SGT. KABUKIMAN N.Y.P.D. (1991)

SGT. KABUKIMAN N.Y.P.D. (1991)

Tagline: Fatal Sushi ... Lethal Chopsticks .. And As American As Apple Pie!

(Action, Crime, Absolute Madness) [PG-13]

I was depressed, I was confused and I was turning Japanese.

This story revolves around Harry Griswald who is an N.Y.P.D. cop who ends up getting possessed by a Kabuki master after he is killed during a show. It doesn’t take long before he finds out that the Kabuki master that is inside him is part of an ancient prophecy and that he must take on ‘the evil one’ in order to save the world. He also finds out that he has special powers and can utilize them to overcome a growing number of henchmen trying to kill him. Harry also manages to find love in this crazy situation and so we’ve got that going on as well. 

One thing that I have to say about this movie is that it's freakin bonkers, but it’s not the most bonkers movie I have ever seen. In fact, BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA might be “more” insane, but this movie definitely goes for the fences when it comes to finding ways to offend sensitive people and just be overall weird. This movie is purposely goofy and the effects definitely come across as being made by amateurs, but it still manages to have some lines that are pretty funny even if it’s in an “I don’t know why I am laughing” sort of way. Every time Harry turns into Kabukiman, the transformation seems to be handled in a different way. Sometimes his shoes might melt and turn into sandals. Other times he might blow up and kind of explode into Kabumiman. It’s kind of nuts. 

Where this movie fails is in the middle. Yes, there are some gags and real comedy provided by news people asking questions, things going on in the background, etc. However, after the first 30 minutes or so and the storyline has been introduced, this thing just turns into a bunch of running around and hijinks that start to blend together and don’t push this story forward. Then when we finally get to about the last 20 minutes this thing starts to pick up again and we get an actual monster in the film. 

When it comes to the quality this is not a good movie. When it comes to the score this is an even worse movie. When it comes to the acting it’s actually just okay. Rick Gianasi takes on the role of Harry Griswald and does a decent job. He is mostly known for Troma films and showed up in stuff like MUTANT HUNT and ESCAPE FROM SAFEHAVEN. Harry Griswald was actually the name of one of the writer's janitors from high school. We also have a Susan Byun (DEADLY TARGET) sighting. She is okay as Harry’s love interest Lotus but she isn’t asked to do much here. Outside of this movie, I haven’t seen her in anything else. 

If you want some of the best movies ever made, you can go straight to tons of movies from the 80s and thank me later. However, if you want to see some of the weirdest movies ever made you can find a heck of a lot of those, right there in the 90s. Troma in particular was well known for making low-budget weird stuff and this one is an exception, but it isn’t gory for the most part. It comes across as very whimsical and sloppy because it is. 

Overall this thing gets a 4 out of 7 from me. I am sure it will offend some sensitive people, but if that is you, then I suggest not watching any movie that Troma ever did. It should also be specified that even if you are not a sensitive person, you probably don’t want to go into this movie expecting a masterpiece.

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