F/X tells the story of special effects artist Rollie Tyler (Bryan Brown) whose abilities we see demonstrated in the film’s opening sequence, one where a gangster shows up and mows down a group of patrons in a restaurant. On the set that night he is approached by a producer named Lipton (Cliff De Young) who he agrees to meet with the following day.
Lipton turns out not to be a producer but a DOJ agent. The DOJ wants to hire Rollie to fake the assassination of a top mafia witness named Nicholas DeFranco (Jerry Orbach). Rollie finally agrees but things go wrong. Lipton has changed out the blanks with real bullets and attempts to kill Rollie who escapes.
He makes his way to his girlfriend’s apartment but then see her killed by a sniper who comes to the apartment to make sure his work is down. They fight and Rollie kills him before heading out to clear his name. The detective assigned to the murder is Leo McCarthy (Brian Dennehy). McCarthy was the man who brought in DeFranco. He wonders if there is a connection and being following his lead, leads that will find their way into the DOJ.
The movie was great, offering plenty of action and more plot than most low budget films are willing to spend time with. Brown, who at this time was only known to US audience for his role in THE THORN BIRDS, does a fantastic job as the everyman with a skill trying to clear his name, enough so that he began to see better roles come his way. Dennehy had an up and down career but this movie shows why he was so good at what he did on screen. But if you’re going to make a movie about a special effects man and what he does the effects had better be good. That they are with Carl Fullerton on makeup effects and Connie Brink on special effects.
I won’t reveal the end of the first film but time does pass between that and F/X 2. Six years in real time and it seems almost the same in the film. Rollie has moved on from being in special effects and now owns a company creating high end toys for sale. He’s living with his girlfriend Kim Brandon (Rachel Ticotin) and her son Chris (Dominic Zamprogna). Rachel shares custody with her ex-husband Mike (Tom Mason) who has to cancel his weekend due to work.
Mike is a detective with the NYPD. Working on a stalker case with murderous intent, he asks Rollie to help him create the illusion that the prey for this stalker is home when he will actually be in her apartment. Rollie turns him down but then takes the case. With a camera hidden so he can see and a fake fog induced bathroom Rollie watches as things go bad. Another killer is in the apartment and he cuts Mike’s throat. Mike’s supervisor Ray Silak (Philp Bosco) breaks in with his men and shoots the stalker. At the same time Rollie chases the real killer but loses him in the street.
Returning home Rollie watches the footage again. As he watches he sees Silak take the killer’s knife when the other officers go down to wait for the coroner and dip it into Mike’s blood. Something is going on involving corrupt officers and Silak is in on it. Toss in some long lost medallions from the Vatican and heaps of money and you have a conspiracy. With no one to turn to, especially the NYPD, Rollie turns to the only person he trust to help him, Leo McCarthy.
The film is a fantastic sequel, not resting too much on the previous film but moving the story of these two characters forward. Once more each actor turns in a fantastic performance making both believable and interesting. As viewer we care about what happens to each and by the end both have reasons for this to be personal.
Kino Lorber is releasing the film on Blu-ray with no real extras worth mentioning. It doesn’t matter. Both films look great and offer a tremendous amount of entertainment value. While the two films may have been forgotten by the masses this is a great opportunity to pick them up and enjoy them all over again.
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