Year:
1986
Rating: 7.0I remembered liking
this film when I saw it back in the 1980s, but had not given it a thought
in decades till something the other day reminded me of it. I liked it this
time around as well. It is a very enjoyable fun film with a terrific cast,
a clever suspenseful plot and nice location shooting in NYC. It stars Bryan
Brown of Breaker Morant fame alongside Brian Dennehy, Jerry Orbach, Mason
Adams (Lou Grant Show) and Cliff De Young. Once it kicks into gear, it never
slows down. A man on the run for his life.
Brown plays Tyler, an F/X master for cheapie
horror and exploitation films such as I Dismember Mama. He has such a good
reputation in fact that a government agent Lipton (De Young) of the Witness
Protection Program offers him a job. Kill a top tier Mafia figure (Orbach).
Or make it look that way using his special skills. In public, in a restaurant
so that the Mafia thinks he is dead. He pretends to be the trigger man using
blanks and remote control to have squibs explode in fake blood. It seems
to have gone according to plan, but then people begin trying to kill him.
Often. He turns again to his f/x skills to avoid the cops (Dennehy) who think
he is a killer and to turn the tables on the group trying to kill him. It
did well enough at the box office that they did a sequel five years later
with Brown and Dennehy.
F/X 2
Director:Richard Franklin
Year: 1991
Rating: 7.0 It took five years
to come up with a sequel to the successful F/X in 1986. Sequels take longer
than in the days of studios when they would have had a sequel ready within
months. Now of course, they had to wait for the schedules of Bryan Brown
and Brian Dennehy to be free at the same time. This feels very formulaic
in copying the basic feel of the first film, but that is not a bad thing.
This is quite entertaining with a couple good set pieces. Not to give spoilers
for the first film, but at the end Rollie (Brown) the special effects film
master and the cop Leo (Dennehy) who has been chasing him have become buddies.
Five years later, Rollie has become a toy
inventor and Leo a private detective with his own private bar. Like the last
one, the first scene takes place on a movie set, but Rollie is just watching
with a young boy that has come with his girlfriend (Rachel Ticotin). She
was married to a cop who sucks Rollie into once again helping the government;
this time to catch a rapist. And like the last time, it goes very wrong and
a hitman is after Rollie along with the mob. Thankfully, he has a friend
to help him; yes Leo is back but it is his large clown toy that he can remotely
maneuver who saves him. We all need a friend like that. Though quite ridiculous,
the final set piece in which his clever special effects are brought into
play is great fun. It never really feels serious or tense, but it is good
fun light fare.
