Rollie Tyler is asked to do ‘one last job’ for the police. The minute he’s done it he finds himself back in a pickle with the mob and a dangerous hitman on his tail. Once again he has to use every trick of the trade to survive the ordeal and save his loved ones.F/X1 was, what one would call, the gritty original. Like any horror-franchise it takes a few parts to get silly. For F/X the people behind it learned fast –the realized what kind of ‘gold’ they were handling.
There was even a, short lived TV-show, and rightfully so. Alas it didn’t come to fruition.
The first effort in the (to be) F/X-franchise was dark as can be, An Australian special effects master called Rollie Tyler helps out the police only to find his girlfriend gruesomely killed, for his efforts, and himself hunted.
Truly, the origins of F/X is dark as can be. It is only halfway through the movie (during the car-chase) that the movie starts to use the ‘silly’ elements the Rollie Tyler character has as a trait. It is at this moment that the movie starts to use its premised ‘toys’. And the finale that follows, follows suit.
Because that is what F/X is: A movie special effects master using ‘every trick in the trade’ to hoodwink the villains. It’s an inside look into the movie-making-business –turning reality upside down- wherein the burning stuntman gets up again and the guy shot a billion times is asking for his pay-check.
F/X spotlights ‘how things are done’ and, as such, itself walks the narrow line between ‘movie fiction’ and ‘reality’.
Getting all philosophical one could say that F/X walks the narrow line between ‘suspension of disbelieve’:
meaning: we (the audience) know we are watching a movie yet we choose to pretend
that the things we see on the screen are really happening.
And, ‘destruction of disbelieve’ –like Brecht’s ‘Die Dreigroschenoper’-
a movie trying it’s best to keep the audience from investing in the tale on screen.
Returning to the core matter F/X1 was a dark tale. No fun to be had until the carcase halfway through that flipped everything around.
F/X2 has an inherent duality on that part. I doesn’t start dark –per se. In fact it's a laugh most of the way through. At least. It should’ve been if not for one or two moments that bring the whole tale down (back) to the gritty original. F/X2 just can’t help dragging you down again, because it wants to stay true to the original on various occasions.
SPOILER: I am, of course, talking about the first murder and the roadside shooting.
Both events could have been rewritten without harming the major plot.
So that’s what F/X2 is. It is far more playful than the first part (which consisted of Brian Dennehy carrying a gigantic moustache –something of the eighties: gigantic moustaches mean – good guy! - Just look at Magnum PI.
However, it cannot help itself by throwing some drama into the mix just to make things a bit more ‘real’ – even though the audience never asked for it and it actually harms the overall tone of the movie.
“Screw Bluey!”
So what’s the fun about F/X2? Why do I like this movie so much?
In the unevenness between the drama and the fun it is the fun that prevails. Rollie Tyler and Leo McCarthy are friends now. The only villains chasing Rollie are mysteriously shrouded which is good.
The whole blueprint of the movie allows for Rollie to have ‘fun’ with his special effects box. And you, as the audience, are waiting for him to do it.
Take, for example, the whole scene in the shopping mall: It's a kids playground. Rollie knows what to do and he takes the viewerby the hand as he sets up trap after trap to capture the villain. The movie ups the special effects mastery of Rollie Tyler at this point. It just can’t help itself getting the good man in situations in which he has to think on his feet and use his skill to get out of a pickle.
SPOILER: Again, the death of the security guard is one of those things the movie could’ve done without.
Then there’s the fact that the movie dared to throw some Science Fiction (or Science Possibility) into the mix: Bluey the clown.
The fun part about Bluey is that this is possible nowadays. Which makes F/X2 one of the few movies that actually managed to predict the future accurately.
But it is also the (Chechov’s gun) Bluey that makes the movie find its stride. With this silly animatronic clown the movie is a whole lot less depressing than the first one. More, it keeps you cheering for the hero.
This continues into the finale in which the ease in which Rollie Tyler takes out each and every mobster is a hoot to behold (“Cue ball corner pocked...I warned you!”).
A great scene in FX2 is also hilariously outdated.
The kid in the movie learns how to chat through the internet (by phone).
It’s one of those scenes Hollywood adds to make a movie modern without
realising that being modern ‘now’ means outdated ‘tomorrow’.
Best friends back.
Then there’s the fun part about sequels: actors are back. It was obvious that Brain Brown and Brian Dennehy loved playing their parts in the first outing. It was also clear that Dennehy really wanted to meddle with some of the F/X-bits of the first movie which he never got to.So this second time around these two actors got comfortable in their parts and just had fun; which shows.
Dennehy especially is a hoot as his character is allowed more leeway. He’s no police officer anymore, he doesn’t have to order anyone around. He is his own -private investigator- man and, as such, much more relaxed. He’s almost a different character yet (rewatching the first part) still very much in line with the character from F/X: murder by illusion.
Brian Brown, then, is also more comfortable. Having a character-friend to back him up he can just comfortably mess things up for the mobsters knowing somebody has his back. Progressing from his ordeal in the first movie his character takes the next logical step: being the smartest person in the room when it comes to his particular field. Something that shows in the mall-scene.
Why no part three?
F/X2 was a step into the right direction: less drama than part one and more fun with special effects. A third outing would’ve taken the horror-franchise route and gone all out with fun which would’ve made it an entertainment classic. Alas that never happened.
Still F/X2 has lots to offer the friendly viewer. It has the Rollie Tyler character experienced and on top of its game. The Leo McCarthy character charming his way across screen. And then there are a whole lot of special effects shenanigans to be had.
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