F/X: Murder by Illusion (1986)

Written by Robert T. Megginson & Gregory Fleeman Directed by Robert Mandel Only in the 1980's could a film like this be made, during the heyday of physical effects, where even the biggest action blockbusters had some pretty good gore going for them. Supposedly John Stears, the special effects artist that inspired this film, was actually asked to do various things that appear in this movie by the government, a lot of times for similar reasons as depicted in the movie. Special F/X artist Rollie Tyler (Bryan Brown) is the best at what he does, a simple genius in his field, and arguably the most well known of his kind. One day on a movie set Rollie is approached by a man who claims to be a producer, which he soon learns was a front to get on the set where Rollie is doing special effects for a gangster movie. The man asks Rollie to meet with him in private, and the next day when they do so, the man reveals that he words for the Department of Justice, and that his name is actually Lipton (Cliff De Young) and he has an odd request for Rollie's main talent. The Department of Justice is protecting a witness named Nicky DeFranco (Jerry Orbach), a well known mafia boss who has turned state's witness to avoid criminal charges. The task is to fake DeFranco's assassination so the contract on his life will be cancelled by the opposing mafia members that he would be testifying against. After some consideration, Rollie takes the job, mainly out of professional pride in knowing that he is the best. The situation is set for DeFranco to be assassinated in a restaurant, so everyone will get the news that he is dead, so the men that would want to kill him will no longer be looking for him. When it gets down to crunch time, Rollie is the one that will pull the trigger on the blank gun that will cue the squibs that are stuck on DeFranco's body since he has the most experience with it. During preparation for the fake assassination, Rollie doesn't feel right, he thinks Lipton and his boss, Mason (Mason Adams), are up to something, but he can't tell what. However, the fake assassination goes off without a hitch, and Lipton is in the waiting escape car that Rollie hops into afterwards, only to get a gun in his face from Lipton, who doesn't want anyone involved to live to be able to tell the story of what happened. Being the resourceful person that he is, Rollie springs into action and is able to escape with his life. He reaches out to Lipton's boss at the DOJ for help, only to find out Mason is in on the conspiracy as well. From here, Rollie is on the run, he has to escape the evil men that are after him, while at the same time trying to avoid being arrested for the murder of DeFranco, which may or may not have been real after all. With only his wits and his special f/x supplies, Rollie has to escape from the seemingly crooked DOJ agents, clear his name of murder, and find someone that will help him uncover the conspiracy. Enter Lt. Leo McCarthy (Brian Dennehy), an honest cop who happens upon the murder investigation of Rollie's girlfriend, who was a casualty of the hunt for Rollie. It's up to Rollie with his wits and special f/x to escape the crooked DOJ agents after him, and it's up to McCarthy to solve who really killed who, and to find his arch nemesis DeFranco in the process. As I said, this is a unique movie in so many ways, it employs the very tricks that were used to make the movie inside the movie. It's kind of funny when DeFranco's fake assassination goes down, and the squibs that are used are the same exact squibs used on the actress when she is murdered in front of Rollie, but of course the reality of the story is in a different place. It's interesting to see how self-referential the effects become throughout the course of the movie, how they are used in the movie, when really they are just special effects FOR the movie. John Stears claims similar situations have been asked of him before, but who really knows for sure if he's telling the truth or not. Either way, it makes for a great movie concept, and the film is populated with some decent acting, a great, fast paced story line, lots of cool effects, and I really like how the effects are deployed throughout the movie to serve the plot and Rollie's escape from the people that are after him. You won't see a movie like this made today, it's original and provacative, and the structure of the story is entirely different from most movies you'll see. McCarthy isn't introduced until the second half of the film, but it is naturalistic, it doesn't seem disjointed like you would expect from a movie that is in two distinct halves. The story of the effects artist, who he is, what he does, and how he gets involved in the conspiracy, and then the second half is the aftermath of what happens when these effects are put into play. A very interesting little movie, now I need to go watch the sequel again, I haven't seen it for a very long time. On the same token, you almost have to wonder if it was movies like this that took the mystique out of physical effects for mainstream audiences, but at the same time, very few mainstream filmgoers ever saw this movie, so I suppose it doesn't really matter. 8.5/10