Enormity

Sex and violence punctuate this homage to cinematic monsters and alienated 98-pound weaklings. Manny Lopes is a “brown-pigmented” civilian contractor for the U.S. military in Korea. Fresh out of a failed marriage, Manny just wants to fit in, but he finds himself all the more isolated by his small stature, liberal politics, and fetish for strong Asian women. While on a holiday with jaded Korean-American schoolteacher Karen Park, Manny accidentally runs afoul of a North Korean assassin on the hunt for Bible-thumping scientist Fred Isaacson, who illicitly possesses quantum technology. In the ensuing chaos, Manny metamorphoses into a mile-high colossus. Rampant destruction follows this 21st-century Gulliver until his destructive force can be redirected by American GIs against Dorothy Lee, the equally gigantic brainwashed agent of North Korean communism. Marshall’s energetic, tragic action-adventure pays equal homage to 1940s B-movies, mid-20th-century militarism, and 21st-century angst. (Feb.)