The Toxic Avenger Part II and III (1989)

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nTitle: The Toxic Avenger Part II (1989) and The ToxicnAvenger Part III: The Last Temptation of Toxie (1989)

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nDirectors: Lloyd Kaufman and Michael Herz

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nCast: John Altamura, Ron Fazio, Phoebe Legere, Rick Collins

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nToday I’ll be reviewing both of these Toxic Avenger movies togethernbecause the ‘plot’ of both films is interconnected and they where both filmednback to back with a budget of 2.3 million dollars, which by the way is a lotnwhen talking about Troma Films. So watching both of these movies back to backn(which I’ve just done) is sort of like watching one gigantic Toxic Avenger Epic.nFor all intents and purposes, Troma fans should love both of these films, yet, therenseems to be some disdain for both of these movies, even from the perspective ofnTroma fans and the filmmakers behind these films themselves! For example, CitizenToxie: Toxic Avenger IV (2000) starts out by giving us a summary ofnToxic Avenger’s origin then they warn us “then came two shitty sequels, sorry aboutnthat. This is the real sequel!” This is something that I cannot understandnbecause Toxic Avenger II and III are in my book, same as most (if not all)nTrauma movies,  they are really no different in terms ofncontent and style than parts I or IV, so why the hatred? The Toxic Avenger II andnIII have everything a Troma film should have; they are purposely imperfect, asnif they revere the fact that they are cheap. These films are loud, incoherent,nperverse, childish, cartoonish, and offensive to the max. They are alsongrotesque, gory, violent, and nonsensical with tons of bad taste to spare; but thankfullynthey can also be fun. When you pay for a Troma film, this is what you are goingnto get! In my book, both Toxic Avengers II and III are exactly what Troma filmsnare all about.

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nThe Toxic Avenger II starts out by showing us how The ToxicnAvenger has successfully eradicated evil from Tromaville, he’s done such a goodnjob that he has no villains to fight. People are so happy in Tromaville thatnthey literally dance in the streets all the time! Out of happiness! The way ThenToxic Avenger’s body works is, he has these cells called “Tromatons” and theynstart acting up whenever evil is near. As soon as these Tromatons detect evil, Toxiencan’t control it; he simply goes on a destruction binge until said evil is destroyed.nAnd said evil is a corporation known as Apocalypse Inc., a corporation that triesnto take over Tromaville. But thanks to the protection of Toxie, Apocalypse Inc.nis effectively kicked out of Tromaville, or so he thinks. For a moment there,nat least in the Toxic Avengers eyes Tromaville is safe. Problem is that sincenthere’s no evil for him to fight, Toxie feels as if his life has lost all sensenof direction. He is so depressed and bored that he ends up visiting his shrink,nwho suggests that Toxie should try and find his long lost father, who apparentlyncalls himself ‘Big Mac’ and resides in Japan. So off goes Toxie to Japan! Will henfind his father? Will Apocalypse Inc. make a come back and try and take overnTromaville?

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nThe Toxic Avenger Part II is in my book a fun sequel; it has allnthe zaniness and nuttiness one could want from a Troma movie. Have you evernseen The Toxic Avenger turn an evil black midget into a basket ball? And thennslam dunk said midget? This happens on this film, and it is not the craziest ofnideas you will see in this movie! In the huge action sequence that opens thenfilm (well huge for Troma standards) Apocalypse Inc.’s evil minions attack anhome for the blind! And blow it up! If you know anything about these movies,nthen you know that blowing up a home for the blind is just a way of gettingnwarmed up. Both of these Toxic Avenger movies are a barrage of gags and ideasnthat never stop. Like a Sam Raimi Evil Dead movie, these Toxic Avengers neverngive you a break, the gags just keep coming and coming!

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nThe problem for me with The Toxic Avenger Part II is whennToxie goes to Japan.nNow, here’s a cool idea, send Toxic Avenger to Japan! The idea alone makes younthink that you’re going to be seeing something totally different. And you do,nit’s kind of funny seeing this monstrous deformity known as The Toxic Avengernroaming the streets of Japannas Japanese people freak out and run the other way. For a whole segment of thenfilm, we simply see Toxie walking around all these Japanese landmarks, posing,nas if someone was taking a Polaroid of him. Unfortunately, after a while younrealize that the film sort of looses its steam. Where in its first half we getnan avalanche of non stop craziness, once Toxie reaches Japan the filmnkind of comes to a complete halt. There is a moment in which Toxie fights some Japanesengoons, but it comes so late in the Japan segment that by that time younfeel bored. It’s not until Toxie returns to Tromaville that the film picks up itsnprevious frenetic, coked up pace. This in my book is the films only true fault,nthe Japanese segment is sort of a let down, it’s kind of boring, if you ask me,nit should have been crazier.  But fearnnot my friends, once Toxie gets back to Tromaville things get nuts again! Thenwhole film ends on a high note for me, with this nonsensical car chase in whichnToxic Avenger commandeers a taxi driven by a latino, so he can chase down onenof Apocalypse Inc.s minions. The whole thing is made even more hilarious becausena pair of old timers are riding in the back seat of the car, screaming theirnheads off! This was a very fun way to end the movie.   

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nThe Toxic Avenger Part III: The Last Temptation of Toxie isna better film in my book. It never leaves Tromaville, the town where people nevernstop dancing in the streets! Once again Tromaville is at peace. There’s no evilnto eradicate and again, Melvin Junko a.k.a. The Toxic Avenger falls into andepression. Things are so happy in Tromaville that all Toxic Avengernends up fighting is an old lady who is cheating in a card game and making sure anbaby eats his veggies. With no true evil to fight, The Toxic Avenger getsndepressed, unfortunately, Melvin is also unemployed! He has no income! Butnwait, here comes a letter offering The Toxic Avenger a job at Apocalypse Inc! Innorder to help his girlfriend (who is blind!) regain her eyesight, he decides tontake the job so he can pay for her eye operation. Unfortunately, this meansnthat now Melvin will be working for Apocalypse Inc. Will his soul becomencorrupted? Will greed take over The Toxic Avenger? Yes my friends, this is yetnanother film that hates Big Business, huge corporations hell bent on takingnover the world. At one point when Melvin is offered the job at Apocalypse Inc. thenchairman of said company offers it all to him as if it was Satan, offeringnJesus the kingdoms of the world. But unlike Jesus, who refuses Satan’snofferings, Melvin takes the job and so unknowingly sells his soul to the devil.

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nBasically Toxic Avenger III: The Last Temptation of Toxienturns Toxie into a Yuppie, which at first Toxie thinks is totally okay becausenhe’s making some money, but then realizes is a mistake, because he is now anslave to an evil corporation that wants to enslave the citizens of Tromaville. Thenonly reason why Toxie agrees to work for Apocalypse Inc. is because he wants tonmake enough money so that his blind girlfriend Claire can get an operation thatnwill restore her eyesight. It’s kind of funny seeing Toxie walking around,ndressing up like a yuppie, jogging while listening to his walkman, using a suitnand a tie, reading The Wall Street Journal and talking the yuppie lingo.

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nSomething I’ve always enjoyed about the Toxic Avenger filmsnis that they have this “made by the people for the people” feel to them. Asidenfrom the fact that the production of these film itself involves a lot of “realnpeople” and not Hollywood robots, in thesenfilms, The Toxic Avenger is always going after some evil corporation thatneither wants to turn everyone into slaves, or wants to privatize everything. Toxienis there to protect the people against these evils, which is funny because ‘thenpeople’ always end up becoming a part of the action. Both of these ToxicnAvenger movies start and end with the whole town present, standing up againstnthe evil, right next to The Toxic Avenger and we always get to see their facialnreactions to the gruesome ways in which The Toxic Avenger takes care ofnbusiness. So these films are cool in that way, ‘the people’ always stand up fornthemselves as well. Another element that sets The Toxic Avenger Part III apart isnthat Toxie ends up fighting against Satan himself! When Satan decides tonfinally fight against The Toxic Avenger himself, ‘mano a mano’ as they say, henchooses to do so as if he was in a videogame. You see, old Beelzebub knows thatnToxie likes playing a video game called “The Five Levels of Doom” so Satan decidesnthat he’ll go up against Toxie as if they were in this video game, each level anbit different then the next. Nifty idea!

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nThere’s something to be said about The Toxic Avengernhimself. Here’s a guy who used to be a nerd of gargantuan proportions, he gotndumped into a vat of toxic waste and now he is hideously deformed, yet hasngained 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 anvery strange character because even though he takes bad guys and rips themnapart (literally!) he has a certain nobility to him. He isn’t a complete ass,nin many ways he is in fact a good guy. He protects the people, even if he doesngo to extreme measures to do it. In fact, Toxic Avenger fits the description ofna rebel, a true rebel. A person who hates those that abuse humanity, and takesnmanners into his own hands to protect the innocent, he is a rebellious leader, nondoubts about it. He’s methods are just a tad too extreme, but sometimes that’snwhat it takes.

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nSo that’s my take on these two Toxic Avenger movies. In mynbook, they are both fun times and on a technical level they are superior thennthe sequel that followed Citizen Toxie: The Toxic Avenger IV (2000) whichnsomehow manages to look even cheaper then these two films. In fact, if I am notnmistaken,  The Toxic Avenger II and III are the most expensive Toxic Avenger filmsnTroma ever produced! All other Toxic Avenger films cost less than 500,000,nincluding the latest one! And to be honest, you can tell they had more money. There’snmore explosions, more stunts, more gore, more make up effects. All in all,nthese are a fun pair of films, I mean, they aren’t Shakespeare (that would benTromeo and Juliet!) but they sure are fun to watch. You have to get into ancertain ‘low budget’ mindset to watch these films. If you don’t like excessivenviolence, b-movies, foul language, nudity, sex, gore, vomit (and other bodilynfluids) decapitations or cheap production values in your movies…then don’tnbother with these, but if in the other hand you are easily amused and enjoy,nsilly movies that don’t take themselves to seriously, then indulge! A dip innTromaville’s pool of cinematic toxic waste is fun every once in a while.

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nRating Toxic Avenger Part II: 2 out of 5

nRating Toxic Avenger Part III: The Last Temptation of Toxie:n2 ½ out of 5  

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