Mutant Action (1993)

That was an excellent one.

everything you have heard about this movie is true.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

Blistering performances.

Accion Mutante is the debut feature from cult director Álex de la Iglesia. It incorporates the absurd comedy with violence template that he seems to have followed throughout the rest of his career. Also like others in his filmography such as The Last Circus and Witching and Bitching, this one starts out really well but loses a bit of steam in the final third. It's set in the future, where a terrorist group called Accion Mutante take violent action against rich hipsters and the superficially beautiful; their latest scheme sees them kidnap a society girl resulting in them being pursued to another planet by her mogul father who is bent on serious revenge.This one has a pretty modest budget so it has to be cut some slack. Nevertheless, it makes good use of its resources at times. In particular an early high society party scene was nicely done; it was colourful and garish in a way that showed the definite influence of Pedro Almodovar who actually was a producer here. This scene along with the earlier more directly satirical ones that showed news reports on the terrorists activities were the most successful and focused parts of the film. After this opening things become more run-of-the-mill and the black comedy becomes less pointed. Ultimately, Accion Mutante is one of those movies which probably isn't as good as you think it's going to be given the potential of the central idea. It's still fun though. Of additional note is an amusing rap-rock theme song that plays in the credits.

This movie is crazy. In a good way. That is if you like crazy and understand Spanish. Having seen "El día de la Bestia" (which blew me away, great movie), in Spain during Spanish lessons, I turned my attention to other movies made by Alex de la Iglesia and the only DVD I could find back in the Netherlands was this one (or "Mutant Action", as it was called). I like odd, strange, out-of-the-ordinary movies. So this one really appealed to me: it was chaotic, weird, sometimes creepy, violent. Although it's not De la Iglesia's best movie, it's still pretty good. (I'm not gonna write what the story is about. Go see it for yourself.)

Strange, surrealistic mixture inspired by movies like "Time Bandits", "Mad Max", or "Brazil". Some disabled people form a terrorist group to attack the rich and beautiful. The plot is a bit crappy; the movie focusses on obscure characters like Alex, the siamese twin. Additionally, there is some slight critics on politics and society, which are not to overestimate. The beginning is a bit lame; I like the movie more in the second part, when they land on that strange planet.Generally, "El dia de la bestia" is the better one of Iglesias two well-known movies. It is more thrilling, has an better atmosphere and is even more funny.

Do not be fooled into thinking that Accion Mutante is merely a darkly humorous schlock space-horror-action movie. It aggressively and successfully attacks 'decent' society, the media and the action movie genre itself in equal measures and still manages to be genuinely funny, shocking and surprising. Paul Verhoeven has been trying to make a film like this for years, but in my opinion has never got close.Mutante is pure Science Fiction (and I mean SF *not* Sci-Fi) - deadly anti-bourgeois social commentary wrapped in a delicious coating of blood, sugar and intergalactic terrorism.Nice one!