The Lawnmower Man

Title: The Lawnmower Man

Director:  Brett Leonard
Released: 1992
Starring: Pierce Brosnan, Jeff Fahey, Austin O’Brien, Jenny Wright, Geoffrey Lewis, Jeremy Slate, Dean Norris

Plot: Dr. Laurence Angelo (Brosnan) conducts experiments on chimps using a mixture of drugs and Virtual Reality to increase their intelligence as part of  “Project 5”, while constantly fighting with his superiors and their desire to use his research for military purposes. After one of his test chimps escapes and goes on the rampage, Dr. Angelo turns his focus towards testing on humans finding the perfect subject in the slow witted gardener Jobe (Fahey) who is also the titular lawnmower man.  Starting a program of accelerated learning, with Dr. Angelo using the same drugs he had been using on the chimps only with out the aggression factors of the original drugs. Soon it is not long before Jobe’s intelligence has greatly increased to the point were he is able to perform feats such as learning Latin in two hours, while also unlocking telepathic and pyrokinetic  abilities.

Soon Dr. Angelo’s work draws the attention of his superiors who have been keeping tabs on his progress, with the Project Director soon swapping the new drugs for the original “Project 5” ones, which inturn drive Jobe insane with power and on a path of revenge against those wronged him, while searching for a way to reach his final evolutionary state in the Virtual World.

Review:  Although it might be hard believe it now, but when this film was released back in 1992 this film was pretty groundbreaking with it’s use of computer graphics and portrayal of Virtual Reality, with the film in turn sparking a whole craze for Virtual Reality, to the point were VR machines regularly popped up in arcades over charging for the experience, while consoles rushed out supposed VR titles such as “VR Racing” and the still popular “Virtual Fighter”.
 

Essentially a cautionary tale about why man should not play god, the film explores theories regarding the use of Virtual Reality in this case as a way of increasing human intelligence, which at the same time the film explores some pretty big Cyber punk ideas, while easily drawing comparisons with Mary Shelly’s “Frankenstein” with Jobe at one point even saying

“I’m sorry you hate what you created”

 

The other key reference point here being Daniel Keyes “Flowers for Algernon” which it probably shares the closest links to, while at the same time the theories explored here are done simply and interestingly enough so not to baffle new comers, while also making good use of the relatively new (at the time of the films release) Virtual Reality technology, which it’s safe to say hasn’t aged well in the years since it’s released, which is always the risk with any use of CGI, but here it pretty evident as what was once considered mind blowing looks painfully dated as featureless characters float in space against acid trip background with only Virtual Jobe getting any kind of characteristics. Still if your willing to take these effects with an open mind there is alot of fun to be had with the assorted uses which are not only limited to the virtual world, but soon begin leaking into the real world as the lines between the two continue to grow all the more blurred for Jobe, as he’s able to reduce men to molecules and even more randomly project himself as a giant floating head. Still interestingly enough part of the studio responsible for these effects would later become “Rockstar North” a studio best know for the “Grand Theft Auto Series”.

The two lead characters are both fascinating characters, with the pacifist Dr. Angelo constantly having to betray these beliefs to further his own research while, clearly caring about Jobe’s progress even though at times he lets his passion for progress overwhelm his compassion frequently pushing Jobe into traumatizing situations in favour of his progressing his researching while Fahey is completely convincing as the slow witted Jobe, with his childlike curiosity and friendship with the young boy Peter (O’Brien) who is essentially on the same mental level as Jobe if not higher, making their friendship seem completely natural, while Fahey naturally portrays the continually increasing intelligence of Jobe, to the point were he is able to change him from the lovable doofus to a terrifying megalomaniac as his power spirals out of control.

Despite being a cautionary tale, Jobe’s actions are frequently seen as more than an insane quest for power, especially as he seen being so frequently abused by the local bully Jake who frequently taunts him, while being even more regularly flogged for forgetting to do his chores by the sadistic priest whose shed he lives in, with both of these characters soon being targets for his revenge, while also unleashing a telepathically controlled lawnmower on Peter’s alcoholic father in one of the more laughable sequences of the film, while the majority of the other deaths at Jobe’s hands usually being the result of him being antagonised and unsurprisingly these scenes form the weaker parts of the film with the more interesting parts certainly being the Jobe’s ever increasing intelligence and Dr. Angelo intelligence enhancing experiments than Jobe’s ongoing quest for revenge and god like power.
Perhaps a better use of virtual reality would have been to film an established cyber punk classic like William Gibsons “Neuromancer”, but it did still pave the way for CGI in modern cinema by giving an example of what the effects could be used to create, while also leading the way to some abysmal attempts to follow up it’s success like “Arcade” and “Virtuosity” aswell as the ultimately superior yet more old school effects driven “eXistenZ.

“The Lawnmower Man” despite now being largely forgotten outside of sci-fi fans, grizzled VR boffins who felt that the film gave an unrealistic expectations of Virtual Reality, aswell as a brief legal case with Horror legend Stephen King, for the connection to his own short story about a man who eats what he mows (yes really) and to which this film has zero connection outside of a throw away line about part of one of Jobe’s victims being found in a birdbath and the less said about the sequel the better really, especially as the studio doubted that anyone would actually buy it so much, that they now give it away for free with this film. Still it is a film still worth giving a look even as a fun companion piece to the superior “Tron”.

The Breakfast Club

Title: The Breakfast Club

Director: John Hughes

Released: 1985

Starring: Judd Nelson, Emilio Estevez, Anthony Michael Hall, Ally Sheedy, Molly Ringwald
 

Plot: Five students are thrown together as they are forced to attend a Saturday morning detention. With each of them coming from a different clique, they seemingly on the surface has nothing in common with each other, while being assigned a 1,000 word essay by assistant principle Vernon, were they have to write about who they think they are.  Now forced to stay within the confines of the school library the group soon start to find out more about each other and their reasons for being there, while discovering that they might not be as different from each other as they first thought.

 

Review: Recently I discovered one of the quickest ways to cause mass outrage on the internet is not via commenting on religion or politics, but more surprisingly by posting that you have never seen “The Breakfast Club” that you will find yourself soon being bombarded with comments of disbelief. So there you have it, I confess I’m that person as for one reason or another I never saw this movie until recently.

One the most popular films of 80’s legend John Hughes, who would go on to be responsible for some of the most fondly remembered films of the decade including Sixteen Candles, Pretty In Pink and Uncle Buck, while also creating here one of the most popular high school movies of all time, which isn’t bad going seeing how this was only his second film.

Still perhaps because I didn’t grow up with this movie like so many of its fans, it’s certainly a strange experience to view this film without the rose tinted glasses of nostalgia and perhaps because of that I found this a hard film to get into. More so when it just feels so dated not so much in the styling but more with the dialogue and characterization. True the characters might still represent social groups which are still ever present in high school here represented by “criminal” John (Nelson), “athlete” Andrew (Estevez), “brain” Brian (Hall), “basket case” Allison (Sheedy) and “princess” Claire (Ringwald), or perhaps it was just the grating voice over by Nelson were he reels off a monologue which sounds like it was written by a first year psychology, especially after the film already opens with a quote from “Changes” by David Bowie, that just put the film on the wrong footing for me.

As the film goes on its hard to say that a great deal really happens outside of John aggravating the various members or vice principle Vernon whenever given a chance or generally probing the other group members with his continual questions. Meanwhile Hughes characterisation is laid on with a trowel so thick that the characters often come across only as individual as their assigned social clique, hence John spends all his time moodily sulking around, while unleashing details of a bleak homelife, while Andrew and Claire share their own issues with their own parents, as they reveal that things might not be as perfect for them as they might seem. Meanwhile other members of the group such as Allison are left largely undeveloped and frequently half baked, especially considering how for the first half of the film is generally reduced to a bunch of nonsensical squeeks, before randomly changing conditions so that they randomly becomes quite chatty by the second half of the film, something which is frequently defended by the fans as being down to her being a pathological liar and her way of getting attention, while at the same time keeping people away.

I guess one of my main issues here though is how contrived the ending feels, with the group leaving as best friends, even though they openly admit earlier in the film that come Monday morning, things will be back to normal as they return to their own social groups, rather than facing potential ridicule from their so-called friends. This fact alone makes the whole journey ultimately pointless, but at the same time it is one that seemingly is overlooked by most fans, much like the forced hook ups at the end, especially between Allison and Andrew who have no romantic intrest in each other whatsoever, yet their surprise kiss outside of the school is shot like something we have supposedly been waiting to see. It is also frustrating how the group work out all their issues via a pot smoking session, another big gripe from myself due to my own personal politics and how it generally sells the idea that any issue can be resolved with a big enough bag of weed.

So now I have finally watched it, I can’t say that it was the life changing experience I think the fans sold me, yet at the same time it is good to be able to cross it off the list. I just can’t help but feel that high school life has been done better elsewhere and without giving the end goal away before the halfway point.