Scanners 9/10
This was definitely a Cronenberg film. Disturbing, tense, and with a fair amount of gratuitous gore. In the film, a group of a few hundred individuals (known as Scanners) are able to telepathically scan minds, and even control people. Two of them in particular can do just about any shit they want; throw guys around, start fires, spontaneously and quickly expand body parts (KA-BOOM!), even f**king
hack computers. With their
mind. The movie starts off with a bang; the infamous head-explosion is in the first few minutes of the film. I must say, it was much more intense and horrific in its full form than that little GIF that I always used to use. From there, the film follows our hero, a Scanner named Cameron Vale (Lack), as he is recruited by ConSec (a weapons and security corporation) in order to track and kill another Scanner, Darryl Revok (Ironside). Revok is an incredibly powerful and dangerous man, responsible for the aforementioned head-explosion. Eventually, Revok and Cameron meet. There are many revelations, and then a good ol' fashioned Scanner fight. I thought that no scene in the film was going to out-gore
this. I was wrong. Jesus
Christ, was I wrong... Let's just say, exploding eyes are involved, and leave it at that.
The performances in this film were... so-so. Most of the performances were okay, I thought. Nothing exceptional or noteworthy, but nothing terrible either. I felt Patrick McGoohan did a good job as the scientist Paul Ruth, and Michael Ironside was, well, Michael Ironside. In other words, he was completely. I don't think he's an actor, per se; I think he's just like that all the time. Stephen Lack, unfortunately, was not good. At all. I've seen better performances in my drama class. It was almost painful to watch at times, and whenever he spoke, it just took me out of the movie. However, he did have a suitably intense "scan" face.
Spoiler
So that worked.
Overall, if you like intense, gory works of Canadian cinema, watch this. Or
Videodrome.Quote from: Sharp Sticks on May 23, 2011, 05:35:15 AM
And The Long Tomorrow...
Dan O'Bannon and Moebius? I'm sold.