F/X series

Continuing with the movies for this weekend ( I think I am gonna continue this and try and get more movies, it sure is fun).

This time, I chose a series (if 2 is a series). Its the F/X (short for Special Effects) movies. First one is F/X 1 Murder by Illusion. Totally not what I expected. I like crime, adventure, action, thriller and stuff like that more than I like romance in fact. So it was right up my sleeve. What I was surprised was by the plot which goes to places unexpected till the very end. There is hardly any suspense in this movie, actually to be honest none in fact. But it sure has enough thrills till the end. And with all those special effects, it wasn’t that creepy either. I don’t like too creepy movies. Sort of like going through the Haunted House in the amusement parks that they have knowing that those that come at you are fake and all you have to do is not jump at any sudden moves (which I do occasionally, but that is because of the surprise element rather than the effect of those creeps). I am not going into the story here but just a quick glimpse. Two people from the Justice Department involved in Witness Protection Program take the help of a Special Effect professional, Rollie Tyler, to stage a live assassination of a mafia leader so that he can testify against his other fellow people. And this guy takes up the job, but ends up being chased as the one who got the mafia leader killed , apart from having his girlfriend killed by the same people who are chasing him to gun him down too. How he turns their well knit storyboard to protect himself is what the story is about. And in between you have Mr McCarthy, a homicide detective brought in to investigate the killing of his girlfriend and the killer (who he ends up killing) coming in too into the story line and how they cross paths. It does keep one interested till the very end, when the actual reason for protecting the mafia leader comes in. That is when it becomes a cliche. And why do they have to kill the near and dear ones always. I have seen that telephone scene in lot of movies (English, Hindi, Tamil). Wonder if it was picked up from here or it is a standard scene in most thrillers. 

The second one from the same series , F/X 2 Deadly Art of Illusion. In this they return after a period of time and Rollie’s effects are again needed by the Cops to find a serial killer, except that it backfires and his girlfriend’s ex (a cop) gets killed and Rollie is being chased again because he caught some of the live action that resulted in the cop’s death on camera. So he calls McCarthy to help him out and they go hunting. This time again its the corrupt officials but includes some Italian background and an attempt on his girlfriend and her son. Thankfully they don’t die but McCarthy’s love interest , the other cop who helps him in both the movies, gets shot. God I wish they would stop doing that, but no, that little tradition goes on even now. There are lot of special effects in this too, thanks to Tyler. How did he get into the Mob’s place to lure them away? He seems to just get in anywhere. And the clown 😦 I don’t like the clown. But the technology was nice, especially for that time period. They again end up with enough moola to set them up for life time or may be replace their never ending list of special effect items. Its always about the money though isn’t. I thought the first movie was much better than the second one. But it made my Sunday afternoon go real fast.