This film is like a kiddie-version of Death Wish films, but the most remarkable thing about this movie is the sheer amount of tropes it created that were re-hashed in dozens of films that came after it. From the scene where Stegman smashes his head into sinks, mirrors and a tiled wall in a bathroom then pretends the teacher, Norris, assaulted him, which was duplicated in an office setting in Fight Club, to the antagonist clinging to life at the end, pleading for his life while holding a rope, only to try to stab the protagonist when he reaches out to save him, giving the protagonist the moral approval to send the antagonist to his death, which has been re-hashed in so many movies, from Die Hard to Strange Days and many, many more. The sheer number of tropes that were subsequently re-used in subsequent movies is incredible. Of course, it did it's own pillaging of tropes too, such as the flagpole/PCP scene, straight out of a 70s Afterschool Special starring Helen Hunt.
For the most part the action in the film is somewhat realistic, except for when the teacher throws one of the gang members onto a table-saw back-first, killing him instantly even though the blade would have only made a gash a couple inches deep, and all the guy would've had to do is arch his back to avoid it. I know his arm was severed at that point but he still should have had a will to live. And the finale, where the antagonist, Stegman, goes from holding a rope and falling, to somehow wrapping the rope around his neck so that he gets hung. This would have been impossible for him to do on purpose while falling let alone having it occur by accident. The movie also fails to explain how the rope came down with him in the first place, since he was clinging to it and the teacher had no way of cutting it (and even if he had had a knife, which he didn't, the rope is like 3 inches thick). It seems to me I've seen an antagonist crash through a glass ceiling to his death after a rooftop fight before, but I can't place it. I will return periodically to update this entry as I continue to come across more movies with Class of 1984 tropes in them.
Probably the most amusing aspect of this film is the wardrobe and stylized characters, who definitely would have seemed menacing and out of place in a highschool in 1982, but by 1992 highschools were filled with people with dyed hair, studded leather accoutrements and punky haircuts. Even the safety-pin through the nose of the fat gang-member character would have seemed very exotic in '82 but nothing but a yawn by '92.
The only problem with this film is that it drags on too long, but that's generally the formula of 'thrillers'. The running gag throughout, that authorities' hands are perpetually tied because 'nobody saw it happen' was played up at the end with a printed message ensuring the audience that Perry King's teacher character got away with his murder spree for that very reason.
I'm giving this movie 8-stars, because it is watchable and so influential in all the tropes it created.
For the most part the action in the film is somewhat realistic, except for when the teacher throws one of the gang members onto a table-saw back-first, killing him instantly even though the blade would have only made a gash a couple inches deep, and all the guy would've had to do is arch his back to avoid it. I know his arm was severed at that point but he still should have had a will to live. And the finale, where the antagonist, Stegman, goes from holding a rope and falling, to somehow wrapping the rope around his neck so that he gets hung. This would have been impossible for him to do on purpose while falling let alone having it occur by accident. The movie also fails to explain how the rope came down with him in the first place, since he was clinging to it and the teacher had no way of cutting it (and even if he had had a knife, which he didn't, the rope is like 3 inches thick). It seems to me I've seen an antagonist crash through a glass ceiling to his death after a rooftop fight before, but I can't place it. I will return periodically to update this entry as I continue to come across more movies with Class of 1984 tropes in them.
Probably the most amusing aspect of this film is the wardrobe and stylized characters, who definitely would have seemed menacing and out of place in a highschool in 1982, but by 1992 highschools were filled with people with dyed hair, studded leather accoutrements and punky haircuts. Even the safety-pin through the nose of the fat gang-member character would have seemed very exotic in '82 but nothing but a yawn by '92.
The only problem with this film is that it drags on too long, but that's generally the formula of 'thrillers'. The running gag throughout, that authorities' hands are perpetually tied because 'nobody saw it happen' was played up at the end with a printed message ensuring the audience that Perry King's teacher character got away with his murder spree for that very reason.
I'm giving this movie 8-stars, because it is watchable and so influential in all the tropes it created.