The Lawnmower Man (1992) Review

The Lawnmower Man (1992)

The Lawnmower Man follows Dr. Lawrence Angelo, who, after his virtually reality work on chimps fails, tries it out on his mentally disabled landscaper Jobe, leaving him smarter, but also him with psychic powers, which he uses to get revenge on those who took advantage of him. 

Very loosely adapted from the short story by Stephen King, The Lawnmower Man was a half-baked attempt at cashing in on the digital and video game future the world seemed preparing for at the turn of the next century. Having virtually no relation to King’s story, aside from in name (a move that would cause King to sue to have his name removed from the picture), it’s interesting that such changes would actually create a film oddly ahead of it’s time, as the technology, though not completely commonplace today, would go on to foretell a future of digital escapism through virtual reality. The presence of VR goggles and rigs to keep you stationary, while immersing you in that world, rivals that of today, and in the case of Jobe, would be used to create a better, more advanced version of himself, unshackled by his own mental impediments. As is the case with any groundbreaking advancement however, these experiments were hijacked to breed violence, leading to what I can best describe as a really badly drawn out episode of the X-Files, filled with telekinesis, mind-reading, and the sacrificing of the physical body to become more dangerous on a digital level. 

Conceptually, it’s a rather interesting, but damn if this also wasn’t one if the worst movies I’ve seen in recent memory. There’s such a draggy, almost comical, made-for-TV feel, with some truly awful, though ambitious, early 90s computer effects that can lay claim to some of the worst in cinematic history, with Jobe’s final, humanoid form (pictured) acting as the worst example of this. 

We get a pretty shoddy cast, featuring Jeremy Slate, Jenny Wright, Geoffrey Lewis, Austin O’Brien, Dean Norris, Mark Bringelson, Jeff Fahey, and Pierce Brosnan. Brosnan, for his efforts, isn’t all that bad, but coupled with a truly oddball performance from Fahey (doing his best Simple Jack) that borders on menacing and ridiculous, and you’ve got a movie than go only go so high. 

The Lawnmower Man, directed by Brett Leonard, is a conceptually fascinating film that is rather ahead of its time, but it’s mixture of impressively bad special effects, weird acting, and an unbelievably slow and miserable runtime, leave this a terrible and wholly forgettable experience.

2.7/10