Mad God

Phil Tippett

2022

Synopsis

A figure known as "The Assassin" descends from the heavens into a nightmarish pit full of monsters, titans, and cruelty.

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Recommendations

100
RogerEbert.com
Imagine, if you will, a dystopian nightmare set in a post-industrialized world that’s forever teetering on its last legs, but never quite falls over. This description does not, admittedly, tell you much, but the movie’s less of a narrative-driven parable than a dazzling and corrosively cynical vision of a hyper-compartmentalized society that’s struggling to both die and reset.
90
Paste Magazine
Tippett purges his Id until he’s wrung the last bit of bile from the Assassin’s journey, but even throughout all the harrowing imagery, the director never loses a sense of cinematic wonder.
83
Entertainment Weekly
For anyone who loves stop-motion animation, the first 40 minutes of this bleak adventure will scratch your trippy itch and then some.
80
Film Threat
Tippett himself said he did not intend Mad God to adhere to any strict narrative structure, so it’s best to merely soak in the sumptuous, detailed visuals and extract your own meaning from the journey. It’s a ferociously engaging, if slightly flawed, viewing experience.
80
The Guardian
This is undoubtedly a work of historic significance, made by a master in his field – but beware that it often feels like a film-making notebook, full of doodles and ideas but not especially cohesive as a story.
75
IndieWire
After four decades of crafting creatures for iconic films, Phil Tippett has finally unleashed his magnum opus, and it is worth the wait. Mad God exudes devotion, with every frame carrying decades worth of ideas and craft, resulting in a film that is just as hard to describe as it is hard to forget.
75
Slant Magazine
Mad God offers a dense cornucopia of genre-fueled outrageousness that’s gradually united by a concern with cycles of warfare.
70
The Hollywood Reporter
It’s a nightmare, and not one a mainstream audience would relish. But aficionados of this nearly extinct form of special effects will relish the chance to see a labor of love whose roots go back to circa 1987.