The Fly (1986)

Review by Sean Patterson



"But you only know society's straight line about the flesh. You can't penetrate beyond society's sick, grave fear of the flesh. Drink deep or taste not the plasma spring! See what I'm saying?"

David Cronenberg's classic remake sheds its predecessor's thoughtful suspense building in favor of sex and gross-out special effects. The questions raised by the original are drowned in a sea of gory effluence. But it's so much fun.
Jeff Goldblum stars as Seth Brundle, a brilliant and lonely scientist who has quietly invented the most amazing machine in the history of man: a teleportation machine. When Brundle teleports himself, he begins exhibiting amazing symptoms. He performs an impromptu gymnastic routine in his warehouse lab. He breaks a strongman's wrist during an arm wrestling match. He talks and acts as if he's on meth. Brundle convinces himself that the teleportation process has somehow "filtered" him, making him his best possible self.
But this isn't a superhero origin story. Soon Brundle's pallor changes and he begins sloughing off parts of his body. His disturbingly intelligent computer terminal reveals the truth: Brundle has been spliced with a fly that was in the teleporter with him. He is neither Seth Brundle or a house fly, but something new. Brundlefly.
The cast for The Fly is nice and small, consisting of three main players. Gina Davis plays a reporter and Seth's love intrest, Veronica. She is convincingly sexy, but doesn't have much to do but act as a foil for the change Brundle is undertaking. Her character goes above and beyond to comfort Brundlefly considering his looks, attitude, and, presumably, his smell.
John Getz plays Stathis, Veronica's editor, ex-boyfriend, and uber sleazeball. It's not clear whether Stathis really cares about Veronica or simply wants to act "manly" enough to get back into her pants. It doesn't matter. He's simply the force pulling Veronica away from Brundle.
Goldblum, with his huge eyes, is well cast since those eyes are all he has to work with during the second half of the movie. As Brundlefly continues its metamorphasis, it goes from resembling Michael Jackson in Thriller to the elephant man to something unrecognizable consisting of sinew and slimy flesh.
Much like Cronenberg's Videodrome, flesh is a major theme of The Fly. Where the original The Fly ruminated on themes of hubris and bathed itself in mystery, the remake is a straightforward exhibition of the makeup effects artists' skill. The movie won an academy award for best makeup and I believe it could easily win the same award if it were released this year.
The other special effects deserve mention as well, particularly the scene with Goldblum walking across a ceiling, to a wall, and then jumping to the floor. The teleportation pods are convincingly solid and high-tech. The lack of any CGI is refreshing.
The pacing of The Fly is zippy and the editing is top-notch. The movie (ahem) flies by, and it's over before you know it. I didn't feel robbed of a movie experience, though, and I consider these points evidence of a masterfully built movie.
Like the 1958 version, this one is a product of its era. Instead of dials and the perfect nuclear family, here we have a computer terminal and a single loner. The clothes, video cameras, and hair all scream 80's. Instead of overconfidence in his abilities, Brundle exhibits disaffected, almost autistic qualities. His inexperience with alcohol and his insecurities surrounding interpersonal contact ultimately do him in.
It's not quite as good as the original, but it's hard to compare the two movies. While I normally hate the idea of remakes, the story of The Fly lends itself to interpretation and can easily absorb the technology, fears, and zeitgeist of an era. I can't wait to see another version in the future.
8/10