[HorrorScience] The Toxic Avenger 4 (2000)

It's time to talk about a movie again Troma Entertainment, specifically the last one they made of their star character: The Toxic Avenger.

In the past I already mentioned the great movie where This character debuted, and then his unfortunate second and third. It's a shame that a character like Toxie had the bad luck to star in films that didn't measure up, despite having a bigger budget than the original film, but that's how it was.

Perhaps that's why it took more than 10 years to release a quarter of the character, known as Citizen Toxie: Toxic Avenger IV (Toxic Avenger 4: Toxie Citizen in Spanish).

How have the more than 10 years of hiatus been for good old Toxie? Will this movie be worse than the previous sequels? There's only one way to know.

While some brainless people are holding school children hostage, the Toxic Avenger appears to restore order (in his own way). Despite stopping the criminals, an explosion will cause a dimensional breach that will exchange Toxie for his double, who happens to be evil.

So we have evil Toxie (Noxie) in the world where Toxie is a hero and good Toxie in the world where Toxie is evil. Obviously this will cause many strange situations in those close to the character (such as his girlfriend, his partner or his ally Sergeant Kabukiman), who will suspect him when they see how his character has changed.  Finally, as it could not be otherwise, both Toxies will have to fight to see who is the best.

The introduction of the film makes it clear to us that the Toxic Avenger sequels are shit (something we already knew) and that this is the real sequel. In other words, those at Troma took this film seriously, which would not only bring back their star character, but would also bring him together with another of their most popular characters (Kabukiman).

The Toxic Avenger 4 It is a film in which They put in a lot of effort, but they also got carried away in the negative sense most common in Troma. For example, all possible scenes from the first film are reused and of course, today the difference between sharpness and clarity between them is very noticeable. We also find the typical Troma moments where there are errors that could have been solved with minimal effort, something that was not done either and finally the exaggeration and continuous expansion of scenes that did not give any more of themselves, but that someone decided that they should continue for a few more minutes.

However, it is undeniable that For much of the film, the quality is far superior to what was seen in the sequels and it really seems like they tried to make something more than decent (performances apart). I also have to say that I liked that the black humor and biting criticism returned in this film, recovering the police officers with Nazi or Nazi overtones. making a brutal satire of how violence is treated on television, especially in the news. The folks at Troma have always liked to go overboard and in this film they prove it once again.

The story itself is not much, it deals with parallel worlds and evil doubles, something common for a comic book reader and follower of science fiction series or movies. I think something more could have been done with the parallel worlds and the evil doubles of Kabukiman and Toxie, but in general the final result is not bad, despite the clumsiness with which many moments of the film are executed.

Troma's excesses in terms of nudity, blood and exaggerated violence and intelligent jokes surrounded by exaggeratedly stupid humor are still there and remind us of what we are seeing. Honestly, I think What hurts the movie the most are the stupid jokes., but then you see typical scenes in “serious” cinema like the countdown of a bomb that lasts much longer than it says and you see the parody they make of that in this film and you realize that that type of absurd humor It also has its charm at specific moments.

The special effects are as uneven as the movie and it is something that I cannot fully understand, taking into account the long experience and the budget it has compared to the old films. For example, in the first film of the Toxic Avenger They managed to believably show a car hitting a child twice, and in this movie there is a similar scene, but it looks much more ridiculous and fake.

In general, the Toxic Avenger 4 It is Troma in its purest form. It is very difficult for me to rate and evaluate it, because for one part of me, it has been a disappointment but for the other, it has fun moments and is a fairly big step forward compared to the rest of the sequels. I would have liked the film to focus more on Toxie's story and noticeably reduce the silly jokes, as I think the sarcastic and parody humor in some scenes is much more rewarding and less harmful to the final result. In my case, what I found most enjoyable about the film are the news presenters, who despite being tremendously hypocritical and biased, are very similar to the ones we see every day on our televisions.

Curiosities about the film:

• El título de la película (Ciudadano Toxie) hace referencia a la película de Orson Wells Ciudadano Kane. Pese a que la trama no tiene nada que ver, hay algunas escenas en blanco y negro que imitan a la película de Wells.
• La lista de famosos en esta película es interminable e incluye a gente tan diversa como Lemmy Kilmister (cantante y bajista de Motorhead), Ron Jeremy (actor porno), Kevin Eastman (co-creador de las Tortugas Ninja), Eli Roth (actor y director), James Gunn (guionista, productor y director de cine). Incluso el prólogo está narrado por el popular Stan Lee.
• Los fallos “made in Troma” están a la orden del día y hay muchísimos fallos e incoherencias de una escena a otra. Por ejemplo en la escena en la cual arrastran a Pompis con el coche, se ve como pierde un brazo, poco después pierde las piernas, pero vuelve a tener dos brazos.
• Muchos actores habituales en esta saga y en las películas de Troma regresan para hacer papeles o cameos, aunque quizás el regreso más llamativo sea el de Mark Torgl, actor que interpretó a Melvin (Toxie cuando era humano) en la primera película y que fue sustituido (cutremente) por otro en la tercera, debido a que Kaufman y Torgl no llegaron a un acuerdo económico.