Leprechaun Retrospective, Part 4: Leprechaun 4: In SPACE (1996)

Today on Movie Russian Roulette, Alex rewatches one of the most exquisitely terrible movies in existence and exults in every frame.

yessssssss

Overview: The Leprechaun, somehow in space, has kidnapped a beautiful princess, hoping to marry her and get the respect he deserves. Meanwhile, a squad of space marines try to hunt him down. Take a guess how that works out for most of them.

not well

We have a larger group this time around, but only a few are really important: "Books," our main character, "Cupcake" the stereotypical calm female scientist, Dr. Mittenhand (who is basically Dr. Evil in space), and Sgt. Hooker, the hardass Marine leader who once had half his head blown off and still managed to carry a wounded comrade 15 miles to safety.

it's that kind of movie

Notable moments/quotes: Sgt. Hooker: "Word's come down from above: kill... the bastard."

Sgt. Hardass: "What's our motto?"
Everyone: "Semper fi, do or die, kill! Kill! Kill!"

Token female character: "I'm looking for Sgt. Hooker."
Sgt. Badass: "Well, ya found him. I'm busy, what the fuck do you want?"

The Leprechaun, entertaining his captive, magically summons a candlelit dinner for the two of them.

Sgt. Notameaningfulname, blessing his troops: "Oh God, give us the strength to hunt down this son of a bitch & kill anything our path & let all our wounds be that of flesh wounds on-leh!"

Books, surveying a blasted alien hellscape: "Real vacation spot."
Sgt. Generic: "I've seen worse... you ever been to De-troit?"

Princess, reacting to her family being poor: "I deserve it, you know. For all I've suffered. Being a princess and having nothing to wear!"

A solider named Lucky finds the leprechaun's treasure and sets down his gun to swipe some of it. Take a guess how it turns out for him.

not well

Random soldier: "Give us a hand here."
Books: "Okay." He then tosses a disembodied hand at the group.

A random soldier pisses on the leprechaun's remains. Then... this happens.

why yes he possesses the soldier's dick why do you ask

 Ambiguously Gay Lab Assistant: "Hey! Don't touch my unless you mean it..." He takes a glance at Books' crotch area... "Cowboy."

Sgt. Would Be the Main Character of a Call of Duty Game: "Get this stuff secured so I can go get drunk."

Dr. Mittenhand: "No one leaves unless I so say!" There is then an almost minute long awkward pause. "...Say so."

Later, an off-duty Marine starts getting hot and heavy with the only female Marine in the unit. Naturally, the Leprechaun uses this opportunity to burst, Alien-style, from the Marine's balls.

no caption can sum this up

Dr. Girlfriend: "I'm a biologist... a doctor of biology."

Books: "I am not defensive, and I will shoot anyone that says so."

Sticks (the black Marine), looking at his white squadmates: "Damn. Twenty-first century, and they still can't dance."

Harold shows that he isn't afraid to display his fetishes.

Sgt. Ubiquitous: "I'm not going to risk my men for your test tubes and your science!"

Sgt. Main FPS Character, addressing a character who's a living computer: "If I lose any more troops, your ass is grass! If... if you even got an ass!"

Leprechaun: "As Shakespeare said, shit happens."

Dr. Half a Computer: "I shall be beautiful!"
Toady: "Cool."

this is Dr. Mittenhand

 Delores, the one female Marine: "Kill... him!" She then dies.

The leprechaun imitates a naked Dr. Reeves to gain entry to Dr. Mittenhand's lab. Harold doesn't suspect a thing.

Dr. Not Dr. Evil: "Respect? Respect is nothing! Fear is what runs the universe, my friend!"

Harold tried to backstab the Leprechaun. The Leprechaun is not pleased, and takes revenge...

in the silliest way possible

Once the Marines show up, the Leprechaun uses magic to somehow teleport TNT onto Sgt. Hooker and take him as a hostage.

The Princess Zarina, before doing the below: "This is your fate."

no nips for you

"You have no one to blame but yourselves."

After he's been taken as a hostage, Sgt. Hooker fights the protagonists. Because it's this movie, the Leprechaun makes him crossdress and fight the rest of the cast with nunchucks.

What, you thought I was kidding?

Meanwhile, Dr. Mittenhand has become Mittenspider thanks to a convenient mutation.

The Princess, on being told of the Leprechaun's plans to kill the king: "How dare you! He's my father. I'll kill him."

The main cast eventually launches the Leprechaun into space. He explodes, but after that delivers one final message to Books and co...

beautiful

My thoughts: First and foremost, the effects look like they came out of a terrible, early 90s FMV video game. Perhaps fitting because this came out in '96, but... come on, really? It looks awful.

More broadly speaking, this is far and away the most hilarious film in the series... at least that I've seen. I'll freely admit that I haven't seen any of the movies past this point, and while this movie fails at logic, consistency, and continuity, it's fucking funny. If you have a familiarity with sci-fi tropes at all, this movie will resonate and entertain. It might even be more poignant now, given that video games have exploited the bizarre appeal of the space marine (see Halo, Gears of War, anything Warhammer, etc.) The movie doesn't miss any opportunity to show that the Leprechaun's brains beat the marines' brawn. The only exception, of course, is the Marine with the call sign of Books, because obviously a character with that nickname is a smart dude. Never mind the fact that he only graduated high school. His name is Books! What more do you want, him to wear glasses? Hahahahahahahahahahahaha. You're adorable.

A very odd element of this movie is the absence of most truly high-tech equipment in the live action scenes. Sure, we get the... breathtaking... special effects of the ship moving and being in space. However, when it comes to the soldiers actually entering combat, there are no lasers, no force fields, and no thermal detonators to be found. Instead, they use modern-day looking assault rifles. The Leprechaun, oddly, aside from the one scene where he uses a lightsaber knockoff, sticks to a SMG when battling our heroes. Except when he gets hit with a science laser and grows to be a super large leprechaun.

"They see me rollin. They hatin'."

On the subject of the leprechaun being the big man, the movie almost becomes tragic. The Leprechaun, on multiple occasions, asserts that his goal is to get respect and have people stop laughing at him. The force and emotion these lines are delivered with make me wonder about the man behind the role. At this point, Warwick Davis had been doing this role for a few years. I'm no expert on Hollywood, but I can only imagine what kind of damage to your reputation as a "serious thespian" a few years of mostly playing a murderous leprechaun could do to a person. Some bits of this movie have a little bit of world-building, as though it's trying to be more than a campy B movie. They fail, but I can't help but imagine that Mr. Davis thought that somehow this movie would elevate his previous work (or at least erase it in contemporary memory) through a kind of reboot. Sadly, this never came to pass, as most people, if they remember these movies at all, generally only remember that one Friends actress starring in a movie about a killer leprechaun. It wouldn't be until later that Warwick would escape from this prison of a role.

"Bitches love demeaning roles."

On the whole, this is a damn fine crappy movie. The heroes barely make it out alive. The guy gets the girl at the end. Murder solves all problems. A relatively put-upon everyman overcomes all obstacles. The ship's self-destruct is halted with one second remaining. It's classic American cheesiness at its best, and I can't help but recommend it. I adore this movie for all its stupidity. Get a little drunk, high, whatever, and watch it; you won't be disappointed. I honestly can't even get mad at this movie. I love it too much.

I give this movie my highest rating: a Nic Cage Watches a Man Breakdance out of five. From here on out it's unexplored territory... I have three more movies to watch before I can close out this retrospective, and I look forward to watching each one. Except for maybe the 2014 reboot. I hope you'll stick with me on this adventure on the blog, Facebook, and my pathetic begging display.