Review: The Lawnmower Man BD + Screen Caps

THE MOVIE — 2.5/5

Plot Synopsis: Dr. Lawrence Angelo (PIERCE BROSNAN) is a brilliant scientist obsessed with perfecting virtual reality software. When his experiments on animals fail, he finds the ideal substitute – Jobe Smith (JEFF FAHEY), a slow-witted gardener. Dr. Angelo’s goal is to benefit his human guinea pig and ultimately mankind itself, but evil lurks in the guise of “The Shop,” a shadowy group that seeks to use the technology to create an invincible war machine. When the experiments change the simple Jobe into a superhuman being, the stage is set for a Jeykll-and-Hyde struggle for the control of Jobe’s mind and the future of the world.

Quick Hit Review: The Lawnmower Man is a laughably bad movie that’s probably only memorable for the equally terrible 1990s era visual effects (makes one appreciate the awful effects in Virtuosity and Hackers, both released in 1995) which is one of the central aspects to the film. The acting isn’t much better with Jeff Fahey turning in a bad performance while Pierce Brosnan was a mere two years before making his James Bond debut in GoldenEye. In regards to the Director’s Cut, while it might be a bit more cohesive compared with the butchered, perhaps more mainstream, theatrical version, this one was entirely too long.

SPECIAL FEATURES – 4.0/5

This 2-disc release (Disc 1 with the Theatrical Cut, Disc 2 with the Director’s Cut) comes with a matted slip cover. As with most of Shout’s Collector’s Edition releases, the inner cover is reversible revealing the film’s original poster artwork.

DISC 1 – THEATRICAL CUT

Audio Commentary – Co-Writer/Director Brett Leonard and Co-Writer/Producer Gimel Everett. The pair have a nice chat on working on the movie, like story origins, casting, etc.

Cyber God: Creating The Lawnmower Man (50:40; HD) – This new featurette looks back at the movie with new interviews by various people including co-writer/director Brett Leonard, Jeff Fahey and others.

Deleted Scenes (27:20; SD) – Here we get some scenes cut from the theatrical version but, from what I can tell, most (if not all) were re-inserted for the Director’s Cut.

Original Electronic Press Kit (4:43; SD) has some on-set interviews and behind-the-scenes footage.

Edited Animated Sequences (4:15; SD) is just footage of the “virtual reality” featured in the film.

Rounding out the disc is the Theatrical Trailer (2:11; HD) and a TV Spot (0:31; SD).

DISC 2 – DIRECTOR’S CUT

Audio Commentary – Leonard and Everett provide their insights again, just over the extra footage.

Also included are Conceptual Art and Design Sketches (2:52; HD), Behind the Scenes and Production Stills (7:12; HD) and Storyboard Comparison (1:54; SD). There’s also an Easter Egg (1:33; SD) with an ad for a contest to win a virtual reality system or other prizes like a Mazda car, getting a “walk-on” part for Lawnmower Man 2, the cybersuit worn by one of the cast members or… a T-shirt!

VIDEO – 4.25/5

The Lawnmower Man arrives on the scene through Shout Factory and is shown in its original 1.85 widescreen aspect ratio and a 1080p high-definition transfer. Since the back cover didn’t state this was a new transfer so presumably it was supplied by Allied Vision, but either way, the detail on this was rather sharp and colors were generally vibrant with no noticeable instances of artifacting, aliasing, dust marks or scratches.

There was a note prior to the Director’s Cut that there were jumps between the “new” scenes and theatrical ones. Shout attempted to stabilize but these were still noticeable and apparently also happened on New Line’s DVD release. I did notice a couple of them but for the most part, the transitions were fairly smooth.

AUDIO – 4.0/5

OVERALL – 3.75/5

Overall, The Lawnmower Man Blu-ray released through Shout Factory has some good video/audio transfers and a nice selection of bonus features, though the movie itself is laughably bad and the 141-minute long director’s cut is quite tedious to sit through, while the visual effects were something to behold and is oh so 1990s era of bad vfx.