Filmic Friday 207: F/X

A little while ago, I told you about the glory that is FX2: The Deadly Art of Illusion. Now I'd like to tell you about the original FX: Murder by Illusion.

Another terrible poster, but not the worst.

I didn't know it had a subtitle, first off.

Secondly, everyone looks completely different!

Now, to be fair, there's five years between F/X and F/X 2, so of course people are going to change and look different. The director didn't even want there to be an F/X 2, so that explains a lot.

If you remember the plot of F/X 2, then you know the basic plot of F/X - Rollie gets dragged into a plan from some dirty cops to plan a big scary scene and pull it off with his magic. Here, though, instead of protecting a model from her stalker, Rollie is being conned by the Justice Department into making it look like a mob informant has been assassinated so that he can turn State's Evidence. Of course the cops are bad. Of course things go very wrong. Suddenly, Rollie's on the run and has to fight back with all of his wits so that he survives.

If you're wondering where Dennehy's character is, that's because he's not in much of the movie. Leo wants to take down the mob guy & his bosses, but he keeps getting stymied. In the end, he's devoted so much of his time and effort into taking on this case that he gets fired and goes after Rollie himself, believing him to be working for the mob at first and then wanting to know how the Justice Department fits into everything.

There is a neat subplot with the mob guy (Jerry Orbach) and his pacemaker, and Mason Adams is fantastic as the (conveniently named) Col. Mason in charge of the operation. Cliff De Young's Martin Lipton makes me want to punch him in the face (which is a good thing!), and Diane Venora makes a lovely corpse as Rollie's girlfriend Ellen. The only real complaint I have with the cast is that Rollie's assistant Andy is... not great. Sorry Martha Gehman, but that was not a particularly good performance...

Anyway, the movie has several amazing action scenes, including the one we start with - a shootout in a mob hideout which turns out to be an example of Rollie's special effects in action. Ellen is playing a moll who has betrayed her lover who has come to kill everyone. They foreshadow Ellen's fate by Rollie telling her "No one dies like you", and there are lobsters all over the floor. It's great.

All of the effects in this movie are fantastic, which is fitting of a movie about a special effects man! If you watch it on BluRay, then you may end up with some behind-the-scenes stuff and interviews with different people involved.

Finally, the movie does end with a Home Alone style assault on the bad guys in their lair, and it's incredible. If you're like me, you'll never look at crazy glue the same way again, and you'll also be a bit baffled as to how the dynamics in F/X2 came to be. There's no real resolution here, but that fits with the story.

Basically, I'm trying to tell you that F/X is incredible and you should watch it. Also, when you do, count the different fonts for the title as you watch. No two are alike!

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