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Laramie Movie Scope:
Lawnmower Man

A sci-fi thriller about virtual reality

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by Robert Roten, Film Critic
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April 30, 1992 -- ``The Lawnmower Man'' is a film which has very little to do with lawnmowers and a lot to do with Stephen King, who wrote the novel on which the story is based.

Those of you who followed King's television series ``Golden Years'' have seen this basic plot before, a man is exposed to a dangerous government experiment and some mysterious government agency, maybe the CIA, targets him for kidnapping because of special powers he has developed.

Despite the familiarity of the plot, which reminds one of ``Colossus, the Forbin Project'' and ``Frankenstein,'' the acting is good and the special effects are top-notch. The ``virtual reality'' experiments are performed by slightly mad scientist (Pierce Brosnan) on the simple-minded lawnmower man (Jeff Fahey). Using virtual reality (a computer technology which uses computer images along with controls to allow people to move around inside computer-generated three-dimensional imagery) Brosnan magnifies Fahey's mental powers and gives him the power of telepathy and telekinesis, among other things.

The dark aforementioned government agency meddles in the experiment, switching bottles of mind-altering drugs used in the experiment to introduce more aggressive factors into Fahey's personality, thus creating an unbelievably dangerous man.

The computer-generated images are fantastic, the best such effects to date. The effects are better than the pioneering work done in films such as ``Terminator 2'' and ``Tron.'' Like virtual reality, the future of computer-generated images in films is unlimited.

The two actors in the main roles do a good job in the film and Fahey's character is given enough unpredictability in the story to make it interesting. This is a pretty good science fiction film, although it is a little thin on the science and strays into metaphysical fantasies.

The movie is well-paced and the main characters are interesting, although the secondary characters are made up of thin cardboard. This film, like ``Total Recall'' is better than most films of its type. The film is rated ``R'' due to language and sexual scenes. The quality of the film rates a B.

Click here for links to places to buy this movie in video and/or DVD format, the soundtrack, books, even used videos, games and lots of other stuff. I suggest you shop at least two of these places before buying anything. Prices seem to vary continuously. For more information on this film, click on this link to The Internet Movie Database. Type in the name of the movie in the search box and press enter. You will be able to find background information on the film, the actors, and links to much more information.

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Robert Roten can be reached via e-mail at my last name at lariat dot org. [Mailer button: image of letter and envelope]

(If you e-mail me with a question about this or any other movie or review, please mention the name of the movie you are asking the question about, otherwise I may have no way of knowing which film you are referring to)