The Fly 2 Review

The Fly 2 (1989)

I bought the Fly 2 on video when it was released. This wasn’t so much a comment on the film itself as on Cronenberg’s fantastic and justifiably lauded remake. I am still a huge fan of The Fly(1986), and think it’s one of the best remakes of a classic 50s sci-fi movie, one of the best remakes in general, and one of the best horror films of the 1980s. Because let’s not be misunderstood here. The Fly is a horror movie with sci-fi trappings, as opposed to a sci-fi film with horrific elements. In the genre it fits in snuggly with Carpenter’s The Thing(1982) and Alien(1979), and also carries on Cronenberg’s oft noted obsession with body horror at the time.
The Fly 2 by comparison can best be described as a solid sequel. At the time, this came across as a detriment, a reference to its uninspiring retread of the first story with a larger scope, more gore, and younger leads. I myself was disappointed on first viewing and remained frustratingly unsatisfied on following ones. Ironically it reminded me of Jaws 2, an expansion of situations and cast, with a younger demographic, which tried to rack up the body count at the expense of true horror and dread.
The original after all, was basically a play, a three hander mainly set in Brundle’s lab/home, no one died(although a couple of people were nastily mutilated), and it ended as a horrifyingly romantic tragedy, with Davis weeping after killing Goldblum’s character. It was Beauty and the Beast, where the beast turns on her in the end, forcing a loved one to dispatch them, shades of The Wolfman(1941). In contrast, The Fly 2 has several gory deaths, a large cast and several locations. Yet ironically, at no point was I worried about what was going to happen next. Partly because I didn’t have the emotional investment with Martin and Beth that I’d had with Seth and Ronnie, partly because this was a more audience friendly Fly- it kills people, but only those who deserve it. It pats dogs and even looks cuter, and more human( more like a giant Gremlin than the evilly twitching, and totally alien, original Brundlefly). This is unsurprising, as Chris Walas, who deservedly won an Oscar for his effects in the first film is hemmed in by his happy ending, and by keeping Martin’s character heroic. When Martin changes into the Fly(going into a very Gremlin like cocoon- unsurprising as Walas did the effects for that film too), he keeps his human intellect, unlike his father who gradually lost his. This is a fly with a purpose though, but like the shark in Jaws:The Revenge, this takes away from its threat and makes it very hard to suspend disbelief. We can just about buy a man turning into a monster, but a man turning into a monster who still thinks, and occasionally acts like a man. That’s a harder sell, and much less fun. We want our protagonists tortured and out of control like David Naughton’s character in An American Werewolf in London. The Fly 2 can be seen as less horror movie, and more superhero film.It’s ‘Flyman,’ out to right wrongs, free damsals in distress, and bring the villains to justice, or a sticky end.
Don’t get me wrong though, the film has its moments, Eric Stolz and Daphne Zuniga, make the most of underwritten roles, and are sympathetic. Lee Richardson has great fun as the corporate villain, while John Gertz in a cameo, steals all the best lines in just 5 minutes. Walas directs as suspensefully as the script allows him and pulls off a couple of good scares. I loved the doctor’s corpse thrown at the security guard who opens the door- possibly a reference to the original Thing From Another World(1955), and the crowd- pleasing, crushed head by the lift. Sadly Scorby’s death seems lifted from a Friday 13th movie, and isn’t nearly as gruesome as he deserves, but the fate of Bartok is a well deserved twist in a serviceable script written by Frank Darabont(who’d just come off the excellent Blob remake, and was the John Sayles of scripting pithy horror remakes at the time).
In the end, The Fly 2 takes too long to get going, has too many(ie, more than zero) cute moments, and doesn’t take enough risks. However, it does do it’s job and wraps up the franchise’s loose ends. It’s a solid sequel, in the best meaning of the phrase. And sometimes that’s enough. 7/10