dinklage and Elijah Wood both bring there A game as far as acting goes in this modern take on The Toxic Avenger.

It is a solid 7/10 for me, some things it does well and others not so well. The first 5 or 10 minutes are terrible but I enjoyed the other 95% of the movie, stick with it and don't stop watching after 5 or 10 minutes, it gets better.

The Acting is good, the music fits the movie well and the locations are good. The Negative aspect for me in the movie is the poor jokes, I was expecting them to be better overall.

As I mentioned above, Dinklage and Wood both do a great job and pull this movie up to a higher rating than it would have been without them in it.

This could have been a ton worse, its not perfect but it is better than expected.

Check it out if you liked the original or you like silly Horror flicks at all.

Story is good enough, the acting is Ace, the music is good, there are some good gory scenes and it is a good silly time of a movie. The comedy could be better and the editing could be slightly improved but the good out weighs the bad, check it out!

A remake that neither replicates nor ignores the original. Plenty of knowing jokes (New Chem High School, the St Roma's Village location, with both esses faded) and an opening animation that will feel familiar.

Peter Dinklage and Kevin Bacon having the time of their lives; Jacob Tremblay and Taylor Paige a solid rhythm section; but Elijah Wood in a sadly derivative role (Penguin / Minions bad guy). A band of musician assassins - think Insane Clown Posse / Slipknot - provide slapstick, and a subplot involving the primary villain being in hock to worse villains was entertaining.

No real attempt at moral nuance or intellectual rigour - I loved the doctor explaining the technical stuff - but great fun and well worth the time and ticket money.

I liked this movie even more than I thought I would. I saw the originals when I was a kid but I barely remember them other than the fact that they were a goofy, bloody, and corny good time. And so thats all I was pretty much needing with this new version. Not hard to meet that expectation, right? But some of the reviews I saw had me questioning if even that bar was too high. It turns out that it wasn't at all. I sincerely enjoyed this movie! It hit those marks and even went a little higher. I had read that it was all over the place (I didn't find that true at all). I didn't have any trouble following this movie, didn't even have to try. I think some people just like over analyzing things. This is not a movie to over analyze. Just go have fun. It is corny. Are some things a little overly corny? (like the dumb band), sure, but that's the point. OVER THE TOP! It's supposed to be cheesy, corny, raunchy, bloody, and ridiculous. If you don't like that than why would you watch this movie? Lol. Goes to show you really can't take someone else's word, you just have to find out yourself. And to be honest, I don't understand why it was unrated and apparently had a hard time getting a distributor. I've seen way more gory movies with more foul language this year that are rated R. It had it's gory scenes for sure but I thought there would be a lot more of them. Anyways, this movie was good nostalgia while making it's own way, fun, and everything else I had hoped it would be. I hope they make more.

The Toxic Avenger is a suitably gory and surprisingly funny low budget throwback to B-movies that's greatest strength comes from how consistently those jokes land. It updates the titular character for modern times effectively and is always moving quickly enough to remain a fun watch. The bad taste sensibilities are more than accounted for and it also has the required heart to be emotionally investing as well.

Peter Dinklage gets things off to a strong start thanks to his heartfelt performance as a downbeat guy who just wants to be a good dad. Once he hands over the physical work to Luisa Guerreiro, they work well together so it still feels like one character. Kevin Bacon is the fun kind of pathetic villain and Elijah Wood similarly gets some laughs out of his eccentric character. Taylour Paige does the narrative heavy lifting as well as delivering solid jokes.

Macon Blair's direction has a clear affection for this genre and when the smaller budget becomes visible it only adds to the charm. All the gore is fittingly bloody and gleefully over the top but it would've benefited from looking more practical overall. The occasionally snappy editing by Brett W. Bachman and James Thomas prevents the film from getting bogged down by the most common narrative tropes when they appear.