A so-so shower at the box office but a massive video hit, the original F/X - movie production lingo for special effects - was a pacey thriller with a neat premise in which effects wizard Rollie (Brown) was conned into devising a fake assassination that turned out to be real. At the end of the chase and several bodies later Rollie and canny pursuing cop Leo (Dennehy) went off into the sunset in a really rather Rick and Louis kind of way with a big bundle of mafia loot. Five years on Rollie and Leo's beautiful friendship is picked up in FX2 - The Deadly Art Of Illusion for a sloppier variation on the same theme.
FX2 Review
Now cosily tucked up in a magnificent gaff from the proceeds of the F/X sting, Rollie is retired from film work to play happy families and make ingenious audioanimatronic toys. Once again he is lured into "helping" the police, with a tricksy technical illusion designed to trap a killer, and - guess what? - it all goes horribly wrong. Enter crusty-but-lovable Leo, stage left, and the duo are off and running in a conspiracy caper that involves bent cops, the mafia and priceless gold doo-dads made
Release Date:
17 Jul 1991
Running Time:
108 minutes
Certificate:
15
Original Title:
FX2
It's all totally farfetched and skates imperturbably over several questions of logic that will spring unbidden to the most accepting mind. But it's entertaining, inconsequential fun, with Brown and Dennehy an engaging couple of Joes and Rollie's bottomless bag of technical tricks providing reasonably diverting action set pieces, notably a manhunt in a supermarket in which he demonstrates some interesting things you can do with sausages, instant mashed potato mix and baked beans the next time you
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