Release Date – 29th August 2025, Cert – 18, Run-time – 1 hour 42 minutes, Director – Macon Blair
Seeking revenge for his boss (Kevin Bacon) not helping him with his healthcare, a terminally ill janitor (Peter Dinklage) is thrown into toxic waste, turning into a powerful new being.
The opening shots of this reboot of The Toxic Avenger give a glimpse of a film as pulpy, schlocky and gory as the two years it sat on a shelf unreleased would suggest. Images of what’s to come rapidly flash across the screen before Peter Dinklage’s voiceover tells us that there’s much more to the story before all of this.
Instead of an awkward, bullied teenager the protagonist in this reboot is Dinklage’s janitor Winston. A struggling single step-dad to Jacob Tremblay’s Wade, with whom he has an attempted yet distant relationship with, often brought down by his own mind, scared of trouble and the dangers of the outside world. There’s little humour at the character’s expense, although some from his interactions with the outside world. Before his trippy transformation into the titular being, having been thrown into a pool of radioactive waste, he’s a sympathetic figure, trying to deal with the fact that he’s been given 6-12 months to live. A point which comes together with Winston’s attempts to talk with Wade which brings in a sense of heart to the proceedings. He’s not a loser, but certainly struggling to put himself across and have his voice heard in the world.
After the wealthy owner (Kevin Bacon) of the healthcare company he works for turns him away, Winston plots revenge. However, despite his hideous new green-skinned appearance (physically performed by Luisa Guerreiro in the full prosthetics, with Dinklage continuing to provide the character’s voice) – complete with large patches of lumpy purple burns – once granted super strength and a glowing and steaming radioactive mop to wield he’s fondly cheered on as ‘Toxie’ by crowds who learn of his heroism after stopping a hostage situation at a fast food restaurant. although flip-flopping on him throughout the film. There’s some likable, if brief, especially in comparison to the run-time, splatter here and there, but never quite anything that feels as pulpy as what this film could be.
As we go back and forth between Toxie and Taylour Paige’s J.J. Doherty trying to expose and take on healthcare company WHB, Bacon’s CEO, enlisting brother Fritz (Elijah Wood) and a loud techno-rap group as henchmen to sort out the man exposing their illegal activities and work with gangsters the overall narrative starts to almost feel tangled within itself. Less by complication more that the film appears to be caught up within itself. There are still occasional patches of humour – a running gag involving opinionated location titles consistently raises chuckles – and bursts of action, but the film almost seems to slow down, with the tongue-in-cheek, spoof-adjacent build-up being more interesting and enjoyable. This first half hour, while having a couple of bumps, largely involving Tremblay’s character away from his step-father, sets up an enjoyable and self-aware time.
What follows is still enjoyable in parts, but the self-awareness somewhat seems to fade in exchange for moments that are more in the realms of silliness, whilst still fitting into the world. The schlock and pulp hoped for isn’t quite present and it does cause the film to somewhat falter, especially as it seems to embrace its plot perhaps more than viewers might, or at least I did. Gore appears to be present to some degree to make up for the lack of stronger B-movie vibes, which are present in the opening stages and some of the visual aspects which appear, but this Toxic Avenger appears to waver with the crowds watching the film as much as he does with those in it.
Not as pulpy or schlocky as perhaps liked, brief but likable splatter doesn’t quite make up for this but there’s still enough to enjoy and raise a chuckle in The Toxic Avenger to help move it along, even as it gets caught up in its own narrative.
Just A Little Bit Random 