The Fly

David Cronenberg's The Fly is the rarest of all movies: an extraordinarily successful cross-breeding of several genres. It is an intriguing science-fiction story, a solid and believable romance, a meditation on disease and mortality, and a superb monster movie with startlingly gruesome makeup and visual effects.

Seth Brundle (Jeff Goldblum) has developed a revolutionary invention - a teleportation machine. He shows it to young reporter Veronica Quaife (Geena Davies), whom Stathis Borans (a wonderful John Getz) sent for a hot story for Particle Magazine. The film details Brundle's search to perfect his machine - it teleports organic flesh messily - and eventually repair his own body after an accidental gene-mutation with a fly.

The stars have rarely been better. Jeff Goldblum, as the eccentric scientist with unknown drives and appetites - eventually coming out of his shield of unending work - is especially fine. The romance is even better, the casual flirtations leading into full-blown physicality and sexual attraction. It is this thread that drives the film, even when Brundle's body and mind begins to break down. Goldblum's performance holds deep dramatic power, as this tortured, loquacious, confused being emerges into something unbending, cruel and eventually vile.

The Fly is relatively short at 90 minutes. Cronenberg has the sense to wrap the film up before it goes beyond tolerance and never devolves into a mere freakshow - the opposite of the happy ending and the falsely mean-spirited sequel. It also works well as an allegory of hopelessness - the idea that whenever Brundle tries to resolve the crisis within his own body, there's a greater chance of making it worse - showcased by the horrific and brilliant finale.

Its terseness is a great feature. It always keeps strong dramatic cohesion. The Fly's plot avoids purposeful false mystery, yet keeps the viewer gripped with a continuous drip feed of "what happens next" in its curious operatic storytelling. Howard Shore's bold, brilliant and unrelenting score bolsters the story onward. The editing is wonderful and there is no scene, if removed, that would help the film's pacing.

The Fly is a transcendent film and a "wonderful gene-splicer", stripping the genes from archetypical genres and transfusing them into something new, uncompromising, terrifying and original. Cronenberg had been doing this for years, but The Fly broke new ground with his audience, and it's easy to see why.