Le Cobaye

I saw this shortly after its theatrical release and for years that was the only version of this story that I knew. It was campy, felt King-ish (despite King removing his name from the production) and had some interesting story elements. Then and now I can't escape the fact that the plot seems lifted directly from Flowers for Algernon set in what was at the time cutting edge CGI. The only thing missing from the "stolen" plot is the human science experiment (Jobe) losing his recently gained super-intelligence. In this flick, he becomes evil and unpredictable - but predictably so.

After a nostalgia viewing of the Director's Cut I can say that the restored footage makes a big difference in fleshing out the story. The original theatrical cut was a complete shitshow compared to the extended version. Angelo's girlfriend in particular became a whole character and some formerly missing scenes really helped the movie's overall cohesion. However, none of the restored scenes take away from some truly trite plot elements and wooden acting, particularly in nearly every role associated with "The Shop." Brosnan is decent, perhaps a bit overdoing the petulant scientist genius but Fahey's portrayal of Jobe is still very good. The transformation of his character from dolt to cyber god always struck me as well done and it holds up. Still unexplained in any adequate detail is the relationship with Dr. Angelo's neighbors.

The CGI, as mentioned in other reviews, is laughable in the modern day. Setting that aside, the themes explored in the movie still seem relevant and frankly I'd love an updated telling that incorporates contemporary sensibilities and more cohesive storytelling. Worth a watch - if you temper your expectations. After all, this was a 90s take on technology's implications, an idea that could have been great but suffered too much from corporate editing and profit goals in its native time.

The first half of this science fiction horror tale (based on a short story from Stephen King's Night Shift Collection) is thought provoking and gripping, but the latter half decides to dive deep into an eccentric and confusing mix of special effects and pseudo-scientific mayhem. Dr. Angelo (Pierce Brosnan) is a brilliant but obsessed computer science specialist that is engaged in secret government experiments to create super-intelligent soldiers out of chimpanzees by using virtual reality simulations to stimulate the brain. When the experiment goes haywire, and a rogue chimp gets away, Angelo believes his destiny is to better mankind by using a human subject for his projects for the purpose of curing brain diseases and not warfare. His subject is Jobe, (played perfectly by Jeff Fahey) the half-wit lawnmower man that lives in the shed of a church next door. As Dr. Angelo's experiments progress, Jobe becomes an intelligent super-human genius whose powers eventually spiral out of control.

This film is triumphant on many various levels. Films dealing with a gradual transformation/disintegration of a central character are very intriguing to watch, and this is very much "Cronenbergian" in its portrayal of Jobe and how he develops into a telekinetic mad genius from a complete idiot and ultimately becomes a tragically vengeful and emotionless entity. The themes dealing with the unlocking of the human primordial intellect and controlling its power by impatient force and not wisdom work wonderfully. The performances are superb as well as the animation sequences, and director Brett Leonard (Virtuosity) is good at integrating them into a live action film. There are many sinister government character types that add suspense to the plot, and Jenny Wright is great as the sexy seductress neighbor who has her way with Jobe. The only time this fails is when Jobe gets revenge on the government goons and the characters that antagonized him by merging his powers with the world of virtual reality resulting in some far out murder sequences that just don't seem to make any sense. Jobe eventually infuses himself with the computer mainframe, and the climax becomes a bit too bizarre, even for sci-fi computer geek fans. Nonetheless, this is a well-made, above-average assault on the senses. If you can find the VHS unrated director's cut, it is much better than the DVD release which is cut by almost twenty minutes, losing most of its character development and style. This is highly recommended for fans of mind-bending sci-fi/horror.

I got 'The Lawnmower Man' as part of one of those 'Buy a pizza and get a free movie' deals, and I put off watching it. And put it off more. And more, until finally I had nothing else to do, so I popped it in the VCR and sat back. Two and half hours later (It was the director's cut- don't see the normal version as it is not nearly as good) it instantly became one of my favorite movies, so I rewound it and watched it again.

To date I have seen it four of five times, as it has problems, it's not very fast paced, but is terribly engaging and Fahey is superb in the lead. The writing isn't great, but is passable, and the computer effects, though far from the center of the story, are excellent.

If you haven't seen it yet, or have only seen the normal version, it is well worth the rental, or even purchase.

I found the director's cut better than the theatrical version. The story is interesting with a scientist who experiments on a disabled gardener who transforms into something else. I think it's interesting on the Virtual Space Industries and what goals are they trying to do. The director's cut have more build-up towards the characters and their problems throughout. It's also builds the character Jobe on how he's a simple guy but becomes smarter and more dangerous later in the movie. We also see the new abilities he gains when he is doing the experiments and uses that for his advantage. In the director's cut, we see how the industry isn't a good company and shows how their work can cause something to go very wrong. Also, later in the movie, the climax gets pretty crazy with Jobe using his new abilities to attack either his enemies or people get in his way. That part is pretty fun to see how bizarre this movie gets.

The theatrical version lacks any build-up towards the characters, and it feels like it happened pretty quickly.

This effect-laden sci-fi horror film looked pretty impressive back in 1992. But of course times move on, and such movies have a tendency to look dated quicker than most as technology marches on to new levels. I guess The Lawnmower Man is one of these films. But in fairness, it can be quite fun to look back at old special effects and see what was cutting edge back in the day. In truth, today if you were to give a 12 year old child a computer game with graphics similar to those in The Lawnmower Man, that child would turn around and laugh in your face. Such is the speed of computer technology. So yes, The Lawnmower Man no longer looks cutting-edge but neither does it look terrible, its effects work within themselves and are only occasionally atrocious, such as the burning priest.

As most people already know, the story is about a simpleton who is turned into a genius via virtual reality technology. The side effect of this method is that it turns the, otherwise good natured man into an insane evil psychotic.

The Lawnmower Man is neither a particularly good film, nor an especially bad one. There's certainly nothing special here, and the effects were by far its chief selling point. Without them this would almost certainly be a forgotten B-movie. Pierce Brosnan and Jeff Fahey are reasonable enough in their roles, but they were always going to play second fiddle to the CGI. At the heart of it all it's a simple clichéd story that doesn't really hold very many surprises to be perfectly honest. But it's still quite good fun in a silly kind of a way.