At long last, The Toxic Avenger remake is here. Toxie is back on the big screen with his mop to bust the heads of bullies and bad guys. After the film suffered in limbo for nearly two years, its theatrical release was worth the wait. The Toxic Avenger is a goopy and gory blast that's also incredibly timely.
Released in 1985 by Troma Films, the original Toxic Avenger became a B movie classic. The film wasn't without its social commentary. A janitor falls into a barrel of radioactive material and then turns into Toxie. He wipes out the bad guys with his mop and fights crime. In the remake, directed by Macon Blair, Peter Dinklage stars as Winston, a downtrodden janitor who works for an evil pharmaceutical company named BTH. Essentially, everything they create poisons people.
Early in the film, Winston receives a horrible diagnosis that gives him no longer than a year to live. Even worse, his health care plan under BTH doesn't cover the meds he needs to prolong his life. There's a scene where Winston paces back and forth, phone pressed to his ear, talking to an automated menu. He desperately wants to speak to a person about his health care coverage. Likely, this scene will resonate. Most of us have dealt with lackluster health care coverage. For Winston, it's literally a matter of life and death.
Winston wants to do whatever he can to live, since he's the stepfather of Wade (Jacob Tremblay). Winston is all Wade has, since his mom died. He's bullied at school and even mocked during a talent show. The father/son dynamic within the film is a real driving force, and Tremblay and Dinklage are great in every scene together. Their dynamic gives the film a heck of a lot of heart and elevates the narrative. Winston and Wade are well-drawn characters who exist on the fringes of society.
Meanwhile, Kevin Bacon is an added highlight as the ruthless Bob Garbinger, the corrupt CEO of BTH. There's a scene where Winston sneaks into a fancy dinner that Bob attends to plead with him for better health care coverage. With a wink and a smile, Bob promise Winston he'll get him better coverage, only to have his assistant shoo him out of the party and then mock his plight moments later. Considering all the anger towards health care companies right now and CEOs who mistreat workers, this is another potent and timely sequence.
Through and through, BTH remains the villain of this remake. Toxie's enemies become the company's henchman, including Elijah Wood's hunch backed Fritz Garbinger, who executes Bob's orders, including kidnappings and assassinations. In this remake, Toxie finds assistance in Taylour Paige's character J.J. Doherty, who kicks butt and works hard to expose BTH's crimes. Yet, her character feels a bit too underutilized and maybe even unnecessary, considering the amount of characters stuffed into the film.
As for the effects and costume design, Toxie looks pretty good, played by Luisa Guerreiro. The look somewhat differs from the original, though the mop and pink tutu are kept intact. Gore hounds should also be happy. Toxie rips the jaws off of bad guys with his mop. Heads explode. Guts fly all over the place. Toxie also spouts nearly as many one-liners as the original. Once the film kicks into high gear near the halfway point, it rides a bloody wave.
The film does pay tribute to Troma, even though Legendary Pictures and Cineverse released the remake. There's a funny cameo by Troma's founder/CEO Llyod Kaufman, who also served as a producer. The town's sign nods to Tromaville, the setting of the original film and other Troma movies. The production design is a lot slicker, but the crew appeared to do their best to keep some of Troma's spirit alive.
The Toxic Avenger is a heck of a lot of fun at the movies. Dinklage and Tremblay are great, as are Bacon and Wood as cartoonish villains. The film is an entertaining splatterfest and takedown of corporate abuse. Armed with his glowing green mop and sporting his pink tutu, Toxie is the hero we need right now.