I knew going in this one was going to be a challenge. This is a purely visual animated feature, with no words and no explanation. Its storytelling does not focus on the pure linear timeline where we have recurrent characters but in a hellish landscapes and imaginative worlds that feel taken from the hellish nightmare. This is not going to be pleasant, but it’s going to be extremely well crafted.

Mad God (2021) is written and directed by Phil Tippett. What we get initially seems like nightmarish industrialism gone amuck where the workers are made to serve and destroyed in the process. Then we get some sort of intruder, descending on a decrepit capsule, an Assassin supposedly in some sort of suicide quest to destroy this nightmare but things will not turn out for the better. There is a bit of a crazy continuity from one character to another as each of them seems to exploit whatever they can for some dark and nefarious purpose.

It’s impossible to explain the plot further, so what I’ve gone for is to explain the atmosphere and world building. This is a universe gone wrong, eating itself up and with a few brave souls trying to survive, escape, sabotage but ending just feeding the machinery itself. The elements from one story bleed into the next as we see incredible but ultimately destructive worlds preying on the weak and feeding the strong.

Strongly recommended only for the fans of animation and hellish nightmares. I had to challenge myself to sit through this one, but I came out with a lot of respect over the craft of the filmmakers. While it’s not an enjoyable romp, it has a sort of corrupted charm. I would probably not have a second helping, but for the audiences that are fans of the style it should warrant at least one watch. A challenge, but in the end a rather admirable accomplishment.

That will do for now.