The Fly II

The Fly II is a 1989 American science fiction horror film directed by Chris Walas. The film stars Eric Stoltz and Daphne Zuniga, and is a sequel to the 1986 film The Fly, itself a remake of the 1958 film of the same name. Stoltz's character in this sequel is the adult son of Seth Brundle, a scientist who became a human-fly hybrid as a result of an experiment gone awry, played by Jeff Goldblum in the 1986 remake. With the exception of stock footage of Goldblum from the first film, John Getz was the only actor to reprise his role.
== Plot ==
Several months after the events of The Fly, Veronica Quaife (Saffron Henderson) delivers Seth Brundle's child. After giving birth to a squirming larval sac, she dies from shock. The sac then splits open to reveal a seemingly normal baby boy. The child, named Martin Brundle, is raised by Anton Bartok (Lee Richardson), who is the owner of the company which financed Brundle's teleportation experiments and fully aware of the accident which genetically merged Seth Brundle (Jeff Goldblum) with a housefly. Martin grows up in a clinical environment. His physical and mental maturity is highly accelerated, and he possesses a genius-level intellect, incredible reflexes, and no need for sleep. He knows he is aging faster than a normal human, but is unaware of the true cause, having been told his father died from the same rapid aging disease.
At age 3, Martin has the physique of a 10-year-old, and frequently sneaks around and explores the Bartok complex. He finds a room containing laboratory animals, and befriends a dog. The next night, he brings it some of his dinner, only to find it missing. He enters an observation booth overlooking Bay 17. There, scientists have managed to reassemble Brundle's Telepods, but not to duplicate the programming that enabled them to teleport living subjects. An attempt to teleport the dog fails, leaving it horribly deformed. It maims one of the scientists, horrifying young Martin. Two years later, Martin Brundle's (Eric Stoltz) body has matured to that of a 25-year-old. On his fifth birthday, Bartok presents Martin with a bungalow on the Bartok facility's property. He also offers Martin a job: repair his father's Telepods. He apologizes about the dog and assures Martin that its suffering was brief. When Martin is uneasy about the proposition, Bartok shows him Veronica Quaife's videotapes, which documented Seth Brundle's progress with the Telepods. Seeing his late father describe how the Telepods ostensibly improved and energized his body, Martin accepts Bartok's proposal.
As he begins work on the Telepods, Martin befriends an employee, Beth Logan (Daphne Zuniga). Beth invites Martin to a party at the specimens division, where he learns that the mutated dog is still kept alive and studied. Thinking Beth is aware of the dog's imprisonment, Martin argues with her, leaves the party, and goes to the animal's holding pen. The deformed dog, in terrible pain, still remembers Martin and happily wags its tail at the sight of him before he tearfully euthanizes it with chloroform. Martin is in a sullen mood for a while and denies having anything to do with the dog's death when Bartok questions him about it. Martin reconciles with Beth, and re-arrives at his father's "eureka" moment when he realizes the Telepod's computer need to be creative to analyze living flesh. Martin then shows Beth his perfected Telepods by teleporting a kitten without harm. They become lovers and have sex, but Martin begins showing signs of his eventual mutation into a human-fly hybrid. Martin devises a potential cure for his condition, which involves swapping out his mutated genes for healthy human genes. Martin shelves this idea when he realizes the other person would be subject to a grotesque genetic disfigurement.
Beth is dismissed from her employment, then Martin learns that Bartok has hidden cameras in his bungalow. Martin breaks into Bartok's records room, where he learns of his father's true fate. Bartok confronts Martin and explains that he's been waiting for his inevitable mutation. He reveals his plan to use Martin's body and the Telepods' potential for genetic manipulation for profit. Martin's insect genes fully awaken and his transformation into a human-insect hybrid begins. He escapes from Bartok Industries. Bartok is unable to use the Telepods, as they are locked by a password. Martin also installed a computer virus which will erase the Telepods' programming if the wrong password is entered. Bartok orders a search for Martin.
Martin goes to Beth and explains the situation. The two flee. They visit Veronica Quaife's old confidant, Stathis Borans (John Getz), who confirms for Martin that the Telepods are his only chance for a cure. They keep running, but Martin's physical and emotional changes become too much for Beth to handle, and she eventually surrenders them both to Bartok. Without revealing the password, he becomes enveloped in a cocoon. Bartok interrogates Beth for the password. Shortly after, the fully transformed "Martinfly" emerges from his cocoon and breaks into Bay 17. He grabs Bartok and forces him to type in the password, which is revealed to be DAD. He then drags Bartok and himself into a Telepod. Martinfly gestures Beth to activate the gene-swapping sequence and, despite Bartok's protests, Beth complies. Martin is restored to a fully human form, while Bartok is transformed into a freakish monster who is now kept in the same cell the dog used to be. In the film's final shot, as the Bartok creature leans towards a dish of food, it notices a fly.
== Cast ==
* Eric Stoltz as Martin Brundle
* Daphne Zuniga as Beth Logan
* Lee Richardson as Anton Bartok
* John Getz as Stathis Borans
* Frank C. Turner as Dr. Shepard (credited as Frank Turner)
* Ann Marie Lee as Dr. Jainway
* Garry Chalk as Scorby (credited as Gary Chalk)
* Jerry Wasserman as Simms
* Saffron Henderson as Veronica Quaife
* Jeff Goldblum (uncredited archive footage) as Seth Brundle
== Production ==
Geena Davis, who played Veronica Quaife in the first film, was replaced by Saffron Henderson for this sequel, as Davis refused to reprise her role due to her character's death in the first act disallowing the opportunity for character development.[2][3] The Fly II is an early entry in the filmography of Frank Darabont, who co-wrote the screenplay.[2] Tom Sullivan worked as a sculptor for the film's visual effects.[4]
== Reception ==
=== Box office ===
The Fly II grossed $20,021,322 at the US box office and a further $18,881,857 abroad, resulting in worldwide total of $38,903,179.[1]
=== Critical reception ===
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 27% based on 15 reviews, with a weighted average rating of 4.4/10.[5] On Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating to reviews, the film has a weighted average score of 36 out of 100, based on 15 critics, indicating "Generally unfavorable reviews".[6]
Janet Maslin from The New York Times gave the film a negative review, writing, "The only respect in which it matches Mr. Cronenberg's Fly is in its sheer repulsiveness, since this film degenerates into a series of slime-ridden, glop-oozing special effects in its final half hour."[7] Richard Harrington from The Washington Post offered the film similar criticism, calling the film's script "flat", and criticized the film's special effects as being "clumsy".[8] Author and film critic Leonard Maltin awarded the film his lowest rating, calling the film "Alternately dull and messy but mostly dull".[9] David Hughes from Empire Magazine awarded the film 3/5 stars, writing, "Whilst this fly is not as tightly scripted or keenly directed as its parent, it does have pace, breathless tension and the sort of gross-out effects that rules out kebabs for some time after the credits have rolled."[10] Ryan Lambie of Den of Geek wrote that while the film "wasn't particularly clever, ... as an exercise in pure, claret-stained entertainment, it deserves far more credit than it frequently receives".[2]
== Home media ==
The film was released on VHS by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment, and in 2000, the film was released on DVD as a double feature with The Fly.[11] The film received a standalone DVD release on October 5, 2004.[12] In March 2017, Australian distribution company Via Vision Entertainment released a five-disc, region-free box set containing the original 1958 The Fly, its sequels Return of the Fly and Curse of the Fly, the 1986 version of The Fly, and The Fly II on Blu-ray.[13][14]
== Sequel ==
Beginning in March 2015, IDW Publishing released a five-issue comic book miniseries titled The Fly: Outbreak, written by Brandon Seifert.[15] The story is a direct sequel to the events of The Fly II, and features Martin Brundle inadvertently causing a transgenicoutbreak while attempting to cure Anton Bartok, to whom he had previously transferred his mutant genes.
==References==