The Lawnmower Man
Finally, a movie about lawn care
In the late 80's and early 90's,
virtual reality was the way of the future. The entertainment expected
to be living and working in a virtual world and brought us
computer-graphic heavy television like Reboot and Beast Wars. There
was even a video game console put out by Nintendo called the Virtual
Boy. Things didn't quite work out the way people were expecting and
virtual reality has pretty much gone the way of the dinosaur. Blame
probably goes to the internet, but plenty should go to the terrible
movies that came out around that time praising virtual reality while
throwing terrible graphics at the audience. But a movie can't be bad
when it's based off a Stephen King story, right? Right?
The Lawnmower Man is a 1992
science-fiction horror movie starring Pierce Brosnan (Goldeneye,
Dante's Peak) as Dr. Lawrence Angelo and Jeff Fahey (Lost, The
Marshal) as Jobe Smith. Dr. Angelo works for Virtual Space
Industries, which is under the employ of a shadowy group known as The
Shop. conducting experimental treatments and virtual reality trainin
on increasing the intelligence of chimps. VSI is hoping to use
Angelo's work to create a new weapon, but one of the chimps escapes
and is killed. Angelo begins to experiment at his home on Jobe Smith,
a special needs man who mows lawns. Jobe is lives a simple life,
living in a garden shed owned by Father McKeen. McKeen routinely
beats Jobe with a belt whenever he fails to do his chores. As the
experiments continue, Jobe's intelligence begins to increase. He also
becomes more self aware of his emotions and desires. He begins to
have a relationship with a local woman named Marnie. Angelo takes
Jobe to VSI to continue his experiments, exposing Jobe to the virtual
reality machines there. Jobe begins to exhibit telepathic and
telekinetic abilities, reading people's thoughts and lifting objects
with his mind. The Shop takes an interest in Jobe and secretly
increases his aggression levels, similar to what was done to the
chimp before its escape. Jobe begins to lose his mental stability,
acquiring a God complex. He uses his abilities to kill those who
wronged him, such as Father McKeen. Jobe believes he has unlocked the
keys to the mind and believes that by connecting himself inside VSI's
computer mainframe, he will reach every computer system in the world.
Will Dr. Angelo be able to stop him?
Trey Parker, is that you?
It's true that Stephen King wrote a
short story called The Lawnmower Man, but save for one brief scene,
this movie has absolutely nothing to do with Stephen King. It is so
far removed from his work that King successfully sued the film's
producers for using his name. It's with good reason that he decided
to sue the makers of this movie because I know I wouldn't want my
name associated with it. The story is pretty weak and falls into a
cliche-a-thon very quickly. Lawnmower Man has the magical “simple”
character, the pacifist scientist being forced to make a weapon, and
even a horny cougar wanting to bone the simple character. The movie
is very heavy-handed when it comes to the religious overtones,
throwing subtlety out the window in favor of a computerized
crucifixion scene. There is some action throughout, but it's not
particularly thrilling or entertaining. There are a few scenes of
creepiness, but nothing that would qualify as scary.
The biggest problem with The Lawnmower
Man is that it is a victim of it's time. Virtual reality was the “in”
thing with everyone touting it as the wave of the future. That being
the case, the movie relies heavily on computer graphics. Normally,
this might not be a bad thing, but keep in mind that this movie came
out in 1992. Try to remember what computer graphics looked like in
the early 90's. What looked futuristic then looks completely
ridiculous 20 years now (yes it's been 20 years since this movie was
released if you can believe it). A good chunk of the movie uses these
graphics hoping to dazzle the audience rather than creating a
cohesive and entertaining story. It's funny to see a young Pierce
Brosnan with longer, almost grunge hair and a hoop earring. He looks
like he's ready to go see Lollapalooza, not conduct futuristic
experiments. Jeff Fahey is OK in his role, but tends to chew the
scenery towards the end. His haircut was out of place as he looked
like he should be a starting forward for the 1977 Philadelphia
Flyers, not a man in the 90's. It's not a critical part of the movie,
but when you're bored, you notice little things. The movie is full of
unintentional comedy, from the hilariously dated graphics, to the
cartoonish storyline and overacting.
BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Originally, The Lawnmower
Man was not a bad concept for a movie. Today, we are so plugged in
all the time that it still relates to today. Unfortunately, the movie
bet on the wrong horse in terms of virtual reality, and it doesn't
hold up 20 years later. The movie focuses far too much on
computerized effects and graphics which look terribly by today's
standards. A barely-there story, questionable acting, and
unintentional laughs doom the movie. In it's time, The Lawnmower Man
was a cutting-edge movie with some serious, if not heavy-handed,
social commentary. The commentary still holds up, but the rest of the
movie does not.
2.5/10
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