Review: Tetsuo II: Body Hammer

Testsuo II: Body Hammer functions much like Evil Dead II, a bigger budget half remark half sequel to the cult masterpiece Testsou: The Iron Man. Part II immediately raises the stakes with the hero Tomoo as well his family being stalked and tormented by a ban of cyborg skinheads. Tomoo has a mysterious past that he scarcely remembers prior to his adoption. The mild manner Tomoo becomes steadily more aggressive as his family is targeted by skinheads who are revealed to be member states of an underground movement headed by a mad scientist. Things are turned up to 11 when Tomoo is injected with cybernetics,and subjected the to experiments that launch his gradual transformation into 'The Iron Man' that's equal part Power Rangers villain and part David Cronenberg.

Tsukamoto's direction feels like the product of MTV pushed to a point where mundane cityscapes become frightening and alienating. The tranquility of the opening sequences captured with a camera that appears to float, is kicked to the curb early on in favor bizarre compositions, rapid fire editing, stop motion and long stretches of musclely skinheads lifting weights in a steel mill that feels inspired by Leni Riefenstahl. Emasculation in a modern confining society runs throughout the film, becoming especially terrifying when the only alternative is a 'will to kill' philosophy endorsed by the android community . The climatic twist deals with some Freudian childhood flashbacks that should feel contrived but are so otherworldly and twisted that they make perfect sense in the context of Tuskamoto's nuthouse . The practical effects in this day and age are equally endearing and frightening. The practicals proestchitics of the iron men repeatedly reminding the viewer of the human fragility.

Tuskamoto's work tackles many of the same themes as Fight Club but the humor here is far more Punch and Judy and his philosophy revolves around surrendering to the kind of madness that modernity represents . The way the film approaches the hefty dramatic sequences has a gas-lighting affect, often opting for lots of screaming hysteria and constantly complicating the good vs evil dynamite that narrative seems to be heading towards. It's a dizzying ride but it's one worth taking.

10/10

Must see!

-Greg S