INNERSPACE
(Spoiler Warning)
A film review by Mark R. Leeper
Copyright 1987 Mark R. Leeper
Capsule review: FANTASTIC VOYAGE crossed with FOUL PLAY makes for another science fiction comedy cut from the same mold as BACK TO THE FUTURE. INNERSPACE does not always make sense, but it is just about always fun. (Spoiler warning: major elements of the plot are presented first as minor surprise plot twists. Read the following at your own risk.)
Two years ago Steven Spielberg's production company had a big hit with a light science fiction comedy, BACK TO THE FUTURE. Success is not something that Hollywood takes lightly. so presumably it was not long before Spielberg had a second film, cut of much the same cloth, on the drawing boards. Well, INNERSPACE is out and very probably it will be a hit of equal or almost equal strength.
INNERSPACE, directed by Joe Dante, is a light-hearted film which can easily be taken as a prequel to FANTASTIC VOYAGE. Tuck Pendleton (played by Dennis Quaid) is a "right-stuff" sort of pilot who feels he never got the recognition that astronauts have gotten, so he volunteers to be the first human to be miniaturized and injected into another creature--in this case, a rabbit. Through an absurd chain of events he is instead injected into neurotic grocery clerk Jack Putter (played by Martin Short) who happens to be in the wrong shopping mall at the wrong time. Pendleton must make contact with Putter and together they race against time to stop a weird assortment of freelance spies who want to steal the secret of miniaturization and sell it to the highest bidder. One, we are told, has already made a fortune by selling the secret of Velcro to the Persian Gulf.
Pendleton's abilities to enhance Putter's own powers start impressive and eventually get absurd, while the characters are really only superficially developed and at times are totally absurd. At one point, Putter takes time out from a race against time to do a little jive dancing around Pendleton's apartment. The film sometimes relies too much on slapstick scenes and goofy chases, but at other times it makes very clever use of its premise to create some exciting action scenes. And the script does leave room for the Spielberg trademark (malfunctioning mechanical arms) and some Dante trademarks (cameo roles by Dick Miller and Kenneth Tobey). The film is packed. It has science fiction, comedy, chases, really weird situations, and really weird characters, and it just keeps delivering. After the film has already run long, it rolls the end credits before its story is even finished. Not a great film, but good light entertainment; it gets a low +2 on the -4 to +4 scale.
Mark R. Leeper
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