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Stars:
Patrick Bergin, Matt Frewer, Austin O’Brien, Ely Pouget, Camille Cooper, and
Kevin Conway
Writer:
Farhad Mann
Based
On A Story By: Farhad Mann and Michael Miner
Director:
Farhad Mann
Feature
length: 93 minutes
Extras:
Theatrical Trailers
Languages:
English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound and Dolby Surround Sound
Subtitles:
English Captions and Closed Captions
Packaging:
Keep Case
Chapter
Stops: 22
Sound:
Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound and Dolby Surround Sound
Year
of Theatrical Release: 1995/DVD Release: 2003
Theatrical
Distributor: New Line Cinema
Home
Video Distributor: New Line Home Entertainment
MPAA
Rating: PG-13
Reviewer:
Mark A. Rivera
When
we last left Jobe in “The Lawnmower Man,” he succeeded in becoming a
sentient entity in cyberspace and signaled his rebirth by ringing all of the
telephones in the world. However despite his consciousness escaping, his body or
what is left of it has survived and been somewhat reconstructed to resemble Matt
Frewer and taken into the custody of a corrupt corporation that wishes to use
Jobe’s abilities in cyberspace for greedy purposes. Reuniting Jobe’s
physical body with his cyber soul has only renewed Jobe’s God complex as he
seeks to solidify his own immortality by gaining control of the Chiron Chip.
With control of this chip he can subvert the material world and enslave everyone
in cyberspace. Only a reformed computer genius (Patrick Bergen) and a group of
street kids can thwart both Jobe’s and the company’s sinister plans.
The
original “Lawnmower Man” was very loosely inspired by the short story by
Stephen King, but at least it was interesting in that it was one of the early
films from the 1990s to explore the possibilities of virtual reality in a Jekyll
and Hyde sort of way. That film’s final moments were haunting and memorable
enough to leave viewers wondering what may happen if a sequel should ever be
made. Unfortunately the sequel never really takes advantage of the possibilities
the first film opened up. In fact if I were to liken “The Lawnmower Man” and
“Lawnmower Man 2: Jobe’s War” to another set of films I’d say it would
be like comparing “Highlander” to “Highlander 2: The Quickening.” In
both cases the original film was a cult or sleeper success while the sequel was
a big disappointment. While the CGI effects for “The Lawnmower Man” were
extraordinary for their time, the CGI effects for “Lawnmower Man 2” look
mediocre at best. In fact the scene where the kids are flying through a virtual
environment before encountering Jobe in cyberspace looks terrible. In fact
“Lawnmower Man 2: Jobe’s War” looks as if it were shot using the same sets
as “Highlander 2: The Quickening” with a pseudo “Blade Runner” Los
Angeles of the future. Matt Frewer seems comfortable playing a darker and meaner
variation of his “Max Headroom” act without the stuttering and Kevin Conway
(The Lathe Of Heaven) is always good at playing megalomaniacs hiding behind
suits, but poor Patrick Bergin just looks ridiculous in that Adam Ant like wig
he has to wear throughout the film.
All
things aside though, I am one of those guys who has to have the entire
collection of some film series regardless of whether the sequels are a mixed lot
and while “Lawnmower Man 2: Jobe’s War” is definitely an inferior sequel,
it is certainly not the worst sequel I have ever seen and for some mindless
sci-fi thrills, the film still delivers. New Line Home Entertainment is
releasing “Lawnmower Man 2: Jobe’s War” to DVD as a bargain priced
standard edition with a beautiful anamorphic widescreen (2.35:1) presentation as
well as a pan and scan (1.33:1) presentation encoded onto the dual layered DVD.
The picture quality is sharp without any anomalies and features great color
contrasts. The English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Soundtrack is very well mixed
with an aggressive quality that creates an enveloping sound experience that
I’d wager is probably better than the way film sounded during the original
theatrical release. An English Dolby Surround Soundtrack as well as English
Captions and Closed Captions for the hearing impaired are also provided as
options.
The
film’s theatrical trailers for “Lawnmower Man 2: Jobe’s War” (1:49),
which features the film’s original theatrical release title “Beyond
Cyberspace,” “Willard” and “Critters” are all presented with full 5.1
Surround Sound. They should have included the trailer for the original
“Lawnmower Man” and since the sequel is being released in a keep case, it
would not be a bad idea to reissue “The Lawnmower Man: New Line Platinum
Series” DVD in a keep case too, if they have not already and maybe sell the
two films as a two pack special deal. I know a few people who have actually been
buying older titles again to be rid of the dreaded snap case and as frivolous as
they might sound, I am not making this up so if people want it and will buy it
in this case than why not? The interactive menus feature animated transitions
and are easy to navigate.
“Lawnmower
Man 2: Jobe’s War” will debut on DVD-Video at retailers on and offline on
Tuesday, October 7, 2003 from New Line Home Entertainment.
©
Copyright 2003 By Mark A. Rivera
All Rights Reserved.
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