The Lawnmower Man

"The Lawnmower Man" (1992, Brett Leonard, New Line Cinema) is not-even-loosely based on a Stephen King story. I say that as it's pretty much nothing to do with Stephen King or his story, except for perhaps the title! In fact, King had to sue them in order to remove mention of his name from the film!

Dr. Angelo (Pierce Brosnan - no idea how he ended up in this) is a genius scientist working on computer simulation technology that can increase intelligence in primates. While on forced hiatus after his test subject tried to escape and murdered a security guard, he decides to start using his technology on a human subject: Jobe (Jeff Fahey), a handyman gardener with learning difficulties.

Soon Jobe goes from a simple man to a crazed genius, but he goes too far, beginning to exact revenge on those who wronged him before. He also tries to take over the world, believing himself to be some kind of high-tech Jesus computer virus.

Dated graphics with animation sequences that could have been about a third of the length than they actually are really mar the film. I'm sure they were impressive for the day, but they are pretty painful to watch nowadays. Not to mention the fact that on the whole it's pretty boring and provides no scares at all.

Jeff Fahey gives a good performance though, I enjoyed his character's transition from simpleton to killer computer virus.

With the exception of the scene where there's a psycho-kinetically controlled lawnmower, this film is pretty dull.

[Image: New Line Cinema]

Hani