Effects legend Phil Tippet's long-gestating passion project finally arrives, and it's one of the most cynical dystopian movies ever made. A veteran of Star Wars, Robocop and Jurassic Park, Tippet created the "go motion" process, an evolution from Harryhausen-style "stop motion" animation that smoothed out the movements of figures to make them appear a bit more realistic without losing the texture and visual appeal of hand animation. Mad God is a dark, messy, gory, scatological and monstrous portrait of life as a hellish conveyor belt without end or hope. Descending into a Bosch-like nightmare world populated with wretched and sadistic mutants of all shapes, an "assassin" proceeds on a suicide mission to destroy the place with a suitcase bomb. Everywhere he steps is a humid mess of vomit and decomposition. Bigger (or smarter) beings torture and slaughter smaller/dumber ones for amusement as well as sustenance, and all remaining guts and waste are pureed into a glop to be consumed by other creatures. All in all, it's a vision of pure horror, and yet Tippet's design and animation are wondrous and inspiring. The film is a reminder that unique creative visions can still erupt every once in a while, and they should absolutely be celebrated.
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