The Lawnmower Man (DVD)

The Lawnmower Man DVD 10th Anniversary Edition
Rated 15, 108 Minutes, 2002 Prism Leisure Corp

Directed by Bret Leonard who also directed:
Man-Thing 2005 (completed)
Siegfried and Roy the Magic Box 1999
T-Rex Back to the Cretaceous 1998
Virtuosity 1995
Hideaway 1995
Shock to the System 1993
The Lawnmower Man 1992
The Dead Pitt 1989

Leading Characters in the ...
...Selection

"By the turn of the millennium a technology known as "VIRTUAL REALITY" will be in widespread use. It will allow you to enter computer generated artificial worlds as unlimited as the imagination itself. Its creators foresee millions of positive uses - while others fear it as a new form of mind control"

The above quote is displayed at the beginning of the film.

The story begins ... more

The Lawnmower Man DVD 10th Anniversary Edition
Rated 15, 108 Minutes, 2002 Prism Leisure Corp

Directed by Bret Leonard who also directed:
Man-Thing 2005 (completed)
Siegfried and Roy the Magic Box 1999
T-Rex Back to the Cretaceous 1998
Virtuosity 1995
Hideaway 1995
Shock to the System 1993
The Lawnmower Man 1992
The Dead Pitt 1989

Leading Characters in the Film:
Jobe Smith -- Jeff Fahey
Lawrence Angelo -- Pierce Brosnan
Marnie Burke -- Jennie Wright
Sebastian Timms -- Mark Bringleston
Terry McKeen -- Geoffrey Lewis
Father McKeen -- Jeremy Slate
Caroline Angelo -- Colleen Coffey
Peter Parkette -- Austen O' Brien

Virtual reality simulation sequences and digital live action computer graphic effects by Angel Studios and Xaos Inc

Music Score Realisation by Jurgen Brauninger, music score produced at Vista Sound

DVD Special Features:
Original Trailer
Scene Selection

"By the turn of the millennium a technology known as "VIRTUAL REALITY" will be in widespread use. It will allow you to enter computer generated artificial worlds as unlimited as the imagination itself. Its creators foresee millions of positive uses - while others fear it as a new form of mind control"

The above quote is displayed at the beginning of the film.

The story begins in Virtual Space Industries. This is a research lab where Research Scientist Lawrence Angelo (Brosnan) is working on Project 5, at the beginning of the film you see Angelo refusing to increase the dosage of aggressive drugs.

Project 5 is a virtual reality intelligence enhancement programme created by Angelo but is funded by the miltary who want to use it to train for war, for the past 5 years Angelo has been creating Project 5 using a chimp. It is this chimp that we see at the beginning of the film and who we see Angelo refusing to give aggressive drugs to.

The Project 5 Chimp manages to escape from it's cage and get hold of a gun which it uses to shoot people in a desperate bid to escape from the lab but it is caught and shot. When Angelo hears of this he is devastated, he feels that all of his work has been wasted so he decides that he no longer wants to work on Project 5.

It is at this point in the film that we are introduced to Jobe Smith (Fahey). Jobe is a simpleton; he is well known and liked by all of the neighbourhood who know him as the lawnmower man. He works for Terry McKeens landscaping and is very good at fixing things, he is very attached to Big Red (his lawnmower). Jobe grew up at the local parish from the age of 5, he was brought up by father McKeen (Slate) who beats him often and is generally not a very nice person.

Meanwhile Angelo has become a recluse, he spends all of his time working in the basement of his home which really irritates his wife (Coffey) who eventualy leaves him, it is at this point that he decides to continue with the project 5 Research but this time he will use a human-Jobe.

Angelo already knows Jobe as he cuts his grass, he tricks him into taking part in the experiments by telling him they are games, when he gives him intelligence boosting injections he tells him they are vitamins, he tells Jobe he can make him smarter and that people will no longer be able to take advantage of him but he must not tell anyone.

Jobe soon becomes much more intelligent and much more confident, he even stands up to father McKeen when he tries to beat him and things generally look as if they are going well for him, meanwhile Angelo goes back to Virtual Space Industries and tells them about his research with Jobe and how he had done it without aggression drugs, they alow him back into the lab to further the research with Jobe.

Jobe becomes more and more confident and begins to dress differently, Marnie Burke (Wright), one of the pople he cuts grass for takes a keen interest in him and they soon start a relationship together. Angelo furthers the research on Jobe at an alarming rate, this causes Jobe to suffer from all kinds of side effects such as hearing voices in his head, blurred vision and hallucinations, it is af he cannot ditinguish between virtual and reality - he goes to Angelo for help, Angelo is fascinated with this but does not try to help Jobe, he just wants to continue with the research.

As the research continues Jobe advances more and more, he even develops the ability to read minds. The military order one of the labs employees to administer the aggressive drug to Jobe, knowing Angelo would never agree to this the medication is swapped without him knowing. Jobe reacts very badly to this and continues to suffer from hallucinations, he is now able to move items just by looking at them, he tells Angelo that the research has awakened an ancient part of the brain through virtual reality, Jobe is now far more intelligent than any human being and he insists that the research must continue.

Angelo is then summoned to Washington by the military leaving Jobe on his own, it is at this point that we see what kind of monster Jobe has become and we see Angelo on his return deperstely trying to stop his monster, I do not want to spoil the ending for those of you that have not see n this film so I will say no more about the story.

The two main characters in this film are Angelo and Jobe. Throughout the story you watch Jobe develop from a somewhat dumb but caring individual into a selfish and scary monster, you also see Angelo get his cumeuppance for being manipulative and selfish.

The soundtrack to this film is really annoying, it reminded me of the kind of music you would hear on a made for TV film. Considering the age of the film the special effects are really good and very unique looking (the symbols that fly at Jobe when Angelo stimuated his brain are Kabbalistic mystical symbols with ancient hebrew writing around them).

Thsi being the 10th Anniversary Edition I was expecting the DVD to be packed full of special features but it was not, all I could do was select a scene or watch the original trailer, very disappointing!

I liked the film overall, it had a good story and it was interesting to see the characters develop. Jeff Fahey is really convincing as Jobe (both the evil and nice) but Pierce Brosnan is not so good, he spends the first half of the film speaking with a fake American accent and the second speaking like the queen, but on the plus side at least we know he did learn to act at some point!

I will finish this review with an interesting fact:

In the early versions of this film it was claimed that the story was related to a Stephen King work. King did write a story called "The Lawnmower Man" but it was completely different to the film. King sued the film makers and had his name removed from the film. 

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