¡Acción Mutante! ¡Acción Mutante!

I absolutely love any movie that indulges itself with a theme song that unabashedly chants its own name. As you might have guessed from the lead-in, Acción Mutante (Mutant Action) follows suit with a raucous rock number that kicks off a wild ride of thrills, spills, chills and kills. The debut film from Spanish director Alex de la Iglesia, Mutant Action is just your everyday, run-of-the-mill tale about handicapped terrorists who slaughter the rich and beautiful. While 800 Bullets illustrates just how much Iglesia has evolved as an artist over his career, the cheesy spectacles of Mutant Action show us his outrageous sense of humor and love of all things camp. Once again: ¡Acción Mutante!

This outlandish work of genre cinema unfolds in a dystopian future where class conflicts and police brutality are the order of the day. Only the handi-capable vigilantes of the underground terrorist group Mutant Action dare stand up to these atrocities. Our unlikely band of anti-heroes includes M.A., a deaf mute with super-human strength; the floating, legless Cimecefa; siamese twins Alex and Juan, joined at the shoulder; the aptly-named Handiman, with the classic "retard arms"; and finally, The Hump, who has... well... a big hump. The film opens with a botched attempt at a kidnapping that does nothing but earn the group unwanted publicity on the evening news (hosted by Jaime Blanch).

The mutants regroup for the long-awaited release of their leader, Ramón Yarritu, from his five-year prison sentence. Ramón demands perfection for their next caper, a daring abduction of a wealthy aristocrat's daughter during her wedding. The mutants disguise themselves as caterers and gain entry to the proceedings using the tried-and-true foil of the deformed freak in the phony cake. The colorful, decadent party paints the rich and high-falootin patrons as soulless jokes of human perversion, leading us to further identify with our deformed saviors. The mutants predictably botch the whole operation however, and in the ensuing melee almost everyone winds up dead or maimed. Mostly dead, though.

Against all odds, the remaining mutants manage to successfully kidnap Patricia and take her back to their intergalactic spaceship. After delivering his ransom broadcast to the hostage's father, Ramón greedily engages in the systematic elimination of his fellow mutants. From here the movie progresses into a life-and-death struggle for Ramón and the captive Patricia, who has developed a severe case of Stockholm Syndrome. On their journey to the rendezvous point they encounter numerous perils, such as deranged fatso virgins hell-bent on stealing Patricia for themselves. A suitably gory and over-the-top melee serves nicely as the film's money shot; it's a load well spent and a fitting send-off for such a bizarre slice of cinema.

Though it caters to a very specific set of tastes, Mutant Action is a huge crowd-pleaser. It's ultra-violent, ultra-sick and ultra-offensive, and would absolutely shock and appall most "respectable" movie goers. But, most importantly, it's ultra-entertaining, at least for hardened fans of ballsy genre flicks. The combination of science fiction, horror and comedy elements are skillfully brought together to create a fresh, campy cinema experience like few others. I've now seen both his first film and his last (800 Bullets), and the ideas and techniques that Alex de la Iglesia makes use of are quite consistent. Even though 800 Bullets is a much more mature and refined piece of cinema, its themes of family unity, loyalty, betrayal and social class conflicts are still prevalent in his earliest works. I've also seen that Iglesia can switch genres without even flinching and still deliver a memorable and entertaining product.

Mutant Action starts off like a standard sci-fi film but changes its skin throughout. The initial stages of the film contain numerous instances of sharp social commentary, though they become less frequent over time. One could reason that this is simply the product of Iglesia's inexperience as a filmmaker, though a devil's advocate might argue that Mutant Action deftly illustrates his uncanny ability to fuse disparate concepts into unique wholes. Iglesia's love of television is pervasive throughout the film, evidenced by the CNN-like coverage of the ransom exchange and irreverent commercials for drug-laced breakfast cereals. The dialogue is riotous and there are a plethora of humorous visuals to accompany it, such as Alex dragging around his dead siamese brother for much of the film.

Mutant Action is a fairly impressive production for 1993, shot in around 10 weeks for a modest 1.5 million dollar budget. Its technical aspects deserve at least some mention, as a number of great-looking sets provide the perfect backdrop for the action. Though no member of the cast is giving an Oscar-worthy performance here, they are all quite effective in portraying a sympathetic band of misfits. Even the double-crossing Ramón (Antonio Resines) is multi-dimensional and in several scenes comically shows us that he's not just a heartless bad guy. Though Patricia (Frédérique Feder) annoyed the hell out of me as a spoiled bride, she eventually transmogrified into a sexy (if not entirely tolerable) focal point. (Oh, and huge props to Iglesia for showing her getting dragged around by her hair.)

As you might have already surmised, I had a lot of fun watching Mutant Action, and I'm giving it a big ol' Thumbs Up. I like my gore and violence with a solid base of irreverent humor, a dish that Mutant Action serves up piping hot. Alex was on-hand to attend the screening and proved once again what a friendly, funny and humble person he is. I'm really glad I got to meet him during the festival, as I've really enjoyed his films thus far. For loads of zany, bloody action brimming with retarded terrorists, there's really only one place you need to look.

¡Acción Mutante! ¡Acción Mutante!

Thumbs Up. Weird, wacky and bursting with deliciously un-PC humor, Mutant Action delivers truckloads of just what its title promises.