Review of The Fly (1986) by Dawdlingpoet — 21 Nov 2021

I think the thing I most like about this particular film is, or are, the themes it covers. Its not greatly original in terms of there being the main character, somewhat of an eccentric scientist with a real enthusiasm for what he does, a strong belief in his research and whom is determined to do all he can in aid of 'the cause' to make his hopes a reality but I thought the characters were well portrayed and it was really quite watchable overall. Although this film does appear fairly dated, given it doesn't really use CGI (the closest to computer generated imagery or aspects to this film being shots of the computer screen that Seth uses to programme the morph experiments), the topic is still relevant and its still an entertaining watch, if not a bit 'icky' at times, of course. I thought it was quite a well made film as the characters are quite well developed and there's some good dialogue. I also liked (for once!) that the plot built up somewhat slowly, on this ocassion as it made it perhaps more poignant when the inevitable transition took place. The fact that only very brief changes start to show through at first perhaps makes the viewer more on edge, not knowing when things are going to suddenly escalate. There is also a plot twist present, which brings even more moral questions with it and which may shock the viewer. On the down side and perhaps this is me being a bit picky but I found myself questioning some things, such as how useful (or revolutionary) his discovery could have actually been, if the distance objects or beings were able to travel between were so short, though I suppose its all about understanding the basics and proving such teleportation can be done at all. As far as the narrative is concerned, aspects of it somehow reminded me of King Kong, a somewhat classic tale with equal parts love and fear, plus being set in New York, I suppose. Why do such stories tend to happen in New York? answers on a postcard please(!).

I also couldn't help but wonder why Veronica seemed fine to hug Seth, having taken some moments to get to terms with his deformities - she's shown to be quite fearful when she realises whats happened and having to take a hard decision later on but yet after seemingly reluctantly re-visiting him and physically being shocked and appalled at what she's faced with, including the fact that his body is, by one point, almost falling apart, she seems to have little hesitation in physically embracing him - I suppose some might argue thats admirable, to see past the obvious physical repulsions and to still presumably feel compassion for the human element thats trapped behind it all but a part of me couldn't help but think if there was much realism to this, how likely is it that she would do that, really? is there maybe an element of her being too much of a typical caring female lead character perhaps? that might be a bit harsh of me to say that and I certainly did think this was quite an engrossing film and a good film for the most part but those would be the main criticisms that come to mind, personally.

For those of you who regularly read my reviews, you'll be unsurprised to read that I liked this film for the shortish running time of just over an hour and a half. Having checked that before playing it, I also remember realising that the plot seemed to be moving fairly slowly to start with and I wondered how it would manage to all play out and for the story to be resolved in the time remaining - the answer is, not everything gets entirely addressed. The ending seemed quite abrupt and leaves you wondering about what happened afterwards, although its quite good in as much as the sudden ending perhaps makes it a bit more hard hitting and memorable.

I think it would likely depend on what your looking for, what type of film you presume this to be etc., as to whether you'd especially enjoy it, I imagine. If your looking for purely a scary horror film then this is perhaps not the best for that, as while it is rather 'gross out' at times, its not a pure 'scare-fest', indeed I didn't find it too scary, from the point of view of physically jumping or feeling compelled to look away - well I did once but only the once, if I remember right(!). Also (and finally), a slightly silly comparison I could make, that for some reason came to mind, was that this is perhaps somewhat like an adult, gory version of The Wuzzles! (for those who aren't familiar with The Wuzzles (probably most people), that was a Disney cartoon show consisting of various characters which were all hybrid animals, though they were born that way and quite happy in being what they were lol (yes I did warn it was a silly comparison but there you go!).

This is quite a thought provoking watch, with an interesting main character and one or two good plot twists.