Leprechaun 4: In Space Movie Review

Leprechaun 4: In Space (1996)

Rent Leprechaun 4: In Space on Amazon Video
Written by: Mark Jones (characters), Dennis A. Pratt
Directed by: Brian Trenchard-Smith
Starring: Warwick Davis, Brent Jasmer, Jessica Collins, Debbe Dunnning
Rated: R
Watch the trailer

Plot
A deadly leprechaun holding a galactic princess hostage runs into a platoon of space marines.

Verdict
While I was never bored, this is not a good movie. Production, script, dialog, acting, and anything else are all lacking. It's the kind of movie where no idea was thrown out. It's frequently ridiculous, and nothing follows logic. That's kind of the point. This movie never set out to make sense but the low budget makes many of the effects look silly. This movie is the result of someone really liking Alien and Aliens and trying to recreate the movie in their backyard with a leprechaun instead.
Skip it.

Review
This was the fourth in what currently is a seven movie franchise, though only the first two were released in theaters. An executive saw the poster for Apollo 13 and had someone replace Tom Hanks face with the leprechaun. That is the origin for this movie.
I always joke that franchises like The Fast and the Furious or Die Hard should set a sequel in space, though this may not be the best test case.

This provides no backstory or explanation for anything. It's the future, the leprechaun in in space, and there are marines flying to the same planet for no distinguishable reason. That's the premise. I don't know if the marines were flying to this planet for the leprechaun, or leppy as I'll refer to him, or if this was a coincidence. That point is unresolved. I was surprised when Leppy covers a grenade with his body and gets blown up early in the movie. I knew he was coming back, but I found it odd the marines kept thinking they could just shoot him dead when they've already seen that doesn't work.

Why does Leppy have a light saber? Because it looks cool of course.

This falls prey to a lot of tropes like the pretty doctor who goes planet side for no reason, the crazy scientist, a stupid romance, shallow marine characters, and the invincible villain. Debbe Dunning from Home Improvement plays a marine that is little more than a sex object.

I don't know why, but Leppy made a conscious decision after being exploded to go upstream as a marine urinated on what was left of the body. Leppy then remains, ostensibly in the man's urethra for an extended amount of time. While I get it's movie logic for the big reveal of Leppy leaping out of the man's crotch, the special effects are beyond terrible. The goal and the result are miles apart. While it's supposed to be Leppy leaping out of the urethra it clearly looks like Leppy jumping out of a hole covered with a blanket in front of a man.
Why did Leppy hide there? As we see later in the movie Leppy has the power to do pretty much anything. He can get blown up and just reappear. He probably can teleport. I suppose he is just a psychopath that likes toying with people.

What follows is a cat and mouse game as Leppy has preternatural knowledge of the ship. He is everywhere, picking off the marines as he goes. Oh, there's also a cyborg Dr. Mittenhand present just to chew scenery. His motorized wheelchair, like all the props were built from hardware store parts that probably came from the discount aisle.

I was more than half way through the movie before I realized the shoddily applied paint to the leprechaun's teeth was intended to make them look pointy. That was a question that plagued me for most of the movie. Leppy could have ended this movie in a matter of minutes and I wish he had.

The end goes off the rails, there's a cross dresser, a human spider, guess the password, and a twenty foot tall leprechaun. I don't know why the few marines are still trying to kill him when Leppy has died and come back multiple times already. This movie ends with Leppy giving the remaining marines the finger, but that may just be a meta joke directed at the audience.