Outposters, welcome back to Film Club. This week, The Fly won and we’ve all been good space monkies and watched it. Here are our reviews!
Wrenage
Goldblum is now an annoying caricature of quirkiness, but he should have been nominated for an Academy Award on The Fly. His journey from a brilliant scientist to a disgusting vomit machine is a sight to behold, bolstered by wonderfully gooey make-up effects. Geena Davis is a well-written plot device. As a lover chronicling the experiment, she gives Goldblum a legitimate reason for exposition and to make his hinge-point decision. John Getz is the secret ingredient. He goes from a spectacularly petty schmuck to the hero as Goldblum goes the other way.
Director David Cronenberg is on point in his direction and writing. The Fly is a fantastic metaphor for growing old. Throw in a gloriously chilling “insect politics” speech, and Cronenberg probably should have gotten an Oscar nod, as well. The crazy thing is that the entire journey is delivered in a tight 96 minutes. The movie is simultaneously stripped to the essentials while rich in performance and theme. In an age of bloat, this kind of focus is noteworthy. Great Howard Shore score, too. The Fly has proven itself to be a classic and deserves the rating of a classic. Meanwhile, my normo-friends want to kill it with fire…
Eggy
I have only seen this film once when it was released back in 1986 and I was the tender age of just 12 years old and even though I knew it was a great movie, I fucking hated it. I found it disgusting and vile and it seemed like I could smell it through the TV and I’ve never had the slightest inclination to watch it again. So I watched this under duress!
Here we are an astonishing 37 years later and having raised four children which included cleaning up wounds, mopping up sick, and changing 1000s of shitty nappies (diapers), this film is still disgusting but at least now I can deal with it!
Jeff Goldblum is excellent and it’s truly astonishing he wasn’t even considered for an Oscar. I know he’s become a cliche of himself but back in the day, this dude had some serious acting chops. Starting out as an innocent nerd and literally evolving into this sinister, and yet still vulnerable, insect-man right before my eyes is one of the best performances I’ve seen from an actor. In the scene where he tortures John Getz, Goldblum portrays a genuine sense of human detachment but with a twisted relish in what he is doing… *French kiss!
My ONLY gripe was Geena Davis and I’m not talking about her performance but her character. It pissed me off how she never found Brundle’s transformation repulsive. The scene where she sees him for the first time in weeks and he ambles on screen, covered in filth, hideously disfigured, and she watches him puke all over a doughnut and her first reaction is to give him a cuddle! Fuck that shit, it loses a star for that!
All in all, a great movie from start to finish and I hope this remake never gets a remake!
Boba Phil
Cinema perfection! The Fly is such a great movie, with a simple premise, it doesn’t go overly deep with the mechanics of the story since, at its heart, it’s a love story. Girl meets boy, they fall in love, boy changes (OK, into Brundlefly) but the girl still loves him. The movie is obviously about the change that Brundle goes through, but it also shows what others go through when he changes.
The original version of The Fly was silly, swapping the head and the arm of a human and a fly, but in this version, it works perfectly. The computer doesn’t know what to do, so it splices his genetics with the fly. It’s perfect and lets Brudle go through a major character arc. I like how he accepted his fate and actually thought it was a good thing for a time. I had completely forgotten that the computer spliced him with the metal at the end.
The casting of this is perfect. Jeff Goldblum as Brudle is probably the best casting for any movie ever. He plays the quirky genius, the man who looks at everything very calculated and makes himself into some form of super-being, for a while at least. Again, Gina Davis is perfect, she is strong and competent, but she’s also very much in love and vulnerable towards Brundle. In the end, she can’t shoot him, she loves him. Cinema perfection.
Shawn B
The Fly is exactly the type of movie that remakes should be. Take a bad movie and turn it into something great. Don’t get me wrong, I like the original, it’s full of 50s sci-fi cheese. What’s even better, they got David Cronenberg to direct the remake. Cronenberg adds his signature body horror touch. Of course, the results are deeply disturbing yet captivating.
Pre Jurassic Park Jeff Goldblum is the best Jeff Goldblum. His transition from an awkward, enthusiastic scientist to a tortured, grotesque creature is a testament to Goldblum’s acting prowess. Geena Davis, brings a grounded and empathetic performance, serving as the emotional anchor to the story. Her chemistry with Goldblum helps establish the movie’s emotional core making the tragedy more impactful.
The practical effects in The Fly are the highlight of the movie. That said, it’s clear later that Goldblum is wearing a rubber suit. It’s distracting, but these minor flaws do little to detract from the overall impact of the movie. Cronenberg’s dedication to showcasing the gruesome physical and psychological transformations is both unsettling and mesmerizing.
The Fly is the benchmark for remaking movies and every director should take notes. Sure it’s typical over-the-top schlocky horror, which only the 80s could give us, but done right. It went away from the original enough to be its own thing while staying true to the core premise.
Outposter Review – Baldowl
Film Club Week 7
So there you have it Outposters, another week completed for Film Club. Let us know what you thought of The Fly in the comments below.
The new list for voting goes up on Saturday 2nd September, so let me have your suggestions. As always, the best ones will be added to the list! The winner will be announced on Sunday’s Livestream.
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