Sick Product of a Sick System

One of my all time favorites.

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Jeff Fahey plays an unconvincing idiot being experimented upon by Pierce Brosnan. The graphics as well as his suit comes from Tron. Fahey acquires superhuman powers from doing chemicals and playing video games (I tried to tell mom that was okay.) He then gets a god complex and thinks he is Gary Mitchell from Star Trek's "Where No Man Has Gone Before" as the movie moves from an interesting science fiction film to a "B" movie.Sex, brief nudity, and the F-bomb. Rest in Peace James R. Kirk.

Basically, think Flowers for Algernon crossed with TRON and a latter act taking cues from Elfen Lied, and you're somewhere on the right track. The CGI, while quite impressive at the time the film was made, hasn't really aged well. Especially Jobe's Digital Avatar, which sometimes enters the Uncanny Valley.

I remember seeing this flick around 1994 and I found it a rather good flick with all the virtual reality action going on. What supposed to be a good B-flick became a cult flick due the effects and the story. And all the fighting going on between Stephen King and the producers did add another issue towards the fame of it. Normally it was supposed to be a flick based on a short story by King but it transformed into another story so sued by King they had to remove his name from the opening credits.Almost 25 years later I came across this flick again. Of course back then the effects and computer animation was top notch but technology went on and on and if you look to it nowadays it is completely outdated on that part. But it's still watchable, be advised, it is a slow mover and it takes a while before Jobe (Fahey) turns from a retarded lawnmower into a super genius men with special abilities so he becomes rather dangerous. It's up to Dr. Lawrence (Brosnan) to destroy the virtual reality and Jobe. Not one of the best flicks about technology but the superb Fahey makes it worth watching and if you're in a sentimental nostalgia tour do pick it up, back to the time before game consoles....Gore 0/5 Nudity 0,5/5 Effects 4/5 Story 2,5/5 Comedy

THE LAWNMOWER MAN, a virtual reality-based sci-fi thriller supposedly based on a short story by Stephen King (although in reality it has nothing to do with it) is the perfect definition of a dated film. The entire premise of the film is reliant on then-cutting edge technology involving computer generated characters and VR, and of course today it looks laughable. JURASSIC PARK came out a year later and also dealt with cutting edge technology yet it hasn't dated at all, so I guess the difference is down to the budget.This is one of those films that's mildly entertaining in places and that's about it. It's a passable slice of entertainment, neither particularly good nor particularly bad, instead occupying a place in the middle of the road as with so many films. It has its good points, and the best of those is the consistently underrated Jeff Fahey, a man who's spent his life enhancing B-movies with many a decent performance.The narrative is about a simpleton who gradually transforms into a genius, and the journey there is fairly interesting, enlivened by a quirky turn from Jenny Wright as a love interest. But Pierce Brosnan's scientist lead is a bit of a bore and Brosnan gives one of those diffident performances that blight his career. Not to mention that Geoffrey Lewis is wasted while Austin O'Brien (the kid from LAST ACTION HERO) gets way too much screen time.By the end, of course, it all becomes rather overblown and over the top, complete with maniacal villainy and pyrotechnic effects. B-movie director Brett Leonard also handled two films I hated (HIDEAWAY and HIGHLANDER: THE SOURCE), along with a movie I was indifferent to (VIRTUOSITY) and I'm in the latter camp with THE LAWNMOWER MAN; it's one of those films that deserves to be forgotten except by the most dedicated sci-fi fans.