Year of Release: 1990
Director: Joe Dante
Starring: Zach Galligan, Phoebe Cates, John Glover, Havilland Morris, Robert Prosky, Robert Picardo, Christopher Lee, Dick Miller, Jackie Joseph, Gedde Watanabe, Keye Luke, Don Stanton, Dan Stanton, Tony Randall, Howie Mandel
Genre: Comedy
Score out of ten (whole numbers only): 9
Watch it on Amazon
Synopsis and Review
The wonderfully talented Joe Dante had a great string of titles during the 1980s, including his classic "Gremlins", which he followed with the underrated "Explorers", followed by the high energy and extremely funny "Innerspace", closing that decade with the dark comedy "The 'Burbs". He began the 1990s with what has turned out to be one of his best features, and one of the most inventive film sequels ever produced. The narrative once again follows the story of Billy Peltzer, whom we now find living with Kate in New York City. Billy works as an illustrator/conceptual artist and Kate works as a guiding tour host for a state of the art tower building (where they both work), owned and conceived by a quirky billionaire by the name of Daniel Clamp. Gizmo, the mogwai finds himself in trouble, since Mr. Wing passes away, and his store is bought and demolished by Clamp's construction team. Gizmo is captured by scientists and is brought over to the tower to be studied. Thanks to his humming, Billy eventually realizes he's in the building and saves him. However Billy's ambitious manager Marla gets in the way, and Billy asks Kate to go get Gizmo while he's out. Gizmo accidentally gets sprayed with water and immediately spurts new mogwai creatures. The new ones lock Gizmo in the venting system, and go down to the food court in order to become gremlins. The new gremlins set off the fire sprinklers, which spawns the creation of a ton of new creatures, which start wreaking havoc across the building. Billy soon realizes what's happening, and alongside Kate, Daniel Clamp, and even his friend and neighbor from Kingston Falls (who is visiting him and Kate), Murray Futterman, set about deterring their plans before they escape the building and invade the city.
The original "Gremlins" written by Chris Columbus was a fantastical creature comedy and presented a darker yet playful homage to Christmas films (at some point Billy's mom is watching Frank Capra's "It's a Wonderful Life", and the Gremlins spoof that during the narrative). The sequel written by Charles S. Haas, goes even further in its satire goals, by mocking the greed of the yuppies of the 80s, the exploitation and cruelty towards animals in the pursuit of science accolades, the numbness (and dumbness) of TV, and even mocks film critique in the process. Everything goes into the blender of this satire, which also pokes fun at itself, and at entertainment in general. The Gremlins creatures become a viciously critical and brutally honest view to the nonsense of the corporate World, the self importance of a view, while pursuing their own sense of fun and chaos. It's a film packed with such great reflection topics, but wrapped in a comedy vehicle that is inspired by Looney Tunes and the works from Tex Avery and Chuck Jones. The film even has time to politely nod to the classics of horror films with the presence of the towering Christopher Lee (portraying a cold scientist), but overall, Joe Dante puts the pedal to the metal with this film that never lets off, always winking at the audience, but also indicating that the Gremlins aren't really the biggest monsters that we have to fear: that is indeed reserved for humans, those who walk around us wearing very different suits. The characters are along for the ride, including the trio of Billy/Kate/Murray, whose ticks and trademarks from the first film are finely nodded to, and this time around they are joined by the eccentric millionaire, who turns out not to be a completely soulless monster. The film is a wonderful ride, with constant nods to other films, cameos, and a general sense of fun and humor (the femme fatale Gremlin who is a nod to Lauren Bacall, but also to Jessica Rabbit). The cast is uniformly solid, with Zach Galligan, Phoebe Cates, Dick Miller, John Glover, Havilland Morris and Robert Prosky, all firmly establishing their characters. The production team is equally strong, with highlights going to Rick Baker's fantastic creature effects, John Hora's cinematography, and Jerry Goldsmith's score. There's never been a sequel quite like this before, nor since, but it's a testament to Joe Dante's talent that the film continues to feel as fresh and relevant as it did when it premiered in 1990. Worth watching.
0 comments:
Post a Comment