The Fury Blu-ray Review
For Plymouth Fury, please see 'Christine'.
Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman, March 19, 2013
John Farris is a name I hadn't thought of since my adolescence, but seeing it again in the credits of
The Fury
suddenly brought back
a
flood of memories. When I was probably 10 or 11 or so, a sixth grade classmate of mine, a girl in whom I had more
than a passing interest,
handed me a decrepit old copy of
Good Housekeeping or maybe
McCall's, a so-called "women's
magazine" that would never
have caught even my slightest interest were it not for the fact that this girl pointed to the cover
advertising a "complete suspense novel" called
When Michael Calls and told me I
had to read it. I
started skimming and then
found myself completely hooked
by a creepy mystery tale. I voraciously read through the magazine, which probably didn't include the complete novel,
but which had enough
of it to completely
capture my rapt attention in its story of a supposedly long dead little boy who begins calling his favorite Aunt (it has a
certain parallel in a
way
to the recent French thriller
Tell No One
, which includes
a
somewhat similar setup between a supposedly long dead wife and her husband). Later, I found a used paperback
copy of the actual book
and
reread it, and matriculated outward from that book to read several other Farris thrillers, none of which really had the
visceral impact (for me,
anyway) that
When Michael Calls did. (The novel was adapted into an early
Movie of the Week starring
Elizabeth Ashley and
a
then quite young Michael Douglas.) For whatever reason, I never got to
The Fury, arguably one of Farris' better
known works, and
the
only one which he himself adapted for the screen.
The Fury was an apt follow up for Brian De Palma after his
success with
Carrie, and in fact
The Fury might be
thought of as
Carrie
2.0, with that 2.0 signifying both a new iteration as well as two specially powered kids instead of only one.
The Fury slightly twists
Carrie's premise, not just with regard to dealing with two paranormally
"enhanced"
kids, but also with regard to the relationship between these kids and their parents. We're introduced first to Peter
Sandza (Kirk Douglas) and his son Robin (Andrew Stevens) as they frolic on a Middle East beach. Also in attendance is
shadowy figure Ben Childress (John Cassavetes) who has both some kind of professional governmental relationship
with
Peter but who also has an overweening interest in Robin, a boy whose "special talents" are hinted at in the film's
opening
scene. An ostensible sudden terrorist attack separates Peter from Robin, and in the ensuing mayhem, Robin believes
Peter has been killed. Ben makes sure Robin is spirited away but Peter, who in fact has
not been killed, sneaks
back to the attack site and sees that Ben had arranged the carnage himself in order to kidnap Robin. Peter manages to
fire a machine gun at Ben, severely wounding his erstwhile friend.
That sets Peter off on a quest to locate his son, a plot that plays out parallel to that of the
other "talented" kid
in the film, Gillian Bellaver (Amy Irving), a young girl who is both psychic and able to spontaneously make people who
touch her bleed (shades of pig blood in
Carrie). The film kind of inartfully ping pongs back and forth between
these two unfolding arcs. Peter is desperate to find Robin, but finds himself shadowed at every turn by Childress'
henchmen. In fact one of the most interesting things about
The Fury as seen circa 2013 is not just in its
portrayal of supposed terrorism in the first scene, but with its whole subplot of a conspiratorial shadowy governmental
agency that is able to monitor citizens' activities without the slightest problem (shades of The Patriot Act). De Palma is
not especially subtle with regard to this governmental omniscience, framing several shots from above, a supposed
"God's eye" point of view that lets the audience know, albeit perhaps subliminally, that the characters are being
watched.
The two arcs of course intersect, courtesy of supporting character Hester (Carrie Snodgress), a worker at the high-
falutin' Paragon Institute that studies paranormal phenomena and who just so happens to be Peter's surreptitious
girlfriend. When Gillian freaks out at school one day after she displays several "special talents" (keep your eyes peeled
for a very young Daryl Hannah seated at the lunch table with Gillian), Gillian's uptight mother relents and lets the girl
spend time at the Paragon Institute where hopefully the good doctors there can figure out exactly what's going on with
the girl. At least initially unbeknownst to Gillian, Paragon is aligned with Childress, and Robin once passed through the
same hallowed halls in which Gillian now finds herself.
The Fury is downright silly a lot of the time, but it's also kind of fun if you come to it with suitable (perhaps low)
expectations. The film oddly shifts tone, especially in the early going, when Peter's initial attempts to escape from
Childress' over watchful eye is played largely for laughs (that's a young Dennis Franz as one of two cops whom Peter
takes hostage). That sits rather uneasily with some of the more melodramatic plot elements, best exemplified by
Cassavetes' over the top performance as Evil Incarnate (think of his
Rosemary's Baby character Guy Woodhouse amplified).
The best thing about
The Fury is arguably Amy Irving, who displays a nice balance of vulnerability and resolve,
especially as Gillian becomes more aware of exactly what's going on and what she's gotten herself into. The film
devolves into something akin to paranormal Grand Guignol at the climax, with a slew of deaths in rapid succession and
a literally explosive finale.
The Fury Blu-ray, Overall Score and Recommendation
The Fury never quite rises to the disturbing heights of
Carrie, but on its own smaller scale merits, it's a fun
and exciting film. De Palma has always been a divisive director in a way—some people applaud his efforts vigorously, while
others accuse him of being a rip off artist who at best manages filmic
pastiches instead of anything remotely
original. While that accusation often has to do with De Palma's perceived aping of Alfred Hitchcock, in
The Fury De
Palma at best can only be accused of ripping
himself off with a film that is obviously meant to remind viewers of
Carrie, at least in substance if not in tone. The film is filled with some good performances, chief among them Irving.
This Blu-ray offers very good if not spectacular video and excellent audio, and for those who enjoy some undemanding fare,
comes
Recommended.
