Simply Outstanding!

Rating: 10/10 (6 February 2006)

By 1986, director David Cronenberg was one of the rising stars in the horror genre, having a bright career in his natal Canada where he had directer modern classics such as "The Brood", "Scanners" and the masterpiece of the genre, "Videodrome". After directing his first movie in the U.S., "The Dead Zone" in 1983, Cronenberg was chosen to direct his first big budget project in the U.S.: the remake of the classic movie "The Fly".
The plot of the original movie was kept at its core, a brilliant scientist, Seth Brundle (Jeff Goldblum), creates a teleporting machine, but when he experiments teleporting himself, something goes wrong and he gets combined with a fly. That is the plot outline and all the movie has in common with the original, because Cronenberg took a whole different approach to the story.
While in the original movie the doctor turned himself into a giant fly, in Cronenberg's movie Seth Brundle doesn't change instantly, his mutation is progressive, at first not apparent but later he becomes a new creature, something that has never existed before, as Brundle describes himself, he becomes "the offspring of man and fly".
The script is simply brilliant, not only it explores Seth Brundle's tragedy, the inclusion of Geena Davis as the reporter who falls in love with the scientist only to discover that his lover is slowly changing into something unnatural plays an important part in Brundle's tragedy. The story is full of metaphors and it is the ultimate romance/horror tragedy.
Now, all this would not be possible without the acting of both Goldblum and Davis, their chemistry together is remarkable and their performances carry the film with the power enough to give us insight in the tragedy that slowly gets in the middle of their love.
David Cronenberg's direction is outstanding and this is one of his best works. "The Fly" truly shows his progression as an artist and it is an important step in his career. In "The Fly" he successfully mixes the character study of previous works like "The Brood" or "The Dead Zone" with the SFX-packed action of "Scanners" and "Videodrome". this is without a doubt one of his most accomplished pictures.
Overall, I could go on praising this film and yet it would not be enough. "The Fly" is not only a modern classic of the horror genre (so much that it has casted a shadow over the original), it is a perfect example of the art of film-making. 10/10