THE FLY (1986)
Human, and moving, but a shade too "Canadian"
There's not that much of a resemblance to George Langelaan's original short story here - the root idea is kept, but even the characters' names are changed! (David Cronenberg can't seem to make a movie without wacky character names, except The Dead Zone) Still, this is one of Cronenberg's best films, from that mid-80's "humanistic" phase he went through that gave us his best work.
Jeff Goldblum stars, pioneering all those "quirky scientist" roles he'd be typecast into later on, as Seth Brundle, a brilliant but socially retarded scientist researching teleportation. He's able to teleport inanimate, inorganic objects through his creepy-looking telepods, but can't do living creatures yet - the process turns them inside out. (which is nothing compared to what happens to people in Stephen King's "The Jaunt", but that's another story)
Geena Davis co-stars as Veronica Quaife, a reporter who has an exclusive scoop on his research, and who eventually falls in love with him. Just before he puts himself through his "perfected" machine, not knowing that there's a pesky housefly in there with him. Only Seth comes out, feeling great, but not for long...
The actors are both excellent here. Davis never really did much that mattered; yeah, she won an Oscar, so what. I did like her two films with Renny Harlin, though (The Long Kiss Goodnight is still the only movie I've seen with a really credible female action hero). But this movie requires her to really do some stuff, as this woman who comes to love this hopelessly awkward oaf only to see him change, and not for the better. Goldblum (eventually appearing in about seven tons of makeup) has never been better, giving his character equal doses of childlike wonder and mad-scientist monomania (damn if I didn't use that sentence in another review recently - well, it's true here too). He's as fascinated as he is repulsed by the changes happening to his body, although he does realize how gross some of it is.
The writing is a bit more spotty, particularly in the technical details. There is of course the computer with gigantic type on the screen which understands commands in plain English. And if the resulting "Brundlefly" is what the computer came up with because it didn't know what to do with two organisms in the pod, what about all the microbes on and in Seth's body? And how much do lab baboons cost, that you'd use one before you'd use, say, a hamster? Some of the lines are harder to digest than a twinkie that hasn't been vomited on yet, too (sample nutcase dialogue: "Drink deep, or taste not the plasma spring!" What the hell? I feel like Homer Simpson watching his Mr. Plow ad).
It's also hard to understand why Ronnie sticks by Seth as long as she does. That she'd fall for him so fast is weird, but not unimaginable - I mean, hell, I see women falling faster for weirder guys all the time. But that she'd fall for him HARD enough to stick by him well after he's turned into a hideous creature, not to mention an obviously dangerous creature...well, you've just gotta wonder what kind of crack she's smoking. While the relationship between the two is rather insufficiently established, the results are played out very well by the leads.
Great creature FX and makeup, of course. The music by Howard Shore ain't bad, but occasionally ventures into overkill. On a technical level, only the cinematography really fails us. This movie definitely falls prey to its own "look", which is unfortunately endemic of Canadian movies - it's drab, it's bleak, it just looks relentlessly stark and plain. I've often said that Canadian movies are no fun at all - this is part of why. It's hard to enjoy something that's so bloody dreary to look at. I know, this isn't supposed to be a really fun movie - it's quite heartrending, really. But maybe we Canadians need more sun, I dunno.
A lot of people have tried to suggest that Brundle's affliction is representative of AIDS - Cronenberg disagrees, and I can't really say that I see it either. It's not like this is a contagion, or even (as it is in so many Cronenberg movies) a sex thing. Sex is a concept that comes up quite a bit in this movie, particularly when poor Ronnie finds out that she's pregnant, but trying to push an AIDS metaphor on this is pushing a little too hard. Cronenberg sees it as a metaphor for old age. How long can you love somebody who withers so before you, eh?
Speaking of AIDS, I am reminded of someone's (WSPig? FrMerrin?) mention of Philadelphia alongside this movie. Philadelphia told a literal story of a man dying of AIDS and the loved ones who watch him go, but it told it in such a shallow, manipulative, Patch Adams kind of way. For chrisssakes, it has a cartoon villain and a climactic courtroom scene, with Tom Hanks collapsing on the stand and everything. The Fly tells the story of a man withering similarly, but is a hell of a lot more honest. And Hanks got the Oscar; go figure.
Despite the dreary look and its occasional problems with implausibility, The Fly remains a hard-hitting look at one of the most painful things people go through - a failing love between two people when one of them is changing. It comes as highly recommended from me as does the original, and that's saying quite a bit.
Weird trivia - even though that famous "Help me, please help me" of the tiny half-fly in the original film is not present in this movie, it did appear in print ads. Watch for Cronenberg himself in a cameo as a dream-doctor.