Such a frustrating disappointment

Excellent, Without a doubt!!

Entertaining from beginning to end, it maintains the spirit of the franchise while establishing it's own seal with a fun cast

This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

Enough gadgetry to fill a Bond film and enough bodies to fill the city morgue! Also, some wit. But sophisticated it ain't. Succeeds because of Brown's charm (that accent!) and Dennehy's performance.

F/X was one of my favorite thriller of the 80's, a genuinely fun action film that takes itself just seriously enough to make its story credible but at the same time remains blissfully free of the delusions of grandeur that have led to so many overproduced, ultimately empty headed and painfully dull "thrillers" over the past couple of years. In short, F/X is the type of unpretentious, engaging film that could never be made by a Michael Bay or most of the other directors produced out of the Jerry Bruckhiemer.The film's main strength comes from the cast who all seem to be having a good time on screen and bring a surprising sense of conviction to roles that could easily have been played as B-movie stereotypes. Bryan Brown is one of those charismatic, obviously talented leading men who rarely gives a bad performance yet for whatever reason (though making movies like "Cocktail" probably didn't help) has never become a bona fide star. Playing the lead in this film, he proves that he did have the talent and the charisma to be a leading man and indeed, his low-key but likable lead performance is responsible for a great deal of F/X's strength. As the gruff police detective who becomes Brown's ally, Brian Dennehey is well, he's Brian Dennehey and, as always, that's more than good enough. That said, he also brings a welcome sense of humor to the proceedings and he proves once again that nobody in the 80's delivered profanity as wittily and skillfully as Brian Dennehey. The rest of the cast is full of character actors who all turn in nicely quirky performances with the standouts being Diane Venora who is sweet as Brown's girlfriend (whose ultimate fate if predictable is also well handled and rather sad), Cliff De Young who gives perhaps his best variation on his standard Yuppie henchman role in this film, Joe Grifasi as Dennehey's put upon partner, Mason Adams who perfectly captures the essence of everyone's kindly but kinda strange uncle, and the great Jerry Orbach who, playing a mobster with an all-important pace maker, overacts as if the world depending on it but is still a lot of fun to watch because, after all, he's Jerry Orbach. Still, there a some very clever things in here and the movie provides good suspense and excellent twists. You never know what to expect. The film was popular enough to spawn a sequel.Overall rating: 8 out of 10.

Bryan Brown and Brian Dennehy star in F/X , which turned out to be a fine, inventively sophisticated on-the-run thriller with some outstanding make-up FX work, rock solid performances and compelling writing in which a highly regarded special effects artist Rollie Tyler is hired by the justice department to stage an assassination of an important underworld figure. Unknowingly to him, the department is trying to destroy any evidence of the scheme and another loose end includes him. Double-crossed, he goes in hiding and soon he's being pinned for the murder. So he reverts to his bag of tricks to uncover the truth.The gimmicky props amuse, but the elaborate story (while at times too convenient in its developments) keeps a good pace and stays on the move. The mysterious build-up does peter out into standard on-the-run mechanisms. Brown is suitably good in the role as Tyler and Dennehy is perfectly pitched as the grizzled cop on the case. The support cast has the likes of Cliff DeYoung, Diana Venora, Mason Adams, Jerry Orbach and Tom Noonan. Robert Mandel's direction is well-oiled, but quite formulaic with its old fashion suspense and cat-and-mouse thrills, as it seems like life goes onto imitate art. Bill Conti' scores the enchantingly characteristic music to good effect. "F/X " is showy and implausible, but conventionally exciting.

Bryan Brown and Brian Dennehey star in this tale of an FX man hired to fake the death of a mob boss. But when the 'hit' is carried out was it really a fake? Our hero is left to find out using his FX skills to investigate.I hadn't seen this movie for a number of years but caught it on TV a few nights ago and the first thing that struck me was how dark and serious this movie is in places. I won't spoil it but there are some surprisingly violent scenes and there are a couple of fatalities you just don't expect. Its a gripping movie and the suspense keeps up through out Bryan Brown makes an engaging and down to earth hero the FX tricks are pretty cool if a little silly at times. Brian Denehhey is as ever reliable in the supporting role whats surprising is that I didn't realise how little time Brown and Denehhey appear together on screen in this film.The main cast returned for a sequel which was entertaining but not as good as the first.Definitely worth a watch 7.5/10