Scientist Dr Larry Angelo has been working on a drug that enhancing intelligence on test subjects. When his previous test subject is killed, he sees a new ideal subject in Jobe Smith (an unintelligent gardener who has the mind of a child). Although all is well to begin with, Angelo soon finds that he is no longer able to control his test subject and Jobe begins to show that too much intelligence in the wrong hands can potentially be a very dangerous thing...
The concept behind Lawnmower Man isn't actually a bad one; a team of scientists trying to create something which will improve intelligence, Angelo trying to help a man who is picked on and bullied because of his lack of intelligence. These are actually good qualities about the film. I also liked the way that the film does show the extremes of what can happen when people get involved with things that they don't understand; clearly Jobe becomes too big for everyone the more he continues with his experiments. Up to the halfway point I was sort of just about buying it, but it just started to get a bit too silly in the second half....
Up until this point, the film showcased a likeable protagonist and an interesting story which highlighted how much more Jobe was starting to get out of life by being that bit more intelligent; more respect from people and I felt that he was getting more out of life, but then....
The moment the film started to lose me slightly was when it started with all the Matilda style stuff...Jobe being able to move things using his 'powers.' In a film like Matilda which is based on a children's book which has no pretensions of it being anything other than fantasy I can go along with it and enjoy it. Although The Lawnmower Man is science-fiction it's clearly meant to be a more serious film but I saw this as being a stupid idea in this type of film - it just doesn't work.
I liked the idea of Jobe getting his vengeance against all of those that did him wrong and felt that this was a good angle to the story and given the grief he went through when he was dumb I whole heartedly supported the direction that the narrative took. Again he gains his revenge using his Matilda powers which again was just too silly to take seriously.
Another thing that has to be mentioned are the special effects; they're quite simply atrocious (even when the film was made they wouldn't have been great). The ending is incredibly contrived as well; Jobe spends ages trying to escape into the void with multiple failed attempts, but then randomnly access is granted just before the VSI compound is blown to smithereens. Perlease!!!!!
One bright spot with this film lies with Jeff Fahey who puts in a really strong performance here; he reminded me of Jeff Daniels when he was in Dumb and Dumber at the start of the film. Fahey makes this more tolerable than it should be, but his performance alone is not enough to save this turkey.
FINAL NOTE; this was apparently based on a Stephen King short story. Further proof that not all films based on Stephen King books make for good big screen adaptations.
The concept behind Lawnmower Man isn't actually a bad one; a team of scientists trying to create something which will improve intelligence, Angelo trying to help a man who is picked on and bullied because of his lack of intelligence. These are actually good qualities about the film. I also liked the way that the film does show the extremes of what can happen when people get involved with things that they don't understand; clearly Jobe becomes too big for everyone the more he continues with his experiments. Up to the halfway point I was sort of just about buying it, but it just started to get a bit too silly in the second half....
Up until this point, the film showcased a likeable protagonist and an interesting story which highlighted how much more Jobe was starting to get out of life by being that bit more intelligent; more respect from people and I felt that he was getting more out of life, but then....
The moment the film started to lose me slightly was when it started with all the Matilda style stuff...Jobe being able to move things using his 'powers.' In a film like Matilda which is based on a children's book which has no pretensions of it being anything other than fantasy I can go along with it and enjoy it. Although The Lawnmower Man is science-fiction it's clearly meant to be a more serious film but I saw this as being a stupid idea in this type of film - it just doesn't work.
I liked the idea of Jobe getting his vengeance against all of those that did him wrong and felt that this was a good angle to the story and given the grief he went through when he was dumb I whole heartedly supported the direction that the narrative took. Again he gains his revenge using his Matilda powers which again was just too silly to take seriously.
Another thing that has to be mentioned are the special effects; they're quite simply atrocious (even when the film was made they wouldn't have been great). The ending is incredibly contrived as well; Jobe spends ages trying to escape into the void with multiple failed attempts, but then randomnly access is granted just before the VSI compound is blown to smithereens. Perlease!!!!!
One bright spot with this film lies with Jeff Fahey who puts in a really strong performance here; he reminded me of Jeff Daniels when he was in Dumb and Dumber at the start of the film. Fahey makes this more tolerable than it should be, but his performance alone is not enough to save this turkey.
FINAL NOTE; this was apparently based on a Stephen King short story. Further proof that not all films based on Stephen King books make for good big screen adaptations.