Rating: 
Summary: Starts well, meanders into blandness.
Review: Bryan Brown is a special effects man who is caught up in a government conspiracy after a major mishap. This "high-tech" thriller begins fairly well before falling apart with badly choreographed action scenes, predictable twists, and a very underwhelming finale.
* 1/2 out of *****
Rating: 
Summary: Starts well, meanders into blandness.
Review: Bryan Brown is a special effects man who is caught up in a government conspiracy after a major mishap. This "high-tech" thriller begins fairly well before falling apart with badly choreographed action scenes, predictable twists, and a very underwhelming finale. ...
Rating: 
Summary: Weaving conspiracies
Review: Bryan Brown's portrayal of special effects man Rolly Tyler is classic. A perfect anti-hero, he's by turn filled with dread yet innovative enough to survive the conspiracy he's been drawn into by US government agents. Brown's expressive face is put to good use in this film, from his wry smile to the desperate anger filling him as the conspiracy unfolds. Brown's dedication to good film making is clear in this movie and he carries this one over the plot's shortcomings. He pulls off the role of an effects man with subtle charm, even taking his gear into the New York sewer system in his quest to survive.His counterpart, Brian Dennehy must be the world's straightest cop. The role is too brief for serious review, but he shows dedicating and little tolerance for suffering fools. The real supports for this film are Mason Adams and Jerry Orbach. Orbach, as the Mafia 'victim' is particularly strong, comparing him especially with my first view of him in 'Dirty Dancing'. He fills the role with style, portraying the image of a Mafioso on the run with verve. This film has the added advantage of being timeless. The Mafia, dirty cops and corruption remain with us. It's a film worth more than one viewing and will be enjoyed by those supporting underdogs in their struggle for survival. Brown carries this ideal off with an outstanding performance. Buy and see this often.
Rating:
Summary: Weaving conspiracies
Review: Bryan Brown's portrayal of special effects man Rolly Tyler is classic. A perfect anti-hero, he's by turn filled with dread yet innovative enough to survive the conspiracy he's been drawn into by US government agents. Brown's expressive face is put to good use in this film, from his wry smile to the desperate anger filling him as the conspiracy unfolds. Brown's dedication to good film making is clear in this movie and he carries this one over the plot's shortcomings. He pulls off the role of an effects man with subtle charm, even taking his gear into the New York sewer system in his quest to survive. His counterpart, Brian Dennehy must be the world's straightest cop. The role is too brief for serious review, but he shows dedicating and little tolerance for suffering fools. The real supports for this film are Mason Adams and Jerry Orbach. Orbach, as the Mafia 'victim' is particularly strong, comparing him especially with my first view of him in 'Dirty Dancing'. He fills the role with style, portraying the image of a Mafioso on the run with verve. This film has the added advantage of being timeless. The Mafia, dirty cops and corruption remain with us. It's a film worth more than one viewing and will be enjoyed by those supporting underdogs in their struggle for survival. Brown carries this ideal off with an outstanding performance. Buy and see this often.
Rating:
Summary: Refreshing Suspense Movie
Review: F/X is an abbreviation for movie "special effects." Bryan Brown plays a special effects creator who unwittingly becomes part of a conspiracy. He is supposed to be a pawn who is to be eliminated. Instead of despairing and panicking, he uses his wits and his effects to elude his pursuers, who are not even identified until the end. F/X was produced in 1986, long before the sophisticated computer generated effects ubiquitous today. Yet the movie is not outdated. Rather, it is a classic that will leave you smiling. The clever, maze-like plot, and the great team of Bryan Brown and Bryan Dennehy add up to a refreshing, surprising classic of the 80's. Sadly, the sequel - FX2 - is a big letdown.
Rating:
Summary: Refreshing Suspense Movie
Review: F/X is an abbreviation for movie "special effects." Bryan Brown plays a special effects creator who unwittingly becomes part of a conspiracy. He is supposed to be a pawn who is to be eliminated. Instead of despairing and panicking, he uses his wits and his effects to elude his pursuers, who are not even identified until the end. F/X was produced in 1986, long before the sophisticated computer generated effects ubiquitous today. Yet the movie is not outdated. Rather, it is a classic that will leave you smiling. The clever, maze-like plot, and the great team of Bryan Brown and Bryan Dennehy add up to a refreshing, surprising classic of the 80's. Sadly, the sequel - FX2 - is a big letdown.
Rating:
Summary: F/X is a clever, and suspenseful movie!
Review: F/X starring Brian Brown and Brian Dennehy is a clever and suspenseful movie!Rollie Tyler (Brian Brown) is a special effets man who entered into the Witness Protection program to stage a murdur. What suprising is the Rollie was set up to take the fall and is blamed for the killings. The only person who can help is a tough cop named Leo McCarthy (Brian Dennehy) who searchs for the real killer and tries to find proof the Rollie Tyler is innocent. A very cleaver and amusing movie! Lots of tricks and suprises! a must see film!
Rating:
Summary: F/X is a great movie with clever ideas in plot and action!
Review: F/X starring Brian Brown and Brian Dennehy is a great Action/ Suspense thriller! This is about a special effects man who is hired by the Witness Protection program to stage an assination of a crime lord. Rollie Tyler(Brian Brown) was baited to take the blame for the assination and now he must prove his inoccents and must confront the man who framed him. Mason is the guy who hired Rollie Tyler (Brian Brown) to take the fall. Leo McCarthy(Brian Dennehy) is the tough Cop who must find Rollie and figure out who resposible for these deaths. A very ingenious movie! Clever plot with suprises and tricks! Highly Recommended!
Rating:
Summary: A lot of fun
Review: F/X was one of my favorite thriller of the '80s, a genuinely fun action film that takes itself just seriously enough to make its story credible but at the same time remains blissfully free of the delusions of grandeur that have led to so many overproduced, ultimately empty headed and painfully dull "thrillers" over the past couple of years. In short, F/X is the type of unpretentious, engaging film that could never be made by a Michael Bay or most of the other directors produced out of the Jerry Bruckhiemer School For Technocrats Who Like To Blow Things Up Real Good. The always underrated australian actor, Bryan Brown, plays Rollie -- an independent special effects artist who specializes in creating gore effects for cheap horror and action films. Indeed, when we first meet him, he is working on a film that bares a hilarious resemblance to Brian DePalma's Scarface which, whatever its qualities, is most definitely represenative of the type of film that F/X strives not to become. Brown is recruited by an uptight but reassuringly paternal federal agent (Mason Adams) to help fake the death of a mobster (Jerry Orbach) about to go into the federal witness protection program. Once Brown agrees to help, he finds himself being targeted and pursued by mysterious killers who might be the government, might be the mob, or might be something else. The film's main selling point is that, in order to protect his own life and clear his name once the police become convinced that he's a murderer, Brown is forced to rely on his expertise in hollywood special effects. While that certainly is true, it also makes the film sound a lot more gimmicky than it actually is. As opposed to its sequel, F/X never allows itself to become reliant solely on that gimmick. Instead, the film concentrates on presenting its fast-paced plot which, over the course of many twists and turns, avoids the common action film fate of collapsing on the wieght of its own complications. That said, the F/X sequences are pretty cool and the film's conclusion provides perhaps the wittiest advertisement for superglue that I've ever seen. The film's main strength comes from the cast who all seem to be having a good time on screen and bring a surprising sense of conviction to roles that could easily have been played as B-movie stereotypes. Bryan Brown is one of those charismatic, obviously talented leading men who rarely gives a bad performance yet for whatever reason (though making movies like Cocktail probably didn't help) has never become a bona fide star. Playing the lead in this film, he proves that he did have the talent and the charisma to be a leading man and indeed, his low-key but likeable lead performance is reponsible for a great deal of F/X's strength. As the gruff police detective who becomes Brown's ally, Brian Dennehey is -- well, he's Brian Dennehey and, as always, that's more than good enough. That said, he also brings a welcome sense of humor to the proceedings and he proves once again that nobody in the '80s delivered profanity as wittily and skillfully as Brian Dennehey. The rest of the cast is full of character actors who all turn in nicely quirky performances with the standouts being Diane Venora who is sweet as Brown's girlfreind (whose ultimate fate -- if predictable -- is also well handled and rather sad), Cliff De Young who gives perhaps his best variation on his standard Yuppie henchman role in this film, Joe Grifasi as Dennehey's put upon partner, Mason Adams who perfectly captures the essence of everyone's kindly but kinda strange uncle, and the great Jerry Orbach who, playing a mobster with an all-important pace maker, overacts as if the world depending on it but is still a lot of fun to watch because, afterall, he's Jerry Orbach. They all come together to create (without any trendy angst or computerized special effects to show us what animated human beings look like when they get blown up) one of the most purely enjoyable movies of the '80s.
Rating:
Summary: old-fashioned suspense/thriller
Review: I'd have preferred to give this 3.7/5 stars -- the 4 rating is a little high in my opinion, but this is an entertaining movie. In spite of the clearly advertised emphasis on special effects, this is really a rather old-fashioned (in the best sense) thriller. The hero is a good guy who is pulled by circumstances, his own failings, and malevolent forces into danger, and has to deal with this on his own. If you put Stetson hats on everyone it would be a cowboy movie. The performances by Brown and Dennehy (who is, despite much less screen time almost a co-star) are excellent, and most of the supporting cast quite good (the F/X assistant is quite weak, but not onscreen enough to really hurt). And even though there is a lot of screen mayhem, the tone of the movie is not at all nasty. One thing that did surprise me on recent viewing was that the effects themselves are rather dated, although I remember being impressed by them when the movie was first released. However, the effects are still good enough that you aren't distracted by them, and the movie has held my interest all three times that I have seen it. It's not a "family film", but I would watch it with teenagers.
| 
