F/X 2 (1991)

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General		Extras
Category	Action	Theatrical Trailer
Rating
Year Of Production	1991
Running Time	103:30
RSDL / Flipper	Dual Layered	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Language Select Then Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Richard Franklin
Studio Distributor	MGM	Starring	Bryan Brown Brian Dennehy Rachel Ticotin Joanna Gleason Philip Bosco Kevin J. O'Connor Tom Mason Dominic Zamprogna Jossie DeGuzman John Walsh Peter Boretski Lisa Fallon Lee Broker
Case	Amaray-Transparent-Secure Clip
RPI	$19.95	Music	Lalo Schifrin

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s) French Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s) German Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.85:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.85:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English English for the Hearing Impaired German German for the Hearing Impaired French Dutch Swedish Finnish Norwegian Danish Portuguese Polish	Smoking	No
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	Yes, - see review text for details.

    F/X 2 is an enjoyable sequel to F/X, which had been made 5 or 6 years earlier. In that first film we met movie special effects man Rollie Tyler (Bryan Brown) and followed his struggle to clear his name after an unusual assignment he had with the Justice Department went horribly wrong. Rollie found himself on the run as a murder suspect, and sadly his girlfriend was murdered during the pursuit. Using the special effects tricks he employed in the movies he managed to confound the bad guys and by the end of the film Rollie and tough cop Leo McCarthy (Brian Dennehy) found themselves millionaires.

    We now move forward five years to the sequel and Rollie is a toy designer, having retired from the movies (where did they get that name anyway - do the Americans think Rollie is a common name down under?). He is living with a new girlfriend and her young son. When his girlfriend's police detective ex-husband asks for his help on a crime case he is reluctant to agree (especially after his bad experience the last time he used his tricks to help the police).

    Well, you probably guessed that he eventually agrees to help, and things go pear shaped again. Rollie has to call on Leo to help him out and the two combine to hunt down a group of killers with mob connections (and there is even a link to some stolen Vatican art treasures). The plot again has some nice twists and the characterisation is good. There is a death in the middle of the film which was really sad, which makes the eventual victory of the good guys even more satisfying. This is once again escapist entertainment, and it is great to see Rollie using his special effects wizardry to defeat the crooks, but ultimately the bond between Rollie and Leo anchors the film.

    I had not seen either of these films for some years, and had only vague pleasant memories to guide me. So, I found a copy of F/X to watch to get me in the right frame of mind for this review. I was surprised to find that the sequel was slightly more enjoyable than the first film, though both are good escapist entertainment. Brown is good in the first, and very good in the second, and Dennehy is the perfect foil in both. In F/X 2 they spend more screen time together; they have good rapport and seem to be enjoying themselves which helps the audience sympathise with them. While the disc itself is rather bare, at mid or budget price this is worthy of consideration for those of you who like a little escapism mixed in with your weighty consideration of the human condition.

    Informative aside number one: This film comes with a couple of alternative titles. On the Region 2 disc it is listed as F/X 2: The Deadly Art of Illusion. It is also known as plain FX 2 (without the slash) and is so listed in the credits and on the local DVD case, though most sources use F/X 2.

    Informative aside number two: The DVD case lists seven subtitle languages. There are actually 12 on the DVD.

    Informative aside number three: There is some action part way through the end credits, so make sure you don't hit the "stop" button too soon.

    Informative aside number four: Dodi Fayed was one of the film's producers, which will be of interest to Princess Di fiends.

    Informative aside number five: As an Australian you would surely have to like any film which has the following closing lines: Our heroes are in Rome (the one in Italy). Leo notes "Only one place in the world where you can get a decent pizza", Rollie laconically replies "Sydney". It seems that as executive producer Bryan Brown had quite an impact.

Video

    The video transfer is acceptable, but a little disappointing given how recent this film is.

    The aspect ratio of the transfer is 1.85:1 (this is the correct ratio) and it is not 16x9 enhanced, which is rather sad.

    The transfer is clear but could have been sharper - the focus is a little too soft at times. Shadow detail is good, and the film makes good use of lighting so that scenes with ambient light look more natural. Take a look around 4:27 for one of the many excellent night scenes. There is also no low level noise. All of this adds up to a "good thing", as there are many night shots in the film.

    The colours are muted but look natural (see the good flesh tones at 14:58) though there is a slight dated feel at times.

    There are numerous minor distractions in the print which could have been fixed with a little more care (and possibly 16x9 enhancement). The film frequently seems to be on the verge of being grainy, without quite getting there fully, and there is also an edge enhancement halo around characters at times. Minor flecks also appear occasionally (both positive and negative artefacts) and there is also some minor aliasing. None of the problems are severe, but they combine to leave the viewer with a slight feeling of disappointment.

    I watched extensive segments of the film with the 'English - Hard of Hearing' subtitles (as they are listed) turned on. The meaning of the dialogue was retained and there were some reasonable audio cues, though as often happens I would have liked to have seen some indications of a change in pace in the music.

    There is a short but rather abrupt layer change at 57:56.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    As with the video transfer, so too with the audio - "acceptable, but has room for improvement".

    There are three audio tracks on offer. I listened to the English Dolby Digital 2.0 track, which is encoded at a bitrate of 192 Kb/s. This appears to be a Dolby surround mix, as my amplifier would not switch out of ProLogic mode. I also listened to around 40 minutes of the 192 Kb/s French Dolby Digital 2.0 track, which is also surround encoded (and not the 1.0 track listed on the packaging). The sound on this track is rather thin, and I feel sorry for the actor playing Rollie - that Oz accent is impossible to recreate. The third track on the disc is a German Dolby Digital 2.0 track also encoded at 192 Kb/s.

    The dialogue is fairly clear, though occasionally some variance in volume made the odd line difficult to pick up. Audio sync is also fine.

    The music score by Lalo Schifrin is very good, and adds a tough edge as it did in his Dirty Harry score. The level is fine, and at times vibrant (as at 16:06).

    The surround activity is fairly limited; the music has the most surround presence, with the odd gunshot adding a little bite for the effects. The subwoofer sees minor activity with the occasional explosion but the audio track as a whole is a little flat.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

    As with the first film we only have the Theatrical Trailer to excite us here.

Menu

    From the menu you can choose: Play the film, Scene Selections (16 of those), Theatrical Trailer, and Languages. At least they didn't give us an "Extras" option with only the trailer hanging off it.

Theatrical Trailer

    This is presented at an aspect ratio of 1.33:1 (why not 1.85:1?) and runs for 1:40. It is fairly ordinary and has major plot spoilers, so you may want to take it literally and watch it after the main show.

    There is censorship information available for this title. Click here to read it (a new window will open). WARNING: Often these entries contain MAJOR plot spoilers.

    The Region 1 and 2 DVDs appear basically similar to the Region 4, with the odd variation in language or subtitle track (the Region 1 version has a Spanish language track). I will give the Region 4 the nod (marginally) on the basis of the potentially superior PAL transfer.

    This is an enjoyable film (I wish they had made a third) presented with acceptable video and audio transfers and a sole lonely trailer as an extra. It is not often that a sequel holds its own against the original, so that this one deserves more accolades than it received from the critics at the time of its release. A fair rental or worth consideration as a purchase if you like this sort of film (or enjoyed the first), especially at the price.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall