DBZ: Lord Slug Review (Movie 4)
Dragonball Z: Lord Slug Review 
(movie 4)
Director: Mitsuo Hashimoto
Year: 1991
As a child, there were two DragonBall Z movies that I had, and watched a lot when I started watching all my old VCR tapes again. One of these was Lord Slug. This movie is known to be one of the worst, as it seems like a rerun of King Piccolo from DragonBall. But I haven't seen any DragonBall, and even though I do feel a lack of originality, and creativity, I still find this to be an entertaining movie. It starts as a giant planet seems to be coming towards the Earth, and Goku and Krillen have to stop it. There plan to drive it off course doesn't work, and they're plan fails. But as it turns out the planet wasn't actually a planet at all, but a vessel for Lord Slug. Lord Slug goes from planet to planet, and eventually replaces his old vessel for a new one, and Earth has become his new goal. And from here our movie starts. First off, I feel the only familiar characters who actually went above what they were expected to do was Piccolo. Goku may have been impressive, but he's expected to in each movie. Piccolo actually had been given fair writing, and did impressive things that were important to the story. Second, I would like to talk about the henchmen. I know that the henchmen are just basic, and act as fodder for good guys to kill, but damn they did a good job at getting killed. I don't want to say to much without going into spoilers, but it's pretty obvious there not going to last long. The henchmen despite being unoriginal I still feel did a good job. And I think one reason why I like this movie so much more than people who say it's the worst movie is because for some reason I can watch it over and over again, and I also like the theme. In this one the planet gets frozen, and gives the movie a weird theme I can't describe, but I like. Next, let's talk about Lord Slug. Slug I think is a great character, despite being a lot like King Piccolo. He has a cool back-story, has a unique episode with the Dragonballs, and acts like a bad ass. His secret also is followed by a surprising transformation. I don't know how many people guessed what he was, but I'm sure a good amount did. Also, the fighting I thought in this one was awesome. I think that's what held the movie up, the fighting is actually really good. Gohan, Piccolo, Goku, Slug, and the henchmen all are really fun to watch. Then the final fight, I think that is the best part of the movie. It's probably the longest part in the movie, and it should be, as it was the best part. In the end after Slug reveals his true form there is no surprise, but I have to say it's a good movie. I can easily see why fans bash this movie, and count it as possibly the worst movie in the series, but I think after growing up with the movie I have to say it just has to be a little higher for me personally.
DragonBall Z: Lord Slug gets a 3/5
Spoilers: To start with, I want to talk about Slug in full depth. Slug is a Super Namek, and I am curious to learn more about his back-story. I know enough, but I am curious to learn more about the Super Nameks. I also think that he did good after his transformation. His fight was still entertaining, and I thought after he turned into a giant, he'd be a really boring fight. But I was wrong, the second Goku ran up his arm and shot him dead in the face I thought it was a good fight. Also, let's talk about the biggest question mark of the movie. In the fight with Slug, Goku randomly goes into this almost Super Saiyan form, but he clearly isn't in the form normally, as his hair is red and pupils are gone. I haven't looked up exactly what happened, but the idea I think was welcome somewhere in the DBZ universe. I won't believe he hit Super Saiyan, but if he's in some weird 99 % form or some weird thing like that, I think it's all right. I'd prefer they explain what the hell he actually went through in the movie, but I guess part of the transformation was to get you wondering. Also, why does Piccolo have to be bad ass in every movie? He went to shake a man's hand, then blew his head off! A guy was like, "Let me go!" and he was like, "Gladly," and killed him by throwing him into a stage light. Also, did anyone notice how Goku barely cared about killing anyone in this movie? Normally Goku doesn't kill unless he is completely provoked. In this he just killed Slug's henchmen without hesitation. I mean it was bad ass, but I can't help but ask why they had him do that. Once he said he didn't want to hurt Slug, and Slug provoked him enough, so I'll let that one slide. I like how in this Goku is not as strong as his enemy. But that's just Goku, he stand up when nobody else can do it, and is the tool of good to defeat the greater evil. In this it came to Piccolo (who stood for Namekians) and the sun (Slug froze the planet) to beat Slug, but through Goku. I thought that was good symbolism not many saw. On a final note, why does Krillen lose in one hit in so many movies?
Badges
DBZ: Lord Slug gets THE CHARACTER BADGE
DBZ: Lord Slug gets THE LONG LASTING BADGE
