Movie 118: Real Genius

A 15 year old prodigy is admitted to college due to his aptitude with lasers. There he is taken under the wing of the previous “stud”, who was 12 when he entered, who tried to get him to relax more or he’ll go nuts. Like the other previous stud who lives in the steam tunnels under the college. Little do they know that they’re professor is using them to build a weapon.

This is an 80’s film. A very 80’s film. There was a glut of these movies back then. Not necessarily teenage geniuses, but the whole feel of the thing. And I love em.

I wouldn’t go as far as saying I LOVED this, but it was pretty damned good. It does have a slightly big failing which is an over reliance on the montage. There are 3 big montage sequences in this movie, possibly more but definitely 3. That’s 2 more than most. Yes, even Rocky had a montage but not every 20 minutes.

Not that I have a problem with them, it just cuts down on actual character time.

The characters themselves are great, which is why a slightly longer running time would have been fine. The young kid isn’t all that impressive, but the leads rarely are in ensemble comedy. His love interest, the hyperkinetic engineer who never sleeps, works very well in her small doses but seems to calm a bit towards the end. And of course the stand out is this kid called Val Kilmer. It’s a weird name, but if he plays more wacky characters like the one in this he could go really far.

All joking aside, this is Kilmer on his game playing the type of role he’s damned good at. The last film I saw him in, Heat, basically had him looking cool and saying nothing which DOESN’T work as well. He’s a wise ass dammit.

This being an 80’s film, and a college one at that, it has the rival dick student. For once he’s another nerd, though a relatively incompetent one, who sucks up to the dick teacher. Or should I say dickless. Yes, poor William Atherton is playing that role he plays in pretty much every 80’s film he’s in. I assume the guy is just a jerk. But your looking at a slightly less asshole version of his character from Ghost Busters, the Die Hards and I’m assuming Bio-Dome though I can’t remember him in that as I’ve repressed the memory.

This is a bit of a Sunday afternoon watch. It’s no Revenge of the Nerds, but its also no Revenge of the Nerds 4: Nerds In Love. Worth a look! Assuming Wargames isn’t on.

Next up: Twelve Monkeys

Further Reading: http://iheartthetalkies.wordpress.com/ reviews the latest releases. And I don’t, well maybe occasionally. So go read her blog.