The Lawnmower Man

Synopsis: A scientist performs experiments involving intelligence enhancing drugs and virtual reality on a simple-minded gardener. He puts the gardener on an extensive schedule of learning, and quickly he becomes brilliant. But at this point the gardener has a few ideas of his own on how the research should continue, and the scientist begins losing control of his experiments.
Genre: Horror, Sci-Fi
Director(s): Brett Leonard
Production: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
  3 nominations.
 
IMDB:
5.4
Metacritic:
42
Rotten Tomatoes:
35%
R
Year:
1992
108 min
736 Views


Timms,

they've got to understand.

My treatments

are making him smarter...

at an incredible rate.

It's more important

than training him for war.

You know our funding comes

from The Shop.

They want this animal trained

in virtual reality...

to use the infrared battle

helmet, not recite the ABCs.

I won't increase the dosage

of aggression drugs.

He's already been exhibiting

behavioral instability...

in the virtual battle

simulations.

What you're suggesting could

destroy his mind.

There is no choice, Larry.

They don't care about

his intelligence enhancement.

They want his primal

rage centers fully stimulated.

He is to be battlefield ready.

F***ing screw

the political a**holes.

He's the best chimp

I've ever had.

Battlefield simulation engaged.

Primate response optimum.

Threat.

Kill complete.

Let's go check out sector 10.

OK, level two.

Threat.

Targeting.

Acquire.

Acquire.

Acquire.

Attack.

Kill complete.

Evasive.

Security breach

inside Sector 14, Level 5.

14, Level 5.

Threat.

Evasive.

Threat.

Clear.

Check the upper building.

Go! Go!

Get over there.

Get over there on the double.

Evasive.

Non-threat.

Exit clear.

We have no visual indication...

that any incoming artillery

have arrived...

or, indeed, are on the way.

We can report the air raid

sirens are going off.

The military has been silent,

though a couple of hours ago...

we heard a huge noise...

and it was confirmed

that four KC-1...

KC-135 supertankers

had left the area.

These are the planes

that refuel...

other fighter planes

and bombers...

American bomber planes

over the area...

so they're in the air.

I'm trying to sleep, Larry.

I had a bad nightmare.

Really bad.

God, I hate it

when you smoke in bed.

Oh, Jesus.

What did you do that for?

What the f***

is wrong with you?

Larry, what are you doing?

Answer the phone.

Yeah? Hello?

Larry, it's Timms.

Your chimp's dead.

It tried to escape.

When?

It wasn't a robot

we were building, Timms.

It was a living organism.

As the project supervisor and

the government liaison...

it was my responsibility...

to use the strongest

measures available.

Listen, I've warned you

about the aggression factors.

He just ran the program

we embedded.

Five years

of research down the drain.

We'll get you another chimp.

That chimp was the key to moving

on to a human subject.

Come in.

We'll talk about it.

I've had it.

I want to make something better

than a military weapon.

I'll just find funding in

the private sector, that's all.

You're not thinking

straight, Larry.

You signed ironclad

nondisclosures.

VSI owns it all.

Besides, it might not

be the healthiest thing to try.

You're talking about The Shop?

The puppet masters who pull

all the strings?

What, they own me?

They'll rub me out...

The Shop... if I don't comply?

You're being paranoid.

Your intelligence enhancement

work was brilliant.

No one's saying stop.

I am.

Larry, relax.

I know you're upset because

of what happened with the chimp.

Relax? They want

to suppress my work!

The potentials for

human advancement are endless!

Virtual reality holds a key

to the evolution of the mind...

and that's my focus.

This is something...

and we haven't

had something for a while.

There will be time

for all this, Larry.

You just have to play the game

a little longer.

That is how everything

finally gets done in this world.

Why don't you take a hiatus and

we'll restructure around here?

You can use the rest.

Take a hiatus.

Another hot one.

It's going to be a killer.

It's a long way up here.

Jobe!

Jobe, lad!

Ah, Jobe!

I feel like you

live in the top of a tree.

Come on, boy. Let's go.

Grass is waiting for you.

Oh, no.

Did me brother have you

doing penance all night again?

What did you do?

Nothing.

OK, well...

It's OK, Jobe boy.

It's OK. It's me, Terry.

Come on. Here.

Go get a shirt on,

then we'll go, OK?

What have we got here?

Well...

Oh, no.

Oh, my God,

would you look at this?

You finished Big Red.

Yeah.

Aye, you're magic

with a machine, boy.

Look at this.

Could we try it...

try it today, Terry?

I don't see why not.

Go fill up the gas can, Jobe.

Get me a candy bar.

Hey, Pop, could you

move that sh*t before Christmas?

Fill her up.

Hey, Jake, that's dangerous.

You forget who

you're talking to, half-wit?

That's dangerous.

Jobe, boy, go ahead

and finish what you're doing.

He's smoking, Terry.

That's right. I'm smoking.

Why don't you shut the f*** up

and fill your gas tank?

Jake, he don't mean no harm.

One of these f***ing...

Jake, how's your old man doing?

Worse than ever!

Angelo is

like all brilliant types...

erratic.

But we tolerate them at The Shop

as long as they perform...

and Angelo

has certainly done that.

Project Five is very impressive.

Mr. Director, without Angelo,

there is no Project Five.

Well, he'll be back...

one way...

or another.

Falling.

Rapid descent.

Flying.

God damn it, Caroline.

Never unplug a program

when I'm engaged.

You just

ruined the whole effect.

Falling, floating, and flying?

So, what's next, f***ing?

What are you pissed off about?

You said you were

going to take me to the city...

but as usual you're hooked up

into that machine.

Well, why didn't you remind me?

I did.

Oh, babe, I'm sorry.

Oh, Caroline.

I'm sorry.

This is not a good time

for me right now.

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Brett Leonard

Brett Leonard (born May 14, 1959) is an American film director, producer and music video director specializing in the science fiction and horror genres. A few of his films such as The Lawnmower Man (1992) and Virtuosity (1995) feature groundbreaking computer animation and visual effects. The Lawnmower Man is considered the first, seminal film to feature "virtual reality" as a cautionary tale becoming the number one commercially successful independent film of 1992, budgeted at just under $6 million and eventually earning over $150 million worldwide.Virtuosity became the first major film to feature nanotechnology set in a cyberpunk-based future with Brett Leonard casting Russell Crowe and Denzel Washington together, a full 12 years before they would again co-star in American Gangster. more…

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Submitted on August 05, 2018

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