1958's The Fly is a seminal B-movie sci-fi classic, thanks to its sublime storytelling and its iconic "Help meeeee!" scene. David Cronenberg's remake, however, goes a step further and taps into all the unused potential of this classic story. This version of The Fly is grosser, gnarlier, more extreme, more schlocky type of B-movie, but still with diligent attention to story and character.
Among the film's highlights, this version of The Fly handles the teleportation concepts in a more earnest manner, to actually show what could happen when different matter collides. The results are often freaky and bloody. Most of the film focuses on Seth Brundle literally falling apart after his body merges with that of a fly, and the film explores the implications in full. The man adopts the various properties of a common fly, even to the extent of spewing digestive acid. It makes for a genuinely sickening and emotionally hard-hitting experience to watch this guy morph into something other than human.
The plot is pretty straightforward (much in contrast to the original film, which hinged greatly on its twisty structure). It does have a cast of endearing characters, who show some genuinely good emotional range and are easy to like. What really matters, however, are the themes, which focus on power-hunger and corruption, effectively manifested as physical decay. It's a bit like the portrait of Dorian Gray, only instead of a portrait, it's the man's flesh. And if there's anything that Cronenberg does best, it's in showing just how scary and gross it is for the human flesh to contort and fall apart into something non-human. The Fly echoes a lot of the same themes and grotesqueness as movies like Videodrome, and it is awesome that way.
This film uses decent photography and editing. Jeff Goldblum is a great joy to watch in this film, as is Geena Davis, and the rest of the cast is not bad either. Writing is pretty decent. This production uses pretty good-looking sets, props, costumes, and some very wicked make-up effects. Music is pretty good too.
If you can stomach it, The Fly is one wicked exploration on the terrors of teleportation mutating the human flesh. Although the original is a classic worth seeing, I do prefer this remake a little more, for all its frightful implications.
4.5/5 (Experience: Very Good | Story: Good | Film: Very Good)
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