Tetsuo II: Body Hammer (1992)    Manga Entertainment/Horror-Sci-Fi    RT: 83 minutes    Rated R (bizarre violent images throughout)    Director: Shinya Tsukamoto    Screenplay: Shinya Tsukamoto    Music: Chu Ishikawa    Cinematography: Fumikazu Oda, Shinya Tsukamoto and Katsunori Yokoyama    Release date: August 15, 1997 (US)    Cast: Tomoro Taguchi, Shin’ya  Tsukamoto, Nobu Kanaoka, Sujin Kim, Hideaki Tezuka, Tomoo Asada, Iwata, Keinosuke Tomioka, Torauemon Utazawa.      Spoken in Japanese w/English subtitles

Rating: ***

 Shinya Tsukamoto’s Tetsuo II: Body Hammer, a quasi-sequel to his cult cyberpunk body horror movie Tetsuo: The Iron Man, is his Evil Dead 2. It’s both a follow-up to and retelling of the story of a dorky Japanese businessman (Taguchi) whose body transforms into a mass of metal only with a bigger budget and color film. It also has a more coherent narrative while retaining the same level of bizarre as its predecessor. This time, Tsukamoto drops his protagonist in the middle of a crazy plan to destroy humanity by creating a race of super-human cyborgs or some such nonsense. Like the original, man’s fear of being replaced by machines comes into play.

 This time, the characters have names. Tomoo, the businessman, lives a life of quiet bliss with his wife Kana (Kanaoka) and young son Minori (Tomioka). That is, until a couple of cyborg skinheads kidnap the boy. He gives chase, an endeavor that concludes with the creeps forcibly injecting Tomoo with an unknown substance while he dangles from the edge of a tall building. His son is returned unharmed only to be unintentionally killed later by his own hand courtesy of the same cyber-creeps. They work for the movie’s villain Yatsu (Tsukamoto), aka “The Fetishist, the demented mastermind behind the evil plan. It turns out that Tomoo possess the ability to transform into a machine at will and Yatsu, who has the same power, needs him to make his plan work. Yes, there’s a past connection between hero and villain.

 Please don’t think me shallow if I start off by saying Tetsuo II: Body Hammer is one crazy ass movie! There’s really no better way to put it. HOWEVER, my profession demands that I elaborate on my opinions so here we go. If inclined, one could say that Tetsuo II: Body Hammer is really an expression of the filmmaker’s fear of Tokyo morphing into a jungle of concrete and steel and its inhabitants following suit. One could also reference the Henry David Thoreau book Walden to make a point about a life of simplicity in modern society. That’s the intellectual viewpoint, but since the audience isn’t entirely comprised of scholars, let’s talk about Tetsuo II: Body Hammer is less esoteric terms.

 How does Tetsuo II: Body Hammer hold up as entertainment? I’d say extremely well. It’s crazy and it’s cool. More money doesn’t appear to affect how Tsukamoto does the special effects. He sticks (or seems to) with stop-motion animation as opposed to CGI. That’s something I can definitely get behind. It adds to the whole cyberpunk surrealism thing he has going here. It alternates between nightmare and heavy metal music video. Its visual palette with all its blue and gray hues is quite impressive as are the kinetic action scenes. The imagery in these scenes recalls anime classics like Akira. Tsukamoto also makes excellent use of sound. Tetsuo II: Body Hammer is definitely a movie more for the senses than the brain. That doesn’t mean it’s dumb. It’s actually pretty smart in its own right.

 I now find myself at an impasse. What else is there to say about Tetsuo II: Body Hammer? Obviously, I like it. If I have one criticism, it’s that its comic book-esque plot is a little too conventional. How many American sci-fi-action flicks resort to the same thing? The first movie was pure nightmare material. I also miss the bleak tone and aesthetic of the original. Of the two, it’s the one that stays with you. Don’t get me wrong, Tetsuo II: Body Hammer is a lot of wildly entertaining fun. Or maybe I should just say it’s wild. Either way, it’s crazy ass cool.