Fantasy, Superhero, and Sci Fi Films: The End of the 80’s (1987-1989)!

The 80’s is wrapping up with more genre films. We are now at 1987 with the first film in June, Predator, the film is reputedly based on the joke that Rocky ran out of Earthly opponents, the Predator design by Stan Winston is brilliant, especially the crab-like mandibles, a suggestion from James Cameron. The film has Arnold Schwarzenegger continuing his Commando action leading a team against the Predator hunting in the jungles of Central America. It led to sequels, Aliens vs. Predator films, including a new film, The Predator, out on September 14th. The violence continued the following month with Robocop, the first American film from Paul Verhoeven, who brings a brutality to his movies. I can see the parody of American life and violence from the UK comics character, Judge Dredd. Peter Weller plays the cop, Alex Murphy, who dies on the streets of futuristic Detroit to be revived as the cybernetic Robocop. There were two sequels, a television series in 1994, and a reboot in 2014.

The same month brought us the sci fi comedy from Joe Dante, Innerspace, which takes the effects from Fantastic Voyage (one of its inspirations for the story) to the next level. The story is played straight, but the events and Martin Short as average guy with miniaturized pod inside him, is funny. The visuals by ILM, won the Academy Award for effects that year, are beautiful and bring wonder of our bodies at a microscopic level. The film is a breath of fresh air compared to the increasingly violent sci fi movies.  We also had the last Christopher Reeve Superman in Superman IV: The Quest for Peace, it did bring the original cast, but the series had lapsed into silliness with the Nuclear Man.  August, we had Masters of the Universe based on the toy turned cartoon, with Dolph Lundgren as He-Man. It is definitely b-movie effects and sets, the film has the blend of sci fi and fantasy from the toyline trying to compete with Star Wars toys, underneath it all is a story ripped off from comics creator Jack Kirby’s New Gods (acknowledged by the director), which is currently planned as a movie directed by Ava Duvernay. There has been a new Masters of the Universe film in development hell for years.

In September, we had the release of The Princess Bride from director Rob Reiner, his second film. This is unquestionably my favorite fantasy film. Based on the novel by William Goldman who also wrote the script, each form, book and film, tell a wonderful story. The film adds the narrative opening of the Grandson (Fred Savage) told the story by his grandfather, a typical fairy tale device. We have all of the classic fairy tale characters, farm boy Westley (Cary Elwes) and princess (Robin Wright), but adding to the duo is swordsman Inigo Montoya (Mandy Patinkin), and giant Fezzik (Andre the Giant, who almost steals this movie!), all with a modern, clever twist. The dialogue is so memorable. It is one of the most perfect movies though it was only nommed for best song and lost. The year wrapped up with Running Man, based on the novel by Stephen King, it has an apocalyptic future again with Arnold Schwarzenegger struggling to survive this time in a televised gladiator game.

1988 had a few films, but most were cheap horror movies and sci fi comedies. In July, we had Ron Howard’s Willow which gave high fantasy tales the brush of modern effects. George Lucas conceived of the idea which had difficulty finding a studio because of previous fantasy films. It featured Warwick Davis as the hero, Willow, trying to be a wizard, and facing the armies and spells of the witch, Bavmorda (Jean Marsh) with the help of the swordsman Madmartigan (Val Kilmer). It is a fun movie, nommed for visual effects, but lost to Robert Zemeckis’ Who Framed Roger Rabbit? fusing traditional animation with effects. Also that month was Short Circuit 2, followed up by director Kenneth Johnson, there were new characters, but it sputtered into theaters. October, we had the brilliant Alien Nation from screenwriter Rockne S. O’Bannon who created many sci fi television shows like Farscape. The premise has detectives dealing with the Newcomer aliens so this deals with immigration with a sci fi twist. It was made into a television series from 1989 to 1990 then a series of tv movies with O’Bannon returning to write.

In November, we had John Carpenter returning to sci fi with They Live. It basically deals with wrestler Roddy Piper’s construction worker character discovering sunglasses. They enable him to see aliens in their true skull-faced appearance and their use of mass media to dupe humans. Clever in a b-movie way. Then, we had Cocoon: The Return with a new director, it was an unremarkable sequel. 1989, in March, we had Terry Gilliam bringing us his latest fantasy movie, The Adventures of Baron Munchausen. It is a lush, 18th century fantasy with a stage production telling tales of the baron while the city is under attack. Baron Munchausen (John Neville) travels to the moon, falls for the goddess Venus (Uma Thurman), and returns to save the day from the army with his group of super-powered friends. Up for four Oscars, art direction, costume, effects, and make-up, but lost. In June, we had Tim Burton’s Batman. This was an attempt to break the superhero away from the 60’s Batman tv show rooted in audience’s minds. It really is trapped in the glitz and dark films of the 80’s, but inched closer to putting superhero films on the map. The film was up for best art direction, but no win.

Also that month was Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, this time directed by William Shatner, he is trying to bring fun to the Enterprise crew, this had the addition of the never heard before brother of Spock, Sybok (Laurence Luckinbill). The only good part is Kirk saying, “I need my pain!” August, we had James Cameron in what is probably his best sci fi film, The Abyss. We have the tensions for war above the surface and below it is the working class crew of the Benthic Explorer, a SEAL team looking for warheads from a sunken submarine, and the emergence of the CG Non-terrestrial Intelligence, a cross between the Close Encounter aliens and a bioluminescent manta ray. I sense that the Avatar sequels may explore similar ground with the deep sea regions of Pandora. In October, we had The Punisher from New World Pictures with Dolph Lundgren, it had hints of the comic book, but just lapsed into a typical action movie. There were a number of attempts to bring Punisher to the screen with films and a current Netflix series. Finally, we have in November, Back to the Future Part II, it was noteworthy as a back to back sequel. The previous back to back films were Three Musketeers and Four Musketeers, one film divided into two, the producers Salkinds, attempted to do the same with the first two Superman films. It was brilliant slipping into the first movie and giving us a dark Potterville version of the town, twisted by the villain. The 80’s wraps up with the beginnings of blockbuster comic book movies, a few fantasy films, and the sputtering of violent sci fi flicks.

#Predator, #PrincessBride, #Willow, #BacktotheFuturePartII