F/X2 (1991)

F/X man Rollie Tyler is now a toymaker. Mike, the ex-husband of his girlfriend Kim, is a cop. He asks Rollie to help catch a killer. The operation goes well until some unknown man kills ... See full summary »

Director:

Richard Franklin

Writers:

Robert T. Megginson (characters), Gregory Fleeman (characters),

Stars:

Bryan Brown, Brian Dennehy, Rachel Ticotin

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Bryan Brown	...	Rollie Tyler
Brian Dennehy	...	Leo McCarthy
Rachel Ticotin	...	Kim Brandon
Joanna Gleason	...	Liz Kennedy
Philip Bosco	...	Ray Silak
Kevin J. O'Connor	...	Matt Neely
Tom Mason	...	Mike Brandon
Dominic Zamprogna	...	Chris Brandon
Jossie DeGuzman	...	Velez
John Walsh	...	Rado
Peter Boretski	...	Becker
Lisa Fallon	...	Kylie
Lee Broker	...	DeMarco
Philip Akin	...	Det. McQuay
Tony De Santis	...	Det. Santoni (as Tony de Santis)

Storyline

F/X man Rollie Tyler is now a toymaker. Mike, the ex-husband of his girlfriend Kim, is a cop. He asks Rollie to help catch a killer. The operation goes well until some unknown man kills both the killer and Mike. Mike's boss, Silak says it was the killer who killed Mike but Rollie knows it wasn't. Obviously, Silak is involved with Mike's death, so he calls on Leo McCarthy, the cop from the last movie, who is now a P.I., for help and they discover it's not just Silak they have to worry about.

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Plot Keywords:

special effects | revolver | shoulder holster | murder | person on fire | 

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Taglines:

Outgunned by the mob, outmanned by the cops..... their effects had _better_ be special!

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Genres:

Action | Comedy | Crime | Thriller

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Certificate:

PG-13

Details

Official Sites:

MGM

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

10 May 1991 (USA)

Also Known As:

F/X 2: The Deadly Art of Illusion

Filming Locations:

New York City, New York, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$16,400,000 (estimated)

Gross:

$21,082,165 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Orion Pictures Corporation, Dodi Fayed - Jack Wiener

Technical Specs

Runtime:

108 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

When Rollie calls young Chris on the phone, the movie Chris is watching on television is the finished film Rollie was shooting the effects for at the start of the original F/X.

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Goofs

when Leo and Liz are outside the mobster's house, and Liz is talking into the walkie talkie, she has the earpiece in. After pretending to confirm that help would be on the way, she releases the talk button and you hear the static. Since she was using the earpiece, you wouldn't hear the static.

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Quotes

Leo McCarthy: Rollie, tell me those aren't the real medallions.
Rollie Tyler: Yeah, I swithced 'em.
Leo McCarthy: Rollie you dumb bastard, the mob wasn't stealing them, they were returning them, to the Vatican.
Rollie Tyler: Nobody told me.

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Crazy Credits

Shot of helicopter flying and exclamations of non-pilot crook trying to keep it in the air.

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Connections

Referenced in Community: Intermediate Documentary Filmmaking (2011)

User Reviews

Entertaining but Typical 1980's-type Action Thriller that Had Greater Potential

The glaring shortcoming of F/X 2 is that the main thrust of the plot, i.e. the what and why of the baddies, is not revealed until an hour or so into the film. At 109 minutes, that's well over half-way. Certainly the point was to pop our main character, Rollie Tyler (reprised by Bryan Brown from the first movie), into a life and death situation beyond his comprehension, and not until several clues are followed revealed that he (and we) find out what these circumstances are.

Briefly, Rollie, the Australian special effects wizard, is hired again by the FBI to aid in cornering a serial killer. However, the plan goes awry when the FBI man who was supposed to stop the suspect in his tracks is killed by another unknown killer. Rollie finds himself also caught in a web of intrigue. And of course, when he is on the verge of getting snuffed out, Dennehy as Leo McCarthy pops in to save his ass. Not a bad opening, all things considered.

Finally, Leo uncovers the back story, which I won't reveal, lest I be accused of "giving it away" as they say. However, the back story is described almost offhandedly, without even a flashback. Unfortunately, the downside is that, with very little screen time left, neither the history of what's behind the bad guys' motivations nor the bad guys themselves are ever fully developed. I found myself wanting to know more about the circumstances surrounding this back story, the what and the why. Of course, with these kinds of movies, a lot of screen time must be devoted to the baddies chasing the innocent by-standers in shopping malls or in car chases. I guess it's a Hollywood law that American filmmakers must devote a specified minimum amount of time to choreographed running around and shooting so they can legitimately call their project an "action movie".

Still the film has its entertainment value. There is a strange chemistry that exists between Brian Dennehy (reprising his role has Leo McCarthy) and Bryan Brown, and again I wish that had been milked for all its worth. Of course, the most entertaining sequence, like the first installment, is the use of movie effects to thwart the bad guys, which works very well. Maybe I appreciated it as a breath of fresh air from the typical cat and mouse chase with automatic weapons that typically climaxes most of these kinds of films.

Still very much in the style of a 1980's action movie, although this was 1991, with the typical rock songs spliced in for good measure. With the exception of the use of the special effects against the baddies at the finale, story-wise it is really the equivalent of a two-part episode of "Simon and Simon" with a larger budget.