Phil Tippett’s vision of a post-apocalyptic Hellscape inMad Godis the result of a thirty-year effort for the filmmaker. A nightmare born from a man who considers himself “misanthropic” by nature and was aiming to invoke the fears and anxieties he felt watching the news for three decades. The themes and ideas explored inMad Godare incredibly hard to swallow and will even cause acid reflux. But one thing is certain, if this is how Phil Tippett sees the future, then God help us all.
The legendary creature design and visual effects master who gave fans practical visions inStar Wars, Robocop, andStarship Trooperscontinues to prove his genius here with monsters of vivid detail with miniature setpieces that are haunting in their excessive realization. This is the most metal stop-motion animated film ever made that will surely go unacknowledged during awards season. And this is a shame considering the amount of work on display speaks for itself despite it being a genre the Academy ignores.
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The story withinMad Godis quite difficult to articulate. It’s about as self-explanatory asPink Floyd’s The Wall.It’s more of an experience that the viewer must allow to wash over them than a movie intended to have narrative clarity. At the center of this stop-motion nightmare, is a character known as “The Assassin.” He (or possibly she) has no speaking parts and for the first half ofMad God,the silent gas-masked character acts as sort of a tour guide (or audience surrogate) through this fever dream of the future.
The visual aesthetic feels heavy metal with mutated monsters and surgeons that walk jittery in menacing ways. Imagine a producer watching a stop-motionmusic videofrom the band Tool and deciding to make a full movie out of it. In fact, it would almost be worth it to play the album “Lateralus” while experiencingMad Godand see the results.
Along The Assassin’s journey, he carefully navigates a rustic barbed wire landscape of deadly things and persons that want to hurt everything in their path. A loud and deformed noise echoes through the radioactiveMad Max-inspired decay which is seemingly the sound of a baby cooing through the intercoms of the environment. Whether this baby is reporting the news or is the dictator of this futuristic hell is unclear. Either way, the commentary lands.
But much of Tippett’s discussion withMad Godwill be perplexing for some viewers at the halfway point as the film departs from its initial setup and swan dives into a psychedelic nightmare in the final stretch. It’s not as divisively bonkers as the ending ofAlex Garland’sMenbut unhinged nonetheless. Because of this,Mad Godwill not be embraced by everyone (including some horror fans). However, the choice is intentional and bold in its design.
On top of this, the immersion of Tippett’s stop-motion reality is hindered in the mid-section. The film utilizes a live-action environment and actor within its third act turn that somewhat pulls the viewer out of the experience (albeit briefly). The sequence in question establishes backstory for The Assassin but slows down much of the film’s vigor before taking a hallucinatory final lap.
The finale itself is going to have outlets everywhere demanding explainer pieces. There are so many head-scratching elements in the closing moments of the stop-motion epic and not one takeaway will be the same. From a glance, one might perceive this as an abstract allegory on the billionaires of the world: individuals who hollow out everything and everyone to serve their own dreams of building a rocket to go to space. Others might find a political message here about the eventual decay of Earth caused by those in power. Regardless of the interpretation, Tippett’s ambiguity is intentional but what is lucid is the hopelessness for existence.
Nihilism aside,Mad Godis an achievement in stop-motion production. The craftsmanship and detail on this film are absolutely gorgeous. There are moments inMad Godwhen viewers will want to hit pause to just absorb all the meticulous small touches. Cinematographer Chris Morley made the stop-motion feel incredibly cinematic. One shot, in particular, felt reminiscent of othersci-fi films such asAlien.The photography adds an extra layer as every frame has a purpose. The subject matter is ugly but the detail and the way it is filmed are breathtaking. Hopefully, there will at some point be a behind-the-scenes documentary released about the making of this thirty-year endeavor.
Mesmerizing, deranged, and gorgeously horrific.Mad Godis a labor of love that could only be realized by the legendary Phil Tippett. Outside of Laika-produced movies and afew Netflix films, stop-motion animation is already in short supply. And in the case ofMad God,rarely this ambitious. Tippett’s stop-motion nightmare of the future to come is bleak but wondrous to behold.
Mad Godstreams on Shudder on June 16.
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