MFKZ (GTA San Andreas Goes Sci-Fi)
MFKZ, co-directed by Guillaume Renard and Shoujirou Nishimi, is a lot of things crammed into 90 minutes of kinetic animated insanity. The nod to anime is rather overt, but there’s also an influence of alien sci-fi, call-outs to the GTA games and various elements of hip hop culture with a dose of the sort of random, surrealistic humor you’re likely to find from something on Adult Swim. The baristas went rather apeshit with this smoothie.
Set in the fictional “Dark Meat City,” MFKZ tells the story of Angelino, a pizza delivery guy who finds himself at the center of a conspiracy involving Men in Black, gangs, secret laboratories, and more after crossing paths with a mysterious girl. There’s also Vinz, Angelino’s close friend whose head is permanently on fire (because why the Hell not?), Willy, a fat, cat-like creature, as well as an evil race of tentacled aliens who look like a cross between something from Lovecraft’s sketchbooks and the Venom symbiote.
After getting hit by a truck at the film’s beginning and awakening newfound powers of speed and agility, things only get crazier for Angelino as he uncovers more information about his identity as well as the agenda of the femme fatale who charmed him earlier on. A zany, surrealistic blend of genre influences and plot turns follows, including a hijacked ice cream truck, a sentient swarm of roaches, an obese gang leader who quotes Shakespeare, and a genius scientist looking to plunge Earth into a nuclear winter. If this sounds completely ridiculous, well…that’s quite likely the point. Abandon all hope, ye who would seek logic here.
For some MFKZ will come off as little more than an incoherent mashup of random influences guilty of committing the grave sin of “style over substance” (no trophies of nude golden men for you, Studio 4°C!). Truthfully, however, it’s hard to believe that the film was ever anything that even its creators themselves took overly seriously, especially considering that a group of luchadore wrestlers on a mission from God end up saving the world towards its ending. Yes, while there are plenty of “Lol WTF” moments all throughout MFKZ, rather than being a snobby rotten tomato about it, it’s better to just sit back and appreciate this nutter for what it is: a deliberately nonsensical, genre-bending animated thrill ride.
Written by Che Chimera
MFKZ (2019)
Guillaume Renard and Shoujirou Nishimi (directors)
4.5 / 5
