Scanners (1981) Dir: David Cronenberg
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I recently watched David Cronenberg's much loved film 'The Fly' from 1986. I enjoyed it a great deal. As a result, I was very keen to explore more of his filmography, starting with this popular 1981 science fiction horror.
I'll be honest, I found this one quite cheesy, mostly because of the acting. There were just so many scenes where characters over-acted so much. It wasn't the end of the world or anything, but it did take me out of the film at times. Furthermore, I wasn't the biggest fan of the film's final twist - it was just a bit of a weird choice that didn't really work for me personally.
The story itself was pretty interesting. I think there was a lot of mystery to get your teeth into as an audience, even if there was, at times, a lack of focus. I can usually follow films pretty well, but I'll admit that I struggled a little with this one. The premise I understood, I just found everything else a bit messy.
The physical effects used were, as I suspected they would be, absolutely brilliant. I always appreciate when significant effort has been put into special effects, because you can really tell when it has - and it always pays off. It means all the relevant scenes look fantastic, especially for the early 80's.
Stephen Lack provides a somewhat likable, somewhat mediocre performance as the film's protagonist. He certainly had some strong scenes, but he was one of the main actors who went way too over-the-top at times, which I think took away from his overall performance.
Jennifer O'Neil is probably the most consistent of anyone in the film. She was good, but kind of felt like a non-factor for much of the narrative. I honestly wish she'd had a lot more screentime. Instead, she was very much an afterthought.
Patrick McGoohan had some really well performed scenes, but every now and then he would come out with some really odd deliveries of his dialogue, which was simply peculiar to witness. Those aside, the rest of his performance was pretty solid.
Michael Ironside played such a fascinating character, but sadly got next to no real screentime. That said, when he was on-screen, he was very good. He was charismatic and a little unhinged, which made him a great but underutilised character.
Laurence Dane had a rather mixed bag of a performance in his supporting role. The first half of it was totally forgettable, if I'm being honest. However, he had a really strong twenty minutes in the second half, which I appreciated a lot.
Overall, I was a little bit let down by this one, in truth. There were a lot of things the film did well, but I found it quite sloppy and convoluted at times - as well as severely over-acted. However, from a pure enjoyment point of view, I would still say it was a fairly good watch - but it's definitely not as good as 'The Fly'. I still want to see more Cronenberg films, either way.
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