The FuryPush people too far and they're bound to lash out. The Fury is a supernatural thriller about two teenagers who don't know each other, but are connected by their extrasensory perception and psychic powers. One is Gillian Bellaver (Amy Irving), a high school girl who has grown troubled due to a side effect of her powers, which causes people to violently bleed when she touches them. The other is Robin Sandza (Andrew Stevens), a telekinetic prodigy and veritable prisoner of the devious Ben Childress (John Cassavetes), who is trying to weaponize Robin's abilities. What Robin doesn't know is that his father, Peter Sandza (Kirk Douglas), survived Ben's assassination attempt, and is trying to save his son by any means necessary.
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Adapted by director Brian De Palma from the novel of the same name by John Farris, The Fury resembles a spiritual successor to De Palma's Carrie; both films feature tortured, psychoactive teens in a crisis, struggling to control their powers. Like in Carrie, Gillian is tormented by some of her classmates, following a display of her "alpha waves" powering--and then overpowering--a model train. Much of The Fury follows Peter hunting for Robin while evading Ben's brute squad, who are working for a secret branch of the government that they were both a part of until Ben's betrayal. Ben Childress considers it an imperative to weaponize psychics; he talks about how Russia and China "don't have one", referring to Robin and his gifts. But Ben is no father figure to Robin, using his pawns to manipulate Robin and break his mind, destabilizing his emotions under the auspices of bolstering his powers. (Plus, he tried to kill his dad, and has perpetuated this fiction.) The result of this "anti-parenting" is that Robin has become an emotional wreck, and a spoiled psychopath--far different from the smiling and happy Robin we first see racing with his dad on the beach. Gillian has psychic visions that reveal how Childress was able to unhinge Robin's mind, as though he were crying out for help, and she tells Peter when they finally meet that it was like he was "showing her pictures". Gillian's heightened powers of perception suggest that she is tapped into another plane of awareness; Dr. James McKeever (Charles Durning), the head of the Paragon Institute for children like Robin and Gillian, points out that she is in touch with a kind of "bio-plasmic universe", defying conventional science. Robin and Gillian's powers are often depicted in vivid ways, with striking cinematic effects, from matte shots to rapid cutaways. This abstract display heightens the uncanny tension and represent a breakdown of reality. A similar stylistic approach would later be found in David Cronenberg's nightmarish psychic horror film, Scanners, and share other elements, including an explosive finale.
The Fury shares more in common with political thrillers than science fiction films. A significant percentage of it is devoted to Peter's search for Robin and his complex, clandestine way of rooting out clues. He is involved with a researcher at Paragon named Hester (Carrie Snodgress); while he feels something for her, it is evident that he seduced her to be his "confederate" on the inside--a spy. The Fury is a spy movie, where Robin is the sought after "MacGuffin", as is Gillian to an extent. Peter plays sophisticated games of cat and mouse with his rival and nemesis, including baiting his pursuers to follow him into a fog-ridden construction zone after he hijacked a car with two cops inside. He disguises himself as an old man with a paunch and uses shoe shine to artificially whiten his hair; Ben is no slouch in the cloak and dagger game though, and lays traps to penetrate his disguise. Ben Childress is the quintessentially slimy villain--his prior role as the untrustworthy husband in Rosemary's Baby reinforces this. His "dead arm" kept in a perpetual sling with the constant black leather glove on it gives him a sinister mien, like a Bond villain. Many locations in The Fury are upscale locales; Gillian goes to a private girls school and lives in very nice apartment complex with a doorman. The Paragon Institute is set in a spacious town house, even if it is under constant surveillance. Even Childress' "fortress" in the country is in a secluded mansion, patrolled by armed guards. This suggests that the opulence is itself a "prison", and privileged people like Gillian and Robin are trapped within its walls, despite the comforts it offers. Childress creates environments designed to reduce resistance by offering desirable things--like food and love--but it is all a mask for his actual mission to commandeer these powers for his own benefit.
The tight and rich musical score by John Williams recalls tense moments from his earlier work on Star Wars, and also presages his later work on films like E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial. Amy Irving's performance as Gillian recalls Sissy Spacek's own depiction of a disturbed teenager with psychic powers from Carrie, although Gillian is more anxious and defensive and less anti-social, cognizant of the pain she elicits by touching someone. (This torment of physical contact brought on by mysterious powers are similar to the popular character from the "X-Men" series of comic books, Rogue.) Her time at Paragon is pleasant enough at first--too good to be true, in fact. De Palma keeps the tone light and convincing here, enticing the audience to believe that there is no reason for Gillian to distrust anyone there or suspect ulterior motives. After Gillian experiences a traumatic memory from when Robin was there, the secrets of Paragon begin to come out, shattering her already tenuous trust, a feeling of betrayal compounded by Gillian's own unease about her abilities. Gillian and Peter finally unite after a tragic slow motion escape from Paragon that plays more like a ballet of bloodshed. It is surprising that Gillian is willing to trust Peter at all, but she knows that she must meet Robin in order to resolve the constant visions from him. Peter is a highly trained spy, and he has used deception and the threat of violence to expedite his mission in the past. But when the two of them share a bus ride together, there is a convincing amount of sympathy shared between them, representing the convergence of their mutual interests.
Recommended for: Fans of a cagey supernatural thriller where young people like Gillian and Robin are made into unwitting pawns in a bigger government conspiracy. The Fury features many scenes of heightened psychic and psychological tension depicted in creative and stylistic ways, emphasizing the mystery of this strange phenomena.
The Fury shares more in common with political thrillers than science fiction films. A significant percentage of it is devoted to Peter's search for Robin and his complex, clandestine way of rooting out clues. He is involved with a researcher at Paragon named Hester (Carrie Snodgress); while he feels something for her, it is evident that he seduced her to be his "confederate" on the inside--a spy. The Fury is a spy movie, where Robin is the sought after "MacGuffin", as is Gillian to an extent. Peter plays sophisticated games of cat and mouse with his rival and nemesis, including baiting his pursuers to follow him into a fog-ridden construction zone after he hijacked a car with two cops inside. He disguises himself as an old man with a paunch and uses shoe shine to artificially whiten his hair; Ben is no slouch in the cloak and dagger game though, and lays traps to penetrate his disguise. Ben Childress is the quintessentially slimy villain--his prior role as the untrustworthy husband in Rosemary's Baby reinforces this. His "dead arm" kept in a perpetual sling with the constant black leather glove on it gives him a sinister mien, like a Bond villain. Many locations in The Fury are upscale locales; Gillian goes to a private girls school and lives in very nice apartment complex with a doorman. The Paragon Institute is set in a spacious town house, even if it is under constant surveillance. Even Childress' "fortress" in the country is in a secluded mansion, patrolled by armed guards. This suggests that the opulence is itself a "prison", and privileged people like Gillian and Robin are trapped within its walls, despite the comforts it offers. Childress creates environments designed to reduce resistance by offering desirable things--like food and love--but it is all a mask for his actual mission to commandeer these powers for his own benefit.
The tight and rich musical score by John Williams recalls tense moments from his earlier work on Star Wars, and also presages his later work on films like E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial. Amy Irving's performance as Gillian recalls Sissy Spacek's own depiction of a disturbed teenager with psychic powers from Carrie, although Gillian is more anxious and defensive and less anti-social, cognizant of the pain she elicits by touching someone. (This torment of physical contact brought on by mysterious powers are similar to the popular character from the "X-Men" series of comic books, Rogue.) Her time at Paragon is pleasant enough at first--too good to be true, in fact. De Palma keeps the tone light and convincing here, enticing the audience to believe that there is no reason for Gillian to distrust anyone there or suspect ulterior motives. After Gillian experiences a traumatic memory from when Robin was there, the secrets of Paragon begin to come out, shattering her already tenuous trust, a feeling of betrayal compounded by Gillian's own unease about her abilities. Gillian and Peter finally unite after a tragic slow motion escape from Paragon that plays more like a ballet of bloodshed. It is surprising that Gillian is willing to trust Peter at all, but she knows that she must meet Robin in order to resolve the constant visions from him. Peter is a highly trained spy, and he has used deception and the threat of violence to expedite his mission in the past. But when the two of them share a bus ride together, there is a convincing amount of sympathy shared between them, representing the convergence of their mutual interests.
Recommended for: Fans of a cagey supernatural thriller where young people like Gillian and Robin are made into unwitting pawns in a bigger government conspiracy. The Fury features many scenes of heightened psychic and psychological tension depicted in creative and stylistic ways, emphasizing the mystery of this strange phenomena.