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By Banxy
Lawnmower Man (1992) : A Classic Film Review (02/03/07)
The normally prolific Banxy has been absent from the world of article writing for a couple of months, but he's back with a trademark computer film review! This time it's Lawnmower Man. |
The story begins with the brief introduction explaining that by the turn of the century VR will be widespread and will open up worlds as infinite as the imagination.
Angelo (Pierce Brosnan) is a brilliant scientist who has been using the VR technology to stimulate brains into developing; he had worked with a chimp, making it very clever through battle simulations, which, out of his control, was built to be too aggressive by the military.
Eventually, after 5 years, the chimp was clever enough to break free, killing several staff, before being killed itself.
Angelo is then placed on leave, becoming depressed and angry that the last 5 years of his work, and the possibility of increasing the intelligence in humans, looks like it's gone down the pan.
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The new "Blockbusters" was becoming far too aggressive
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The story then jumps to Jobe, a simple gardener, who although brilliant with mechanics is less than socially adequate and is neglected by the priest (a real nasty piece of work) and society in general, other than his boss Terry and the family nearby who employ himto cut their grass - at Angelo's house.
Angelo's wife, Caroline, becomes angry with Angelo after he slips into a further depression and spends all of his time in VR (Falling, Flying, Floating). Caroline is furious and leaves Angelo.
Angelo feels he must continue his work and as he ponders how to do this, with a human subject, Jobe stumbles past the windows with his lawnmower.
Angelo approaches Jobe and asks him if he wishes to play a game. Jobe, into comics and games, says yes.
After failing miserably at the game, Angelo asks Jobe if he would like to be smarter, but if he does, it must be kept secret.
Jobe agrees.
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Cyber Sex: Tron Style
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Jobe's progress is astounding. His cognitive abilities increase hugely until, eventually, they reach a point that Angelo needs the resources at VSI (Where he worked). He puts his case forward and is accepted.
Meanwhile, Jobe is realising that all may not be as well as it seems; he can now read people's thoughts. As the government section behind VSI learn of Jobe's abilities they wish to see what the more aggressive program implemented with the chimps would do to Jobe. Unaware of this Angelo continues with the programs until the program almost kills Jobe, who claims he "touched God”.
As Jobe's ability's spiral out of control and Angelo loses control the story builds to it's climax.
Could Jobe's ramblings about the new cyber dimension and entering this fully to become a leader of men be just that (a ramble), or is it really possible?
The film is created well considering the year it was made and has huge similarities to Tron in the FX style and the story is well written. However, like Tron, the FX style has not aged well over time and looks very outdated, which is a shame for such a good story.
I would really like to see a modern day remake of this movie, with current FX technologies and a modern day slant.
A rather spooky aspect of the film is Jobe's prediction that, by 2001, everyone on the planet will be hooked into this network. OK, in the film it was a Virtual Reality network, but the Internet is not all that different from this, only visually. So it really wasn't far off.
Could there be a possibility that this is more than just a story? Could Jobe really be lying in wait in the Internet, waiting for the right time?
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Rating (Out of 5 Lawnmowers) : 4 |
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