Acción mutante

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.

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!

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... ...

I'm a real admirer of Alex de la Iglesia's superb supernatural comedy thriller 'The Day Of The Beast', so I was really looking forward to watching 'Accion Mutante', his previous movie. It started off superbly as a exciting, violent and witty black comedy about a gang of (mostly deformed) mutant terrorists intent on destroying "the beautiful people" and their mediocre, hypocritical society. They kidnap the daughter of a bourgeois business and hold her for ransom.

Fantastic! All was going great, the balance between satire, action and silliness was handled imaginatively, but half way through the movie changes direction, and becomes increasingly less interesting. The planet where Mutant Action land to make their exchange is populated by a family of grotesques similar to one's in Philip Brophy's equally bizarre 'Body Melt', or like some of the stranger characters seen in the comics of Garth Ennis. Unfortunately for me the movie loses focus at this point, all the earlier potential for surreal social criticism is abandoned, and it becomes a standard b-grade sci fi action flick with only a few good bits.

It's a shame to me that the movie didn't continue in the approach of its first half, because I think if it did it would be a classic piece of science fiction. As it is, with all its flaws, it's still better than 90% of American SF movies made in the last 15 years, and recommended viewing. Please track down 'The Day Of The Beast' though, it's sensational!

Accion Mutante are a group of disabled terrorists who think of themselves as mutants and who see their mission as being to rid the world of pretty people and superficiality. Unfortunately, they are quite fabulously inept at what they do, and they are totally mistrusting of each other (with good cause, it turns out!)

This film is a comic masterpiece: the direction is a cinematic treat and the more times you watch it, the better it gets.

To give you an idea of just how impressed I was, I rented the film once and then went back to the rental shop and bought that copy from them.

If you enjoy off-beat, quirky movies that defy genre then you're going to love this; if you don't enjoy such eccentric celluloid expeditions then you may surprise yourself by enjoying this anyway. I can assure you that it'll be unlike anything you've seen before - go on, take a chance.