“The Fly II” (1989) doesn’t need to exist, but in the category of “We’re going to make it anyway, in order to make money,” it’s a respectable and respectful sequel to David Cronenberg’s masterpiece. Director Chris Walas, the special effects genius on the 1986 film, shepherds a squishy Grand Guignol exploration of how disgusting God’s creatures can be – especially when increased beyond their natural size and spliced with other species.
The screenplay comes from Stephen King adaptation regulars Mike Garris and Frank Darabont, along with “Ewoks: The Battle for Endor” veterans Jim and Ken Wheat. They disassemble and reassemble the pieces of “The Fly” in a way where we’re on solid corporate ground – Bartok Industries secretly raises Seth’s and Ronnie’s offspring in their HQ’s bowels – but the story also explodes from its cocoon in newly gooey ways.
Martin Brundle is played by Eric Stoltz, a good choice as he had shown a part-adult, part-child quality in 1987’s “Some Kind of Wonderful.” Younger actors display Martin’s precocious genius, then 20-something Stoltz takes over at age 5 and slightly channels Jeff Goldblum in his enthusiasm for the telepods and the possibilities of gene splicing. Daphne Zuniga’s Beth is similarly sheltered, as she works a night shift as a Bartok clerk, meets Martin and has no idea of his bizarro nature.
“The Fly II” (1989)
Director: Chris Walas
Writers: Mick Garris (screenplay, story); Jim Wheat, Ken Wheat, Frank Darabont (screenplay)
Stars: Eric Stoltz, Daphne Zuniga, Lee Richardson
Lee Richardson plays Martin’s de facto “dad,” Anton Bartok, with a falsely empathetic corporateness that’s refreshingly mundane. But seeing what happens to Anton in the practical-effects-laden grand finale, I wish he had been more of a mustache-twirler, so we could really revel in his comeuppance.
That’s one big-ass fly
Stoltz and Zuniga have a cute cinematic romance that can’t compete with the wrenching nature of Goldblum and Geena Davis. But even though the highest ebb of “The Fly II” doesn’t match the lowest ebb of “The Fly,” no actor embarrasses themselves. Walas maintains solid B-horror footing and emphasizes under-explored parts of the original. I’m reminded of Michael Crichton’s point in “Micro” that if tiny insects are made equivalent in size to humans, their strength and ferocity will be exponentially greater. This is showcased when Martin comes out of his secondary cocoon and tears shit up.
While “The Fly” starts happy and hopeful and proceeds toward sad and tragic, “The Fly II” initially moves in the opposite direction. Martin has gotten all the best traits of a human-fly hybrid. He’s a super-genius, he’s treated well by Bartok Industries, and he skips his teenage years. His lack of privacy is irksome when he finds out about the hidden cameras, but his wrecking-ball reaction points to his naivete more than anything else. Of course Bartok is going to perpetually monitor its one-of-a-kind subject.
When he morphs into a secondary cocoon, Martin – who has always been a hybrid – sees it as a positive, whereas Seth (who had been human) saw it as a problem. Martin doesn’t even lose his humanity; he pets a dog when in full insect form. Never a film to settle on a tone for long, “The Fly II” hides Martin’s fly visage for a bit, but ultimately he is unleashed against Bartok’s security goons (one of whom is particularly established as a real piece of work). It’s gloriously gross.
Walas would’ve been well served to make “The Fly II” a few notches weirder; not absurdist like 1990’s sequel to another of his creature creations (“Gremlins 2: The New Batch”), but further leaning into the gore and violence, with the Martin-Beth romance merely an undercurrent. When we see parallels to Goldblum and Davis, the sequel can’t win. When it branches into weird sci-fi, it’s slimy, nasty goodness.