F/X. Directed by Robert Mandel; written by Robert T. Megginson and Greyory Fleeman; produced by Dodi Fayed and Jack Wiener for Orion. Starring Bryan Brown and Brian Dennehy. Rated R (violence, language).
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A lot of moviemakers these days emphasize special effects over character development and storyline. F/X has this problem, too, but with a new twist. Its original idea may make it somewhat enjoyable in spite of its sloppy characterizations, preposterous story and excessive violence. But that's a pretty long shot.
The twist here is that in F/X, instead of the effects accompanying, or even overwhelming, the story, they ARE the story. The main character, Rollie (Brown), is a special effects artist. And the movie gives us a faacinating glimpse of how such actions as gangsters machine-gunning each other are actually staged. (Rollie's expertise, incidentally, leans more to the monsters, death and destruction variety of effects, not those which make the Millenium Falcon seem to zip through the asteroid field, for example.)
There's also an interesting angle involving the contrast between illusion and reality. Unfortunately, it's not properly followed through. Rollie undertakes to stage the fake murder of a gangster about to turn states evidence (for the latter's protection of course). At first Rollie is disturbed, as we are, by this intrusion of movie fantasy into much more complicated real life. But then things really get crazy, with Rollie suspecting the fake hit wasn't really fake. And he seems to forget his earlier reluctance to use his special effects skills in the real world.
The plot takes several twists and turns before all the bad guys' plans are laid bare and Rollie can take care of them. And it occasionally works as a mystery-thriller. But too many nagging problems weigh down the good basic idea.
Rollie'a character is the biggest difficulty—he's just not consistent. The first scenes of F/X set him up as our hero in fairly standard fashion. He's a whiz at his profession, has a nice girlfriend, a good sense of humor and just the right amount of amount of scruples to be a believeable person. But as the movie goes on he becomes considerably less heroic, out of all proportion to the admittedly raw deal he's handed.
The script is probably at fault in Rollie's case, but casting is to blame where the villians are concerned. Playing against type sometimes works, but it's risky. And Mason Adams (Charlie from TV'a "Lou Grant," remember?) and Cliff De Young (a good guy in the "Centennial" mini-series) just aren't convincing as sinister figures.
Without these character problems, the flaws in the story could be easily overlooked. After all, this isn't meant to be realistic cinema. But as it is, improbabilities and absurdities keep cropping up. The ending (which I won't reveal in case you're intrigued enough by the effects gimmick to take a chance on this one) is particularly unsatisfying.
In addition to the interesting information about how special effects are done, F/X has a few other good points. Dennehy, of course, is as fun to watch as always. The only complaint I have about his detective McCarthy is that he's not in the movie enough.
And, unbelieveable as this will sound, there is an original, witty car chase sequence here. (It involves some props from the effects van.)
But all in all F/X is another example of how a good idea for a movie can go sour by the time the product's finished.
February 19, 1986