Powerful

Please don't spend money on this.

Memorable, crazy movie

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

Enough gadgetry to fill a Bond film and enough bodies to fill the city morgue! Also, some wit. But sophisticated it ain't. Succeeds because of Brown's charm (that accent!) and Dennehy's performance.

F/X was one of my favorite thriller of the 80's, a genuinely fun action film that takes itself just seriously enough to make its story credible but at the same time remains blissfully free of the delusions of grandeur that have led to so many overproduced, ultimately empty headed and painfully dull "thrillers" over the past couple of years. In short, F/X is the type of unpretentious, engaging film that could never be made by a Michael Bay or most of the other directors produced out of the Jerry Bruckhiemer.The film's main strength comes from the cast who all seem to be having a good time on screen and bring a surprising sense of conviction to roles that could easily have been played as B-movie stereotypes. Bryan Brown is one of those charismatic, obviously talented leading men who rarely gives a bad performance yet for whatever reason (though making movies like "Cocktail" probably didn't help) has never become a bona fide star. Playing the lead in this film, he proves that he did have the talent and the charisma to be a leading man and indeed, his low-key but likable lead performance is responsible for a great deal of F/X's strength. As the gruff police detective who becomes Brown's ally, Brian Dennehey is well, he's Brian Dennehey and, as always, that's more than good enough. That said, he also brings a welcome sense of humor to the proceedings and he proves once again that nobody in the 80's delivered profanity as wittily and skillfully as Brian Dennehey. The rest of the cast is full of character actors who all turn in nicely quirky performances with the standouts being Diane Venora who is sweet as Brown's girlfriend (whose ultimate fate if predictable is also well handled and rather sad), Cliff De Young who gives perhaps his best variation on his standard Yuppie henchman role in this film, Joe Grifasi as Dennehey's put upon partner, Mason Adams who perfectly captures the essence of everyone's kindly but kinda strange uncle, and the great Jerry Orbach who, playing a mobster with an all-important pace maker, overacts as if the world depending on it but is still a lot of fun to watch because, after all, he's Jerry Orbach. Still, there a some very clever things in here and the movie provides good suspense and excellent twists. You never know what to expect. The film was popular enough to spawn a sequel.Overall rating: 8 out of 10.

There's some great potential in the basic premise of this 80s cult hit conspiracy "thriller", but unfortunately its wasted by its rather shoddy execution. The first act is fairly intriguing, but things quickly begin to unravel after the plot has been hatched and by the end there are plot holes big enough to drive a semi-truck through.Bryan Brown never quite finds his footing as our supposed hero, and then suddenly the film shoves Brian Dennehy into the mix and Brown's character suddenly finds himself in a timeshare that serves to undermine not only his character, but the entire story.The final act fails to tie the whole conspiracy up in a satisfying way, and the end is flat-out ridiculous. All in all, 'F/X' is a big disappointment that doesn't live up to its hype.

F/X is one of the few Movies from the 80's that I remember because of it's inventive premise.It Stars Aussie Actor Bryan Brown (An actor who never really made it to the big-time) who plays Special FX Expert Rollie Tyler who works on various Low Budget Slashers and becomes well known to the Department of Justice which hires him to perform a fake assassination of a Gangster on the Witness protection Program (Law & Order's late Jerry Orbach)...But things very quickly become complicated as Tyler finds he's being double crossed by the very people who hired him (Mason Adams & Cliff De Young)Co-Starring Brian Dennehy as the veteran cop Leo McCarthy who tries to find out who killed who and why.It was a minor hit on it's original release back in '86 and was followed by a Sequel in '91 and a TV series from '96-'98.***1/2 out of *****