101 Films

A simple man is turned into a genius through the application of computer science in this three-disc Blu-ray collection of the 1990s cyberspace thrillers, originally marketed as being based on Stephen King’s short story.

Brett Leonard’s The Lawnmower Man (1992) and Farhad Mann’s sequel Lawnmower Man 2: Beyond Cyberspace (1996) arrive in a Blu-ray package, the latter getting its UK HD premiere.

The first movie follows Pierce Brosnan as Doctor Angelo, who experiments on intellectually stunted Jobe Smith (Jeff Fahey), thus creating a monster. It was already a hoary old tale with a contemporary spin on its initial release, the main selling point being around 10 minutes of primitive CG animation set in cyberspace. At 108 minutes it’s already a good 20 minutes too long, but now you enjoy an even longer experience – the 2-hour 20-minute director’s cut.

The sequel, written and directed by Farhad Mann stars Max Headroom’s Matt Frewer as Jobe, with Patrick Bergin playing the mad doctor – Brosnan was otherwise engaged on GoldenEye. On every level, from production values through to story, it’s a poor experience, the 93-minute disc having no extras whatsoever.

The release includes a booklet of new writing on the first film, two audio commentaries, deleted scenes and trailer.

Verdict: One for lovers of primitive VR sci-fi, the first movie has a certain charm, but the sequel is redundant. 5/10

Nick Joy