Return of the Killer Tomatoes! (1988)

I love this movie so much

it is finally so absorbing because it plays like a lyrical road odyssey that’s also a detective story.

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

The last scene of "Attack Of The Killer Tomatoes!" showed killer carrots about to come up and attack. Here, they are nowhere to be seen. Why not? It's not like this was intended to be a film series that lacked continuity. We see the same footage from the original film so it's obviously a direct sequel. Another annoying thing is that we get another poster that depicts the tomatoes as having faces when we get none of that in the actual film again! There's a scene where Professor Gangrene is putting a face on something, but it's a Mr. Potato Head toy. Was that supposed to be a joke about the poster? This is believe it or not, George Clooney's film debut. I love how the one question on this very website is asking if Clooney also apologized for this film. "Batman & Robin" at least had a high budget and some semblance of a plot. The best part here is probably how they set it up in the beginning. The fourth wall jokes actually get pretty annoying. In one scene, the Professor says that this is real life, despite the fact that everyone is referencing how this is a movie! I was expecting at least more tomatoes to appear. If sequels don't escalate, they should at least stay as big as they were before. The original film at least has its originality. Was this the time spoof movies started sucking? At least we later got "Naked Gun!". *1/2

Professor Gangreen is cooking up the Great Tomato Uprising, in which music converted tomatoes into human form to war against mankind. Pizza delivery man Chad Finletter must save the world and beautiful tomato-girl Tara.....The problem with this film is that it tries way too hard to be intellectual, and to further it's self away from cheap exploitation.The fact is, no matter how many times you break the fourth wall, or kill the product placement joke to death, you cannot get away from the essence of Troma that the film wreaks off.The actors are great, Clooney was always going to be famous, and the other chap will always be the whining accountant who gets killed by Sanchez in Licence To Kill.It's just the idleness of the whole thing, trying to be an adult orientated comedy, but having that weird furry tomato whom is obviously going for the gizmo look, because kids, they love the merchandise don't they?It loses it's way toward the end of the second act, so they up the ante on sight gags, and more product placement, and fail, miserably.It's a car crash movie of the highest order, you know you shouldn't watch it, but you can't take your eyes of the blasted thing.At least the pizza dough comes down at the end....

Return of the Killer Tomatoes! (1988) * 1/2 (out of 4) It's been years since The Great Tomato War and the government has put a ban on all tomatoes. This doesn't stop the crazy Professor Gangreen (John Astin) who is creating tomatoes that look, act and smell like humans. Pizza shop owners and best friends Chad (Anthony Starke) and Matt (George Clooney) end up with one of these creatures, the beautiful Tara (Karen M. Waldron), who seems like the perfect woman if it just wasn't for her DNA. With a fear about humans of another war, Tara tries to prove that it's not the tomatoes that are bad. Look, you're either going to get this series and enjoy it or not get it and wonder what on Earth people see in it. I'm in the group that really doesn't get the charm but I think I can understand why some might enjoy it. With that said, since I don't "get" it, obviously I had a pretty hard time working my way through the incredibly long 98-minute running time. Even as someone who likes bad movies, this thing here was just so long and boring to me that it was actually quite painful to sit through. The entire "joke" just seemed so forced to me that I really couldn't laugh and the jokes were just so stupid that they came to me as more annoying than anything else. Again, I realize that this silly charm is what fans enjoy but it just doesn't work for me. There are some good things about the film including the performances. I thought both Starke and Waldron made for a fun couple and of course it's always fun seeing these early roles of Clooney. Astin easily steals the film playing the nutty scientist. He's so over-the-top and goofy that you can't help but get your only laughs from him. I'll at least give the film credit for going all out in regards to its attempts at getting jokes. They just didn't work for me.

Years after the original batch of evil tomatoes was destroyed by the song "Puberty Love", a new batch has been created -- a batch that can be transformed into a humanoid appearance, to blend in with the human population. Wilbur Finletter, the original hero, returns as his nephew unknowingly falls in love with Tara, a tomato and the girlfriend of the evil Dr. Gangreen.While there's something to be said about sequels not being able to surpass the originals, I find this to be an exception. The humor is campier, and the jokes are lamer. But for some reason, I really appreciate it. The visual gags are stepped up to the level of "Airplane!" or some Mel Brooks movie and I do not think this one should be neglected. Even in the beginning when clips are shown from the first movie, the clips are well chosen to really bring out the funniest and most important parts, adding something to the new saga.The original film was actually a student film at UC-Davis, and was redone in 1977 as what we know today. That could have been the end of the series, but by early 1980s home video came around and gave the original a new lease on life and a sequel was inevitable... this time even produced by New World (who had no input). The bar was set higher (or lower) and they succeeded.George Clooney appears. Actually, he more than appears -- he is on screen more than just about anyone. This is before he was big, and he has a long-haired look as though he was auditioning for the part of Jesse on "Full House" (but I guess he lost to John Stamos). Clooney is very lovable in this film, pulling a Charlie Sheen act of women-chasing that suits him well. There is something funny in retrospect about him running a "Meet Rob Lowe" contest to meet women, when now (2016) the women would much rather meet Clooney than Rob Lowe (though Lowe has come back in the last few years).Some of the jokes are more subtle, at least as subtle as a film like "Killer Tomatoes" can be. Take, for example, the Oliver North Federal Prison. At the time, this was probably pretty funny. Today, the audience who "gets it" will be much smaller (they'll say "Isn't he a commentator for Fox News?"). And there are plenty of sex jokes, but despite their prominence I never felt the film crossed into the childish realm of "gross-out" humor. Even the nudity was more or less tastefully done (I expected much more).For me, the scene (or scenes) with the product placement running joke are among the funniest. We get the characters to break the fourth wall, we get some slight jabs at low budget film and consumerism... and just in general the whole concept is funny. Some have pointed out that the gag was stolen by "Wayne's World"... how much this film (or "Wayne's World") were actually paid by the companies they use in the joke remains unclear.If you liked the first film, I cannot see why you would not love this. And if you grew up with the cartoon, you will want to see this film since this is the one the series was based off of. I have yet to see "Killer Tomatoes Eat France", but I think it is safe to say that "Return" is the high point in the movie series.As always, the best way to see this film is on the blu-ray released from Arrow Video. Besides the priceless audio commentary with creator-writer-director John DeBello, there are also TV spots and other promotional items. Anthony Starke provides a nice interview concerning how he got involved and the use of product placement. Clooney, unfortunately, is not interviewed, but that is not really a surprise. Stephen Peace, a series regular, is also not interviewed, most likely because he went on to be a notable California politician of all things.