Aktion Mutante

Devilishly funny Sci-Fi-terror-black comedy about some mutants become involved into incredible and frightening adventures . They're a band formed by hunchbacks , cripples , a two-headed man , mentally handicapped people and other mutants , all of them are likeness to ¨Francisco Ibañez's comic books roles¨. This is a full-on surreal Science Fiction movie that blends thrills , a lot of fun , suspense , tension as well as an intriguing script full of underlying lack seriousness . This Spanish SciFi/Fantasy/comedy is Alex De la Iglesia's first foray into absolute and total lunacy , being titled ¨Mutant action¨ or ¨Acción Mutante¨ . The flick centers on a band of attackers , a terrorist group of mutants led by Ramon Yarritu (Resines) abduct at a wedding party the daughter of a wealthy owner , Patricia Orujo (Frédérique Feder), to claim for the rights of the ugly people . But the rich man , the powerful businessman Orujo (Fernando Guillen Cuervo), trying to flee her at whatever cost . As the gang escaping from the police in their spacecraft , Ramon tries to doublé-cross his band in order to get all the ransom . The journey ends abruptly when they crash in Axturiax (shot in Almeria) , the planet (which bears remarkable resemblance to Tatooine of Star Wars) of the crazy miners where no woman live . There Ramón gets trapped by strange bands , weird people , a boastful saloon , as he falls into the clutches of a rare family and many other things . Meanwhile , Ramon and Patricia have been pursued by Rednecks , polices and the wealthy man along with his heavily armed hoodlums .

Alex De la Iglesia's Sci-Fi , horror comedy blends creepy elements with humor , tongue-in-cheek and thrills ; so, the tone of the film is light-hearted . It's a veritable buffet of the cream of the Spanish nineties , full of action , laughs , scares and attacks . Packed with scenes of fantastic nature , robust comedy , this story is exciting as well as frightening , as we follow the strange situations of some peculiar kidnappers whose destination is dictated by terrible events . The narration is so filled with quirk characters , crazy violence mixed with eerie elements and an underlying sense of surprise , and it is so excessive and plenty of fantastic elements , one can't help but keep watching , much as it is over the top in many an occasion . There are a lot of ¨comic books¨ references , such as ¨Lorna and his robot¨, ¨Judge Dredd¨ by John Wagner and ¨Frank Miller's Dark night¨. And the night city is similarly recreated to ¨Total recall¨(1990 , Paul Verhoven) and some scenes pay tribute to ¨The hills have eyes¨(1977, Wes Craven) . De La Iglesia reigns in his style this time around and gives an utterly watchable takedown of Science Fiction/comedy that certainly delivers a few madly inspired moments . Once again De la Iglesia exemplifies why he's one of the most amusing Spanish filmmakers currently churning out foreign cinema , adopting frenetic storytelling much like Quentin Tarantino , Brian Singer , or Matthew Vaughn might dream up . Enjoyable main cast and agreeable support actors deliver one of the most engaging , hysterical, action packed and wonderfully shot Sci-Fi movie in years . Ensemble cast boasts some of Spain's biggest film and TV stars , such as Antonio Resines/Ramón whose character mingles aspects from Terminator (James Cameron , 1984) and Pinhead (Hellraiser) , and the two-headed role by recently deceased Alex Angulo is lookalike monster ¨Basket Case¨(1982 , Frank Henenlotter) . Further cast members are first class Spanish star system such as Karra Elejalde , Jaime Blanch ,Ramón Barea , Bibiana Fernández , Rossi De Palma , and Santiago Segura ; most of them Alex De Iglesia's ordinaries .

It has a nice production design by Arri and Biaffra , plenty of creativity . Catching musical score ,including popular Spanish songs ; furthermore , ¨Mission impossible¨ classic score by Lalo Schifrin. Colorful as well as atmospheric cinematography by Carles Gusi . De La Iglesia , is well known as the Spanish king of black comedy . He's a cool director has got several successes : ¨Dying of laughter¨ , ¨Baby's room¨ , ¨Oxford murders¨ , and ¨Perdita Durango¨ is probably the weirdest Javier Bardem film ever made . And , of course , ¨Day of the beast¨ and ¨La Comunidad¨ obtained the unanimous praise of both the critics and the public and result to be a lot of fun¨, especially for those who enjoy surrealist humor , they won several Goya prizes and and resulted to be a turning point in his meteoric career ; from then on he became his own producer, beginning with '800 bullets' (2002) through the Pánico Films company . In addition , he produced a TV Series : ¨Pluton BRB Nero¨ (2009) with similar characters and atmospheres to Mutant action . Winner of several Goyas (Spanish Oscars), however his movies have not yet reached box office in USA, but he has strong followers , as his films have a kind of comic edge to them . Nonsense, ridicule , laughters , absurdity , disturbing scenes and many other issues ; you can find everything in this flick . ¨Acción Mutante¨ captures the essence of the best Alex De La Iglesia, a filmmaker who, at this point in his own story, is respected and admired worldwide and has the most committed fans in the film universe . This Spanish SciFi-comedy was much praised by critics as well as public during its European festival run . Being a big winner with various statues Goyas was this Alex De la Iglesia's comedy which dominated the technical categories . This is without a doubt a thrilling and enjoyable movie to be enjoyed for Sci-Fi/comedy aficionados and Alex De Iglesia fans .

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!

Alex de Iglesia's first movie "Acción Mutante" is mostly a very enjoyable ride, but could use a bit more focus on the titular theme. You expect two hours of funny cripple terrorist attacks, but you get Homages to 3-4 different genre movies de Iglesia is apparently very fond of. The first quarter of the movie is actually concerned with the "Mutants" (actually just handicapped people) shooting the so-called beautiful upper class, but is then switching gears and becomes a mix of movies like Alien, Hills have Eyes and even Mad Max at the end. It would have been more interesting to see the terrorist group doing more attacks in the futuristic city, but I guess this was prohibitive because of the very low budget of the movie (1,5 Million $ approx.). Still, I applaud the movie for its visual inventiveness and not shying away from really nasty scenes. The director unfortunately wants to do too many things at once, and cover as many of his cinematic fanboy interests as possible.

The actors are mostly excellent, which is unsusual for such low-budget movies. Antonio Resines as the "Leader" Ramon Yarritu stands out, he manages to make a despicable character almost heroic in a sense. Which is weird, as he does so many awful deeds throughout the movie. But you kind of get his point after a while, it makes sense (even if its morally wrong).

All in all, an interesting debut, albeit very unfocused and with a lot of sloppy storytelling. But it shows clearly, that Alex de La Iglesia is a talented director nonetheless. Recommended, if you are willing to look past the usual first-time director imperfections.

MUTANT ACTION is a perfectly weird-on-purpose satire, cloaked in a sci-fi veneer. The group of alien terrorists of the title go on a rampage of carnage and destruction, in their quest to send a message to The Beautiful People. After abducting the daughter of an ultra-rich food magnate, the group finds that they have a murderous traitor among them.

Director Alex de la Iglesia's debut feature is a total blast from start to finish. The Mutants are an ecclectic bunch of oddball characters with assorted disabilities, with a megalomaniacal boss (Antonio Resines) calling all the shots. As the movie unfolds, we're taken from Earth into space, and onto another planet. A lot of the madness is reminiscent of Terry Gilliam or early Aussie films in this subgenre.

A highly entertaining romp with a terrific finale... ...

One of the best and most under-rated films I've seen in years! A black comedy in the truest sense. The scenario is outrageous, but never jabs you with that "get the joke?" elbow. The performances are true to character and slyly developed. I've never encountered any of these actors before, but they are all terrific and I'd watch almost anything they've subsequently made.

You may have to hunt for a crisp English subtitled print; beware the Substance 2002 DVD release that claims to be remastered, but is quite muddy, and I highly doubt it's a "remaster" as I've seen better non-subbed prints.

PS - the wedding cake scene is worth the price of admission alone.