People, whether on original release or not, were probably peeved to find that first-billed Vincent Price was not the doomed main character in the
1958 original ‘Fly’ movie, he was merely his brother. Well, some forty or
so years later, and audiences are still being screwed. ‘The Fly II’ is a
sequel to the 1986 David Cronenberg remake, and it immediately annoys the
audience on at least two fronts; 1) Instead of Cronenberg directing, we
get FX man Chris Walas, never a good sign when an FX man takes over. 2)
One can forgive Jeff Goldblum’s absence from this film, but when you’re
only return performer is John Getz (who?) you’ve got problems. So, is it
as bad as it sounds? As bad as its reputation? Read On…
Eric Stoltz, though lacking Goldblum’s oddly sexy charisma (so I’ve been told), is quite acceptable, and rather well-cast as Martin Brundle, son of
Seth who has been raised by the big evil corporation headed by nefarious
Lee Richardson (were Ronny Cox and Angus Scrimm really that busy?). Doing
research whilst being researched himself, Martin may seem like a normal
kid, but he ages more rapidly than the rest of us (but hey, after ‘Mask’
at least Stoltz doesn’t seem to have any of those headaches!). Martin,
very interested in his late father’s work, is also developing fly-like
symptoms, rather tragic given he’s just started a cutesy romance with
research assistant Daphne Zuniga. And you thought getting a pimple before
a date was bad!
The plot, much of it a retread of the Cronenberg film is uninteresting
(ooh, an evil and exploitive corporation! Such genius!), but it’s actually
not all bad. Stoltz, in some ways an ideal choice, despite not having that
edge Goldblum has always possessed, gains our sympathy pretty easily. The
FX, whilst over-elaborate, are fun to look at, even though they aren’t
very fly-like. It’s all a bit flat, though, and not very attractive to
look at I must say, there’s little energy, despite Stoltz giving it
everything he’s got.
OVERALL SUMMARY
Worth a look at least once, gore fans will get more out of this than
anyone else, though it’s far from the worst horror sequel out there. A
more original plot and a less glum tone might’ve helped.
