Raging Balls of Steel Justice

...So it's a shame that the rest of this short is such a letdown. RAGING BALLS OF STEEL JUSTICE was conceived as a claymation tribute to the action films of the 1980s, movies which inevitably featured a square-jawed hero committing ultra-violence against terrorist gang members and the like.

Mike Mort's job is to play out an action-packed siege scenario in just 15 minutes of screen time, and to be fair he achieves that aim. The animation is very good, and there's a pleasing adult tone to the grisly violence in which various bad guys are inevitably blown to smithereens.

A shame, then, that the script seems to have been written by a scatologically-obsessed 14-year-old boy. The constant humour is weak and wearying, such as the sex-obsessed robot (no, I didn't laugh once) and the over-the-top ridiculousness of other bits. Lee Hardcastle's Youtube shorts (such as the exemplary PINGU'S THE THING) are much, much better.

When a heavily armed gang of kidnappers take hostage one of the city's most influential bankers and proceed to kick him repeatedly in the groin until his balls come out of his nose (250 hits apparently being the magic number), tough maverick cop Chuck Steel leaps into action, guns a-blazing.

A claymation pastiche of the '80s action genre, director Mike Mort's Raging Balls of Steel Justice is 15 minutes of pure animated excess, packed full of gloriously over-the-top violence and shamelessly unsophisticated humour. But even though the script is undeniably crude, the execution is far from it: Mort's animation is wonderful, with great characters, lovingly detailed models, and oodles of plasticine gore, with impressive use of CGI effects to enhance the action (huge explosions being tough to make out of modelling clay).

Admittedly, a couple of the gags don't work as well as they might—the over-sexed police robot getting it on with inanimate objects isn't funny enough to be repeated as often as it is—but overall this is a very enjoyable way to waste a quarter of an hour.

7.5/10, rounded up to 8 for Steel's accidental 250th wallop in the banker's bits, which does indeed result in the guys nuts dangling from his nostrils.

Mike Mort's creation, Raging Balls of Steel Justice is an undeniably funny, adult action - packed short filled with explosions, villainous characters and a lot of bloodshed.

From the creator of 'The Gog's'; the story follows maverick lone- wolf Cop 'Chuck Steel' who doesn't play by the rules! Big chin'd and with a quiff, he is accompanied by a sexually obsessed robot. 'Chuck Steel' likes to deliver his own version of justice! A parody of classic 1980's Action / Cop films, this short doesn't take itself too seriously; well written and executed, (Mike Mort does most of the voice's himself) this fast paced entertaining animation leaves you laughing.

Skilfully animated in a style that cleverly utilises Stop-Motion animation to take clichés of the action movie genre to the extreme, the humour has Mike Mort's creative signature written all over it, and alongside high quality cinematography, sets, puppets and props culminates in this hilarious short that is thoroughly enjoyable to watch.

It's every 80s action film condensed into 15 minutes of non-stop violent claymation, executed with great care and tremendous technical skill. Beautifully sculpted clay models, stop-motion animated, are enhanced with CGI explosions, the whole thing directed and edited like a really good action film. Some bits look almost real.

English humourist Miles Kington once said that for a parody to work the parodist had to truly love his subject, and Mike Mort must love those old 80s action movies to create this. It made me laugh with every single frame. It's fast, dense, clever and painstakingly well done, and unlike maverick cop-on-the-edge Chuck Steel it plays by ALL the rules.