What the hell was I thinking? I knew I wasn't going to like the movie Scanners. I just knew it. But somehow, I got convinced that I kind of needed to see it anyway.If somehow you don't know this movie, it's David Cronenberg's famous 1981 bit of cult pulp, about a world where individuals with telekinetic powers are employed as weapons.
Well, really, it's the movie that's known for this:
And that's damn near the only thing worthwhile about this movie. The other thing would be actor Michael Ironside. As the 1980s rolled on, he would become very well known for playing over-the-top villains in more schlocky films (mostly sci-fi) than I can count, somehow bringing believability to the patently absurd. And it basically started here.
The script is stupid beyond imagination. The lead actor is robotic. The camera work is arch and obtrusive. The special effects -- aside from that somehow-it-still-kind-of-holds-up head exploding sequence -- are laughably bad. But somehow, Michael Ironside is watchable. As always, he makes evil fun.
But you don't have to sit through this awful mess to watch him do his thing. And if you watched the video above, you've seen the only 10 seconds of the film that stands on its own without his help. Scanners gets a D- from me.
I just knew I wasn't going to like it.
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