Scanners

Starring: Jennifer O'Neil, Stephen Lack, Patrick McGoohan, Lawrence Dane, Michael Ironside
Directed by: David Cronenberg
Rating: R
Genre: Horror, Science Fiction
1981

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: A homeless man (Stephen Lack) who is also a "scanner" (or, a telepath) is recruited by a doctor (Patrick McGoohan) to infiltrate an organization led by a powerful and deadly scanner (Michael Ironside) bent on world domination.

Review:

Tim: I wanted to like this movie. I love that in the early 1980s, David Cronenberg was trying something unique and different, blazing a new path instead of mindlessly following the Hollywood laid out. I respect directors who take chances and give us something new to watch. I also typically enjoy movies about people with extraordinary gifts, like telepathy. For those reasons, I wanted to like this movie and reward Cronenberg for taking chances when others didn't. However, I simply couldn't. This is not a good movie at all, and acting, of all things, is what ruins it.

It is hard for me to consider whether I could have liked this movie or not, because I just cannot get past the atrocious acting. Casting Stephen Lack in the lead role was a monumental error- one that would have ruined the movie had this been the only mistake (alas, it was not). Lack certainly looks the part, but every single time he opens his mouth, the movie gets worse and worse. I believe the lines may have been dubbed (poorly) afterwards, which only makes his wooden, ridiculous performance seem even worse. I've heard all the arguments about how his character is supposed to be different and robot-like because of his upbringing, but that argument is wrong. His performance was so boring and sleep inducing that it made me want to turn off the movie. That is a major, major problem. I couldn't connect or care about his character because his dialogue and his delivery was so bad. Every line he utters took me out of the movie.

The rest of the cast isn't much better. Jennifer O'Neil (why did she get top billing again?) adds almost nothing to the film, as she seems to sleepwalk through the entire thing. I never believed her performance or cared about her for a second. She bored me immensely. I liked Patrick McGoohan, for the most part, although he had a few terrible moments as well (the scene where he is talking to himself was pitiful). With the bar set so low, Michael Ironside manages to give the best performance of the film. While he does tend to stray into overacting, he was the most believable, talented actor in the film. I actually was somewhat intrigued and interested in his character. It is not nearly enough to save the film, and I do wish he occasionally showed a bit of restraint, but he's certainly the best part of the film.

The story itself is interesting in a thought-provoking way. However, it isn't very entertaining. I would never have guessed a movie about telepaths battling each other could be so incredibly boring. There is too much talking about nothing particularly important, and the script was just incredibly weak in many places. I admit the head exploding scene was pretty amazing, and how they pulled it off is impressive, too. The special effects were actually really, really good for the period in which this was released. I admit even decades later, they still hold up.

Despite the fact that I wanted to like this movie, I simply couldn't. I didn't get invested in the characters or the plot, and even acknowledging that this is just a B movie, I still felt a bit disappointed in the end result. Had Cronenberg cast a better actor in the lead role, I might have enjoyed it more. However, as is, this is a film that certainly sparked with a lot of potential, but didn't live up to any of it.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 5.5



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