I watched The Fly for the first time on Friday. For those unaware, The Fly is the story of scientist Seth Brundle, who successfully (-ish) invents a teleportation device. Seth gets drunk and decides to teleport himself. A fly enters the telepod without Seth’s knowledge and the computer decides to combine their DNA. Clever computer.
There are so many awesome things in this movie. The first thing is the language Seth is able to use to communicate with his computer. I love the way the computer is used for exposition.
Seth Brundle: [typing] If primary element is Brundle, what is secondary element?
Computer: Secondary element is not-Brundle.
Seth Brundle: Run sequence.
Computer: [identifies secondary element as a fly]
Seth Brundle: [typing] If secondary element is fly, what happened to fly?
Computer: Fusion.
Seth Brundle: [typing] Assimilation? Did Brundle absorb fly?
Computer: Negative. Fusion of Brundle and fly at molecular-genetic level.
So, the computer wasn’t programmed to understand the difference between a Brundle and a fly, but it had been programmed to fuse 2 elements at a genetic level? I’d be finding out what bastard set that up instead of throwing an exception.
But the most awesome thing is Jeff Goldblum’s performance as he starts to turn into the Brundlefly (hee). He starts to get really agitated and annoying, complete with facial tick. I live in Western Australia and right now it’s heading towards summer. The flies are already at intense population levels. I completely understand what Jeff was going for, and he got it spot on. The only issue I had was that once he completes his transformation, the jerky movements are gone. However I understand that the effects gurus did what they could with the technology at the time.
The final verdict? I really enjoyed it, as I knew I would. I found that it was well deserving of its cult status. The helplessness of Geena Davis’ character pissed me off a little, but that’s the Death Proof fan in me coming out. Seriously, if my boyfriend turned into a human fly he wouldn’t need to ask for the bullet. S’all I’m sayin.
The Fly is so fly! One of my top 10 or 20 favorite films and one of the greatest remakes ever made. I watched this movie on cable growing up almost everyday! Glad you liked it!
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