(This review was written by me for the site www.thefilmpilgrim.com, on which it can also be found)
Release date (UK DVD) – 18 October 2010
Certificate (UK) – 15
Country - USA
Director – Brett Leonard
Runtime – 140 minutes
Starring – Jeff Fahey, Pierce Brosnan
It cannot be denied that Stephen King is capable of writing great science fiction, some of which has been successfully realised on the big screen (David Cronenberg’s The Dead Zone (1983) and Paul Michael Glaser’s The Running Man (1987) for example), and in 1992, director and screenwriter Brett Leonard chose to adapt one of King’s science fiction short stories titled ‘The Lawnmower Man’.
Dr. Angelo (Pierce Brosnan) is a top scientist working for Virtual Space Industries, who (though his morals are in the right place) is attempting to develop a new and effective war weapon out of the technology of virtual reality. After a chimp test subject breaks loose and causes havoc, a mentally challenged lawnmower worker named Jobe (Jeff Fahey) is willingly pulled into Dr. Angelo’s work, becoming his first human test subject. Dr. Angelo increases Jobe’s intelligence to an astonishing degree, but along with this, dangerous ideals form in Jobe’s head and he discovers that he holds a few extraordinary powers.
The Lawnmower Man is firmly and openly an exploration of the benefits and also detrimental effects of the technology of virtual reality (a new advancement at the time of filming). It serves primarily as a cautionary tale about what might happen to our culture and the way in which we communicate with one another (right down to how sex will be altered) should we become too enveloped and essentially enslaved by these false words in which we can play the God of our own universe. At the same time, however, it speculates on whether virtual reality holds within it the amazing potential to ‘evolve’ the human mind (and what dangers might arise if this is done too quickly and taken too far), and the possibility that it could be the vehicle used to create a Utopia on Earth (Jobe’s goal in the film; albeit through twisted, murderous means).
The three books we briefly see sitting atop Dr. Angelo’s television set towards the start of the film – The Ascent of Man, The Science of Mind, and Science Fiction Films – tell the viewer everything they need to know about what is to come.
It is a story that draws strong parallels with Daniel’s Keyes’ classic SF novel Flowers for Algernon (surely an influence on King’s story) – in how a dim-witted individual gains incredible intelligence at a rapid rate through breaking-edge science, and this having fatal results. It also shares a strong parallel with Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein – in how a creator nurtures his creation through science and that creation eventually turns into a monster (indeed, at one point Jobe says to Dr. Angelo: “I’m sorry you hate what you created”).
This is the most unjustly criticised and underrated film that I have ever come across. Many deride and despise it; on the internet movie database (IMDB.com) it currently holds a dire rating, and elsewhere one reviewer calls it ‘a drool-inducing sci-fi disaster’. My being an SF addict perhaps makes me a little bias in my final judgement, but this is a film that has everything that the medium of film strives to convey; there is strong emotion, a haunting score that compliments the horrors at play, great acting (both Fahey and Brosnan are exceptional), moments of hilarious comedy, a compelling story, and perhaps most importantly, an intelligent and thought-provoking premise – and a highly relevant one, even to today’s society – that the viewer can grapple with; right down to it delivering a uniquely ambiguous ending, which the viewer can make up their own mind on regarding its meaning.
Many people today – mostly male youths – spend the vast majority of their time immersed in the false worlds of video games (much to the complaint of their girlfriends, which this film also observes via Dr. Angelo’s stringent work habits – his partner complaining: “I’m young Larry, I don’t want to become a recluse just for you; I’m into reality reality, not this artificial reality.”) Video games themselves are becoming ever more life-like and thus seductive all the time; we are drawn in by the ability to create our own world, with our own rules, where we can act without consequences, and this temptation poses a long-term threat which this film viably highlights.
Religion is treated here cleverly: first the film shows it to be a safe haven in times of need, then as a corrupted and brutal thing (the church priest being easily swayed by money and whipping Jobe brutally at any excuse he can find). It is also rife with religious symbolism and statements: from Jobe’s Christ complex, to him nailing Dr. Angelo to a cross in the virtual world, to his statement when fully embedded in the virtual world: “I am God here!”
Those who find this film a shambles mostly complain about its dated visual effects (which are presumably poor for 1992), but dates aside, I argue that they are no worse than those used in the film Tron (1982), and that film is a revered as a cult classic.
Where the film’s ambition does fall a little flat is in its prediction that by the year 2000 everyone would be as immersed in virtual reality as we are in television. This is simply a risk that predictive SF takes, and I don’t think that this film can be faulted for perhaps predicting too early in the future a problem that may yet still arrive. Another fault is perhaps in the kind of powers that Jobe acquires – telepathy, telekinesis and more – and the way it showboats them for the sake of some action scenes.
For Lost fans this is a minor gold mine with regards to the cast; with Jeff Fahey and also Doug Hutchinson being familiar faces from the hit SF show (and indeed the Lost writers likely chose these actors due partly to them staring in this film, since Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse were heavily influenced by King).
If you are a big fan of science fiction, you may just find this to be the surprisingly superb, undiscovered gem that I found it to be. Fans of Lost would be well served just viewing it to see a young Jeff Fahey in action. Those not inclined towards SF should perhaps steer clear, as the harsh effects, occasional spouts of scientific jargon, and the film’s hard-SF premise might prove a little too heavy and ‘geek’-saturated for some.
The extras on this double disc set are numerous, but slim in running time. There is a storyboard that is shown alongside a scene from the film, the deleted scenes that were taken out in the commercial version (very interesting to observe – since this version is all the better for them being kept in), a featurette made at the time of filming, and even the entire sequel (far more despised by people than this film), Lawnmower Man 2: Beyond Cyberspace, on a separate disc, plus more. No director’s commentary, however, feels a little lacking for such an edition.
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