80
Metascore
14 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 100RogerEbert.comSimon AbramsRogerEbert.comSimon AbramsImagine, 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.
- 90Paste MagazineDom SinacolaPaste MagazineDom SinacolaTippett 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.
- 83Entertainment WeeklyDarren FranichEntertainment WeeklyDarren FranichFor anyone who loves stop-motion animation, the first 40 minutes of this bleak adventure will scratch your trippy itch and then some.
- 80Film ThreatRob RectorFilm ThreatRob RectorTippett 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.
- 80The GuardianLeslie FelperinThe GuardianLeslie FelperinThis 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.
- 75IndieWireRafael MotamayorIndieWireRafael MotamayorAfter 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.
- 75Slant MagazineChuck BowenSlant MagazineChuck BowenMad God offers a dense cornucopia of genre-fueled outrageousness that’s gradually united by a concern with cycles of warfare.
- 70The Hollywood ReporterJohn DeForeThe Hollywood ReporterJohn DeForeIt’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.
- 50IGNKristy PuchkoIGNKristy PuchkoPhil Tippett’s Mad God unleashes decades of pent-up creative darkness into a trippy and troubling ride with astonishing craftsmanship, but little substance.
- 38Movie NationRoger MooreMovie NationRoger MooreIf it’s worth reciting the decades it took to pack all this imagery into sets so dark that much of it doesn’t register, it’s also worth noting that effects folk are, by definition, masters of making the trees. Whether or not they grasp the “forest” and can tell a compelling, coherent story about it isn’t exactly a given.