The Fly II (1989)
Starring: Eric Stoltz, Daphne Zuniga, Lee Richardson
Writers: Mick Garris, Jim Wheat, Ken Wheat, Frank Darabont
Director: Chris Walas
Story:
Months after the closing events of The
Fly, Veronica --not played by Geena Davis this go around-- dies while giving birth to her and Seth's child. Bartok
industries adopts the boy with the hope of having him repair Seth
Brundle's Telepods, as well as using him as a science project for
containing the same fly genes his father had. Martin rapidly ages --unbeknownst to what ultimately happened to his Daddy-- and becomes more brilliant than his
father ever was. But once he hits the level of a 20 year old adult,
his dormant bug DNA awakens. He becomes a fly in the ointment, a
monkey in the wrench, a pain in the ass.... In short, the shit hits
the fan.
Review:
Anyway...
lol what?
This sequel of course isn't up to par with Cronenberg's
revision of the 1958 Sci-Fi romp, but it is one helluva fun monster
flick. I'm gonna speak out of my butt here and say that in a one way,
it reminds me of Return of the Fly, the sequel to the 58 original- being that it follows the son of the first film's main character. But
that's really it. This is its own thing; it's even a polar opposite
of Cronenberg's movie, for the most part. Chris Walas' vision is just
straight up gory fun, but not without some problems. The writing
credits go to four people; Mick Garris (Critters 2), Frank Darabont
(A Nightmare on Elm Street 3, The Shawshank Redemption), and Jim and
and Ken Wheat (A Nightmare on Elm Street 4, Chronicles of Riddick
series). That's quite a powerhouse, if I do say so myself. However,
I'm guessing the screenplays that all these dudes wrote up were fused
together (in a Telepod, perhaps?) and elements from each draft are
what the final product is. So, it's kinda messy from time to time,
and jumps rather quickly from one feel to another. But there's
nothing wrong with that if you're just seeking out a good popcorn
flick, and that's pretty much how I see The Fly II.
As for camera direction, the film is
way more impressive than expected. All the quick sequences of Martin
discovering his abilities during an escape from the facility are
fantastic. The shots of Brundlefly 2.0 stomping through the halls of
Bartok industries are simply awesome, as well. But it's all the
simple stuff that wows me. Like low angle cam shots and overhead
ones, such as these...
Gotta say, Eric Stoltz really brings it
in the acting department. I've loved this guy ever since seeing Mask
at an early age, and he was a total delight in Some Kind of
Wonderful. He's just as good here. I feel he shines most once he
discovers he has been lied to about a dog he befriended that gets mutated. You can
almost taste the pain coming from the character's tears. And once
it's time for Martin's Brundlefly DNA to awaken from dormancy,
Stoltz really kicks it into high gear. His monologue over the bug
zapper scene in the hotel room is straight chilling. I do wish that
the story had further covered Martin at the intellectual level of a
10 year old. Harley Cross plays Brundle for this section, and the kid is
really awesome. It just ends way too soon. Daphne Zuniga
plays Beth, an employee at Bartok industries who becomes friends with Martin (in his adult stage),
and ultimately a love interest. The whole love thing happens kinda fast (even for my liking), and she doesn't even flinch when Stathis (John Getz, who brings some great
comic relief to his recurring character from the first film) spits
out the fact that Martin is only 5 years old. This knowledge comes a
bit after a sex scene --one of those crazy 80s style ones-- between her and Brundle.
Sure, Martin's working on a much higher intellectual level than a 5
year old, but I'm fairly certain I'd still be a bit fucking
bewildered. Either way, Zuniga still performs well, and she's great
to look at. Not to mention that soft, warm, caring voice she has.
Wins me the hell over. Lastly, the antagonists in The Fly II really
just don't have enough menace to them, mostly because of writing.
It's kinda pedestrian. Well, Bartok (Lee Richardson) isn't bad, but
security chief Scorby (Garry Chalk)... fucking mess. He comes off
more like the kid that tattled in school if you got out of your seat
when the teacher had to leave the room, other than a true villainous
character. Plus, I just can't get too worked up over this face...
Chris Walas Inc on SFX- wow. I've been
a fan of Walas ever since I was old enough to follow names in the
field of SFX, and Walas did Gremlins, which is one of my all time
favorite movies. He's hugely responsible for my love of said film,
because those little green monsters are so damn memorable and without
his expertise they may not have been. Anyway, Cronenberg's Fly film
won Walas an academy award for the FX, and deservedly so. He straight
up pushed the envelope. With The Fly II, you can tell that Walas was
taking a more fun and traditional monster type approach, with direction AND the SFX. This fucker is gory, too- The movie opens with
one hell of an intense birthing scene, and not long after we see a
mutated dog bite the fingers off of a scientist. The Martin
Brundlefly hatching scene is freakin' disgusting, and has a strong
resemblance to Walas' hatching work in Gremlins, and what comes a few years later in Gremlins 2 mimics this. The fly makeup itself is quite a bit different than
what's in the first film. More monstrous looking and pissed off.
But before Martin hits the full completion of the transformation, he
goes through several stages of mutation, and the SFX for these stages
are damn brilliant --as is Stoltz's performance. The movie had to be trimmed to avoid an X-rating. All cut scenes have been
restored on the DVD. Here are my favorites...
EPIC
This is the one that had the folks over at the good ole MPAA all butthurt. Pussies.
Christopher Young serves up a badass
film score. Completely loud and epic and dark fantasy sounding. Young
also composed the music for Hellraiser and Hellbound: Hellraiser II,
and that same vibe definitely chimes through here. I do have to toss
out some negativity with the song soundtrack, though. There's a
montage like scene with Martin Brundle (Stoltz) and Beth Logan
(Zuniga) dancing and chilling out and trying to figure out the Telepods
together. Now, I love montage scenes, and had an 80s pop song been
played over this one --even of the generic variety-- I would fully
embrace it. But dammit, 90% of country music hurts me. And the K.D.
Lang ditty used here is awful. Like 'tear in my beer' awful. Like 'someone taking a shit in your
ears' awful. Sorry, can't do it. Cannot get behind it. But, props to
sound FX! The very opening (when the 20th Century Fox logo
lights up the screen) has the faint sound of a fly buzzing around,
and kinda segues into the loud roar of a helicopter. Smart stuff,
right there!
Fly II Theme
Final Words:
I worked at a video store back in the
late 90s/early 00s and I remember me and a friend were talking about
The Fly II and how for the most part it was pretty underrated. Then
we got to talking about ideas for yet another sequel, and how it
should be spoofy. I wanted to use Offspring's “Pretty Fly
(For a White Guy)” song for the theme, even though I hate that
fucking band. And for the teaser trailer I thought it would be so
damn amazing at the end to have that famous trailer guy's voice say
“Buzzing back into theaters this summer.” Hahah, what lunacy!? So
glad I didn't have the knowledge on how to sell an idea back then,
because it wouldn't be too surprising if such an idiotic thought sounded golden to studio execs.
I did this review as a part of Freddie Young's Sequel September, going on over at his blog- Full Moon Reviews. I've been following Freddie's blog basically ever since I started blogging last year, and he's a fave of mine. His stuff is always well written and informative. You can check out his review for The Fly II here.
Ooh la la
Martin Brundle showing off some sick agility!
I did this review as a part of Freddie Young's Sequel September, going on over at his blog- Full Moon Reviews. I've been following Freddie's blog basically ever since I started blogging last year, and he's a fave of mine. His stuff is always well written and informative. You can check out his review for The Fly II here.
And just for the hell of it:
My reviews of The Fly (1958) and Return of the Fly.
Freddie's write-ups, Original VS. Remake: The Fly (1958) and The Fly (1986)
Thanks for letting me take part, dude!
~The End~
- Brobocop
