Review: Mad God

Director: Phil Tippett

Screenplay: Phil Tippett

Year: 2022

Since the release of "Mad God" by Phil Tippett was announced, it generated a lot of expectations. For those of you who don't know him, Phil Tippett is recognized for his mostly practical special effects work on films like "Jurassic Park," for which he won the Oscar for Best Visual Effects, "Star Wars" and "Starship Troopers." Although Tippett has proven with this film to be a master when it comes to visuals, "Mad God" will not feature among his best films.

Usually, around here is where I tend to include a brief plot synopsis, but in this case, I couldn't write anything. The main reason is that "Mad God" is not about anything at all. The entire film is a conglomerate of incoherent visuals with little relation to each other or with any intention of giving continuity to a possible plot.

In contrast to the incoherent plot that many will call experimental, the visuals are a true work of art. No less was expected from a person with Tippett's background, but even so, the talent he has for creating a world of nightmares in which he absolutely takes care of every detail is still impressive. What stands out the most is the creativity he shows in presenting an amalgam of horrific creatures and a decadent and infernal atmosphere with a lot of ritualistic symbology.

If we combine plot and visuals, the result is not necessarily the expected one. Although the visuals are impressive, they get repetitive after watching them over and over again and only a few new creatures break the monotony. However, except for its physical appearance, we do not care much more than what happens to the creature because we already know that it will not have any relevance. This only achieves that after only a few minutes, the movie becomes boring and quite a task to finish.

When it comes to scoring this film, I run into the same dilemma again. If I evaluate it in two parts, it will take a 0 for plot and 10 for audiovisual effects, so a five seems the fairest evaluation. However, it is not a film that I can recommend to many people because even I, who enjoy this type of experimental proposals and who enjoyed the visuals, got bored before I got halfway through. One point less seems more appropriate, but at the same time, I feel that a score of 4 devalues ​​the greatness of the audiovisuals. What I can firmly say is that this is not a movie that many will be able to enjoy, let alone understand.