The Toxic Avenger Part II (1989)
Directed by Michael Herz and Lloyd Kaufman
Troma. Just hearing Troma tells you what you’re in for haha. I have a complicated past with Troma. I used to really dislike all their movies I saw, but they grew on me. The Toxic Avenger is a fun movie and man this sequel is even crazier haha.
The Toxic Avenger Part II picks up after the first one with Toxie living with his blind girlfriend Claire and helping out at a home for the blind. He is bored with life because he has removed all the crime from Tromaville. So, naturally a new bad guy comes to town and tries to take over, blowing up the home and setting up a scam to send Toxie to Japan to see his father. Toxie goes to Japan and meets who he believes is his dad. The end up fighting and Toxie has to kill him, he is saddened that he killed his father and returns to Tromaville to find the bad guy took over. He saves the day again, and finds out the man he killed wasn’t his dad. Yeah this movie is as ridiculous as it sounds haha.
Much like any other Troma movie, the acting is wacky as hell. The guy that plays Toxie understood the assignment and had a good time being the superhero. Phoebe Legere plays Claire, Toxie’s girlfriend and she’s a good character. All the Japanese stuff is funny to me. The guy that plays Big Mac Bunko, is crazy and over the top. It is everything you would expect from a Lloyd Kaufman movie haha.
The effects, as always are surreal. There is tons of gore in this, to the point of comedy. Toxie crushes a dude in a wheel chair, until his guts fall out of his stomach. He uses some kind of grill press on a dude’s nose in Japan, which forms his nose into the shape of a fish haha. Big Mac Bunko gets chopped up for a crazy long time by some weird butcher in Japan. These are just the ones I can remember off the top of my head, having seen the movie for the first time two weeks ago, so you know there’s even more batshit stuff.
This movie was fun. I think that is where I land with Troma now. If you’re looking for a serious movie that makes you think, this aint it. If you want to be entertained for an hour and a half, then this is the movie. I give this a B. I can’t give it an A because it is ridiculous but I did find myself laughing at its absurdity.
B
