Perhaps one of the best benefits of having the streaming services like Tubi is that you have a chance of finding a diamond amongst the mountains of trashy movies—and believe me, Tubi has A LOT of garbage to watch. Over the past few years, I have had some good luck in watching buddy cop movies I had previously never heard of, which Tubi has certainly assisted with in some way. Dead Heat, I Come in Peace/Dark Angel, Showdown in Little Tokyo have all be fine examples of obscure buddy-cop action movies that, while not considered to be on the same level of Lethal Weapon, were all fun B-movies that brought some ridiculous flair to the experience.

I was on the hunt for another one of those types of movies the other night and came across F/X. It didn’t advertise itself as a buddy cop, but the poster thumbnail gave every indication that it was going to be one of those adventures with a similar dynamic. At least, that’s what I thought. I couldn’t have been more wrong, but I also can’t say I didn’t enjoy it.

Plot & Thoughts

Roland Tyler (Bryan Brown) is a special effects artist for major motion pictures. He’s so good at special effects that he’s been sought out by an unlikely organization seeking his help. Officer Lipton (Cliff De Young) says that the Defense Department wants Tyler’s help in making sure a high-priority witness is able to testify against the mob. Rather than doing the usual thing of just taking him somewhere and giving him a new name, they want to use the Eraser method and stage an assassination attempt with lots of spectators to make sure people think the witness is dead.

While hesitant about getting involved in something so risky, Tyler eventually agrees to lend his talents to the cause. It’s at this point that the film starts to get a little heavy-handed with its predictable plot/characters. Unless you’re asleep or you’ve never seen movies like this one, red flags should start going off as soon as the guy planning the fake assassination decides it’s necessary make the protagonist even more involved than before, to the point of making him actually be the shooter. It’s very clear that a double-cross is imminent, and F/X doesn’t make any real attempt to cover that up. Once the “assassination” occurs, Lipton tries to kill Tyler and he narrowly escapes, only to find himself on the run from both the cops and the guys who hired him.

Now, I’ve been very forthcoming with how predictable the movie is up to this point, which is partially why I’m willing to give up a few important plot points further into the movie than I normally do. However, I think the predictability starts to wane over time. It plays with a few ideas to the point that I’m not sure they knew what type of movie they were making. That’s usually a bad thing, but here, it adds a little charm and also gives it the same sort of wildcard nature of Roadhouse. If you don’t know, Roadhouse is just a movie about a bar bouncer beating up some dudes and becoming a notable celebrity in a small town. It has a lighthearted tone, until Patrick Swayze suddenly just rips a guy’s throat out with his bear bare hands. If you haven’t seen it, you’re missing out on some classic 80’s cheese.

But back to F/X. I don’t want to give away too much, so I’ll be somewhat vague with some events that from here on. Hopefully, it will still be clear as to why I think this movie is weirdly watchable because it has a number of things going for it. For instance, the overall success of the fake assassination is called into question, making Roland wonder if he actually killed a man. There’s a car chase with a big van through some busy streets, along with some oil slicks and mannequins. Some characters unexpectedly amass a significant body count. A character that was being set up as important to the plot turns out to be barely needed at all.

I’d be lying if I said that the plot synopsis or the talents of Bryan Brown were what grabbed my attention. As I mentioned, the poster thumbnail is what caught my eye which had Bryan Brown’s face along with another. The other face that was present was that of Brian Dennehy. The big Denehee conjures up a number inside jokes at our house, so I was suddenly interested. While his acting capabilities can range from very good to ‘meh,’ I was more than happy to indulge in a buddy-cop scenario with him being a wild man of the law who believes in the badge only so long as justice is served. He already got to play a corrupt sheriff in First Blood, why not give him a chance to be the wild cop on the side of good?

Well, you’ll have to wait a while to see him and his awesome 80’s moustache because, despite being top-billed, he doesn’t show up for 45 minutes. It’s almost the half-way point of the film before Deneheeeeee finally graces the screen. When he does, he’s playing the character you expect him to play and doing the things you expect him to do. He’s trying to find Roland Tyler, but is still convinced there’s more to the case than meets the eye. I’d say he gives an acceptable performance, but doesn’t do anything really memorable.

This may all sound pretty run-of-the-mill to you, and, in some ways, it is. But like the other movies I’ve mentioned earlier, F/X has some of that special charm that makes a B-movie like this so entertaining. It doesn’t have any comments about genitalia from Brandon Lee like in Showdown in Little Tokyo. It doesn’t have an undead cop trying to take down an evil corporation like in Dead Heat. Nor does it doesn’t have an intergalactic drug dealer from space like in Dark Angel / I Come In Peace. So, it may not be as ridiculous and out there as some other forgotten 80’s classics, but it has some fun action sequences and a satisfying climax similar to Roadhouse. The funny thing is that the movie really only seems to drag in the portion before Denehee-hee shows up. What’s even funnier, is that Dene-yee-haw doesn’t really add much to the experience. The movie just coincidentally starts to get more and more ridiculous after the half-way point.

TL;DR

Pros

Decent car chase sequence and climax
Charm of an 80’s passion project
Gets more wild and unpredictable as it progresses

Cons

Slow start
Brian Dennehy is underutilized

Worth a Watch?

It’s a dumb movie with some dumb moments in a dumb premise. Yet, it’s got that same B-movie charm of all the other movies I mentioned in my review. If you’re a fan of watching silly, forgotten little action movies that have smaller budgets and a lot of charm, F/X is a good time.

Archived Posts (2017)