ALL SCI-FI

[The Spike]

It Lacks Qualcast Quality.

The Lawnmower Man is directed by Brett Leonard who also co-writes the screenplay with Gimel Everett. It stars Pierce Brosnan, Jeff Fahey, Jenny Wright, Geoffrey Lewis, Jeremy Slate and Dean Norris. Music is by Dan Wyman and cinematography by Russell Carpenter.

Dr. Lawrence Angelo (Brosnan) is a big mover in the science of virtual reality. When he tries his new technology on mentally challenged gardener Jobe Smith (Fahey), it elevates him to a higher intelligence and it's not long before Jobe acquires scary new powers.

Originally meant to be, and titled as, Stephen King's Lawnmower Man. After a King lawsuit the film ended up bearing very little resemblance to the author's short story. There's a couple of small ligaments that link the two, but in the main (not Maine) this Lawnmower Man is its own entity and an obvious attempt to cash in on the then virtual reality zeitgeist.

Lawnmower Man has a cult fan base, of that there is no doubt, where much like Tron from 10 years earlier, the effects work and the capturing of something very much being "in" with the youth of the time, has proved perpetually appealing to nostalgists.

But strip away these and you have your basic Frankenstein story for the 90s, a pretty standard story lacking intelligent smarts or deep thematic points of worth.

And then of course there is the bizarre fact of having a film decrying the advancement of computer technology, by using computer technology to make the film's strongest moments!

It's only adequately performed by the cast, and Leonard's direction matches his writing, which is mundane when not about the visual effects; effects work that dated very quickly as it happened.

Other cuts and sequels would follow, the former didn't improve the same basic problems of the theatrical cut, while the latter releases proved to be laughably bad.

The Lawnmower Man is an interesting movie in the context of its time, and it's certainly fun enough for those who were there, cloaked in a visually-inspired warm glow. But it has not been a must-see film for anyone else since 1995. 4/10
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The quality of mercy is not strnen.

[Bud Brewster]

The videos shown below are very enjoyable, with their blend of music and CGI images, back when CGI was a new art form, a quarter century ago.

Many of the segments used in the first one, The Mind's Eye were from The Lawnmower Man. My kids and I liked both it and the second one by the same folks, Beyond the Mind's Eye.

The CGI looks pretty simple today, but it was like watching Fantasia for me and my children when they first came out. The editing of the video segments is so well done that even though the CGI doesn't stun the viewer these days, it's still fun to watch.

Clink on the links and watch them both on YouTube. I still love the music. I have the CDs of the music from both videos. Wonderful stuff.


_____________________ The Minds Eye 1990


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___________________ Beyond The Mind's Eye


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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Bud Brewster]

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This 1985 commercial for canned foods is called Brilliance, and the robot's design certainly impressed me.
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_______ Robert Abel & Associates - CFIC Brilliance


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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Bud Brewster]

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IMDB has several interesting trivia items for this production.
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~ New Line Cinema had obtained the rights to the Stephen King short story "The Lawnmower Man", and the producers also had an unrelated script called "Cyber God". For economical reasons, they simply placed King's title on the production of "Cyber God", and early promotional material with that claim even went public.

King was furious at this abuse of his name, and he sued the studio to have his name and title removed from the film and promotion. The studio refused, but was eventually ordered to pay ten thousand dollars and full profits to King.

Note from me: Hey, way to GO, Stevareeno!

~ The scene where the cop (Troy Evans) says that the missing piece of the dead man is in the bird bath, is the only thing in the movie that was taken from Stephen King's short story.

Note from me: That's pathetic. They steal King's title, refuse to change it, and filch an idea to boot!

~ The eight minutes of computer generated effects took seven people eight months to complete on a budget of $500,000.

Note from me: CGI was so new (and fascinating to folks like me), that those scenes made the movie worth watching.

~ Jenny Wright (Marnie) did only the close-ups in the VR strobe scene because the strobe light made her sick. Her wide-angle shots were done using a double, and the close-ups of her face were done with a bluescreen, so that she didn't have to move.

Note from me: Some people have epileptic seizures when they view strobing lights. I feel uncomfortable watching strobing scenes in movies, because . . . well, you never know, eh?
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Bud Brewster]