Review of The Fly II (1989) by Brando — 26 Jul 2008

The sequel to David Cronenberg's remake of "The Fly" is nowhere near as entertaining. I felt like they put more thought into special effects than into storytelling. It tries to mimic the relationship from the first movie between Seth and Veronica, this time with Daphne Zuniga as Martin's (Eric Stoltz) love interest.

Don't get me wrong, gore can be good. Just not when its the centerpiece of the movie. It had been a while since I had last watched it and I had an easier time remembering the elevator death than what the actual story was about.

On the plus side the fly effects were impressive once again. The various puppets they used to bring the fly to life moved fluidly and were more convincing. I didn't really like how the fly looked less human than it did in the first.

That was what made it easy to feel for the character and remember that there is still the mind of a man deep in there. This time it looks more monstrous. On the other hand, some of the other telepod mutations came out looking too fake for me to believe.

They were like puppets rejected from "Sesame Street" for looking too unfriendly. The acting really got to me in this movie, and not in a good way. Every character the movie wants us to hate seems almost cartoonish.

The scientists working with Martin gave me a Dr. Evil vibe and I half expected them to raise their pinky finger to their mouth and laugh maniacally. Scorby, the head of security at Bartok Industries played by Gary Chalk, oozes with a hatred for Martin from the very beginning that the filmmakers never explain.

We got some good performances from the main three actors: Stoltz, Zuniga, and Richardson. It isn't nearly enough to save the movie. This movie is best watched with no expectations, except for that of a mildly entertaining horror flick with some good special effects.