[And yet another "bug" review--isd this a trend? -Moderator]
THE FLY II
A film review by Craig Good
Copyright 1989 Craig Good
David Cronenberg's remake of THE FLY is a tough act to follow. Chris Walas, who did the creature effects, had some big shoes to fill when he stepped in as the director of THE FLY II. Imagine my surprise to find that the sequel is actually pretty good.
Walas pretty much assumes that you've seen the previous film. If you haven't, go out and rent it first. I'm not spoiling much by revealing that this story centers on Martin Brundle, son of Seth Brundle (Brundlefly?). He is raised by Mr. Bartok, of Bartok Industries (read: Big Evil Corporation, one of the trite, formula things about the story that the movie none the less manages to overcome) and his scientific henchpersons. Due to young Martin's unique parentage, his growth is rather accelerated. In fact, by the time he's five years old he looks like Eric Stolz.
Martin learns very quickly. He has to. Besides taking over his father's work on teleportation, he learns lessons about love and deceit which set the stage for the retribution finale -- an ending quite unlike that of THE FLY. The philosophy in this movie isn't as deep as its original, but Stolz' performance is almost in the same league as Goldblum's -- which is a very good league indeed.
Walas displays a very fine visual sense in this film. Even the parts that are hard to look at are pretty in their way, if you know what I mean. My guess is that, as a first-time director, Walas made "Coverage" his middle name and shot tons of footage. The edited result moves along at a very quick pace. Even the drawn out scenes required in this sort of film are shorter than I've ever seen them. I enjoyed the editorial style of the movie, even if a couple of scenes seemed to show up too quickly. It all fit with Martin's character in the end.
The best way to see this film is in a theatre with lots of young women. There's something about their screams that really rounds out the sound track. That should warn you that when an effects man takes over, there are lots of effects. Mind you, they're very, very good. One or two of them were gratuitous messages to other effects men, but by and large they serve the story well. If you are particularly susceptible to goop and glop you should either stay away or plan on watching a lot with your eyes closed.
THE FLY II isn't for everybody, but if you think it might be your cup of tea you should check it out.
--Craig
...{ucbvax,sun}!pixar!good
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