Excellent performances, scripting, make-up effects and direction make this a very enjoyable - if a little off-putting (not for the squeamish) - film.

Rating: 7/10 (20 June 2016)

'The Fly' is one of the rare examples of a remake that matches, and perhaps even surpasses, the quality of the original. This is helped by the fact that David Cronenberg's film is very different to Kurt Neumann's 1958 classic; it is darker, more realistic and essentially a tragedy in nature. Both of the movies are loosely based on George Langelaan's short story of the same name, though the 50s version follows the story a lot more closely than the 80s one. In this version, Jeff Goldblum plays Seth Brundle - a reclusive scientist who invents a teleportation device. Throughout the course of the film, Brundle begins to transform into a human-fly hybrid (whereas Neumann's feature had the scientist's head and arms replaced entirely with that of a fly). The film is probably remembered most for it's body-horror elements, which are all extremely well executed, but at it's heart it is a character study and an allegory for disease - especially something terminal. Alongside the physical transformation, it depicts a slow decent into madness; a man losing his humanity to become an insect, on the inside and out, perhaps being punished for attempting to change the laws of nature.
One of the film's biggest strengths is the fact that Brundle is a very sympathetic character, one that truly doesn't deserve what happens to him. The audience is never excited to see the horror, never wants to watch this man suffer; you really feel empathetic towards him, and want everything to be okay. A combination of a great script and a fantastic performance by Goldblum make this possible, building a character you honestly care about: this is why the film works so well. The characters never feel written, instead coming across as real human beings caught in a terrible situation. The story is actually very sad, and set-up to mimic a Shakespearean tragedy. A focus on creating empathy for the characters sets this film apart from others in the genre. On top of the great acting, the title character is brought to life with outstanding make-up effects - which landed Chris Walas and Stephen Dupuis and Oscar, and deservedly so. The prosthetics and animatronic puppets blend seamlessly into the live-action elements, and are both believable and highly grotesque. A stand out effect is Brundlefly's final transformation - which is extremely gruesome and, frankly, quite disturbing. The effects are definitely up there with the best of the 80s, perhaps even of all time, sitting alongside other incredible work such as that found in John Carpenter's 'The Thing.'
There are only a couple of issues I had with the film. I'll start with a couple of minor ones first; John Getz's character is slightly annoying, and doesn't really have much of an arc - he also bizarrely changes personality towards the end of the movie just to suit the plot, and there's a weirdly out-of-place dream sequence that breaks the flow of the film. The main problem I had with the film is the fact that it suddenly skips a chunk of 4 weeks (in the movie's time-frame), a leap that's very jarring and only explained through a fairly clunky line of exposition. It is only separated by a short fade too, a technique used several times in the film when it doesn't skip any time, which serves to make the transition even more unnatural and confusing. It feels as though the missed period of time would have been interesting. I get the sense that it was skipped because the character's transformation was happening more gradually and Cronenberg didn't want the audience to get bored (which I doubt would've happened); it may also have been to save the special effects department some time, since they were working to a very tight schedule. The skip doesn't ruin the film, and may even help it's already quick and efficient pacing, but a couple of extra scenes wouldn't have gone amiss.
Overall, 'The Fly' is a great piece of cinema full of excellent and disturbing body-horror elements as well as rounded and sympathetic characters caught in a compelling situation. The film is a poignant one, centering around themes of illness, inevitability, nature, unwarranted suffering, science and tragedy; excellent performances, scripting, make-up effects and direction make this a very enjoyable - if a little off-putting (not for the squeamish) - film. 7/10