The top-secret test of a sub-miniaturization process goes wildly awry in this comic adventure when industrial spies steal the technology and the daring pilot (Dennis Quaid) of the world's first molecular-sized craft is accidentally injected into the bloodstream of a hypochondriac grocery store clerk (Martin Short). Now with only a 24-hour supply of oxygen, an atom-sized test pilot must convince the nerd in whose body he is trapped how to be a hero in order to recover the stolen technology, convince the pilot's girlfriend (Meg Ryan) that he loves her ... and save both men from a grisly death.
Have you ever seen a movie when you were a kid--maybe even many times--and then rewatched it later as a teen or adult and thought, "Whoa! I don't remember that?!" This has seemed to be a common occurrence for me over the years. One such film was 1987's Innerspace. I was probably 7 or 8 when I first watched the movie and I loved the story of a cocky pilot named Tuck (played by Dennis Quaid) being miniaturized to the size of a human cell and accidentally injected into the body of a neurotic bystander named Jack (played by comedian Martin Short). The effects in the film were pretty believable too--for its day--as many scenes took place with Tuck inside his tiny pod navigating the blood vessels and organs of Jack. Looking back, it's a pretty rough movie for kids, but it's still kind of fun to revisit almost 30 years later.
Innerspace is making its high definition blu-ray debut this month (hence this review) and Warner Bros. has done a pretty good job cleaning up the original film and making it high definition. The movie is still a bit limited by the time period it was made in, so it's definitely not the sharpest transfer you'll see, but for fans of the movie, it's the best presentation you can possibly see it in.
Innerspace offers a pretty stellar cast in uniting Meg Ryan, Dennis Quaid and Martin Short as the main characters, along with some recognizable faces along the way. Jerry Goldsmith's score is pretty good at times, but the 80s origin offers some bizarre and embarrassingly dated synth effects. I was, however, pretty impressed at how good most of the inner body sequences look even today. Tuck's pod is a pretty cool design, and Quaid is a lot of fun in the role. The story even makes room for some relationship drama between Tuck and Meg Ryan's Lydia, which isn't really needed for this kind of story, but it makes it a bit more well-rounded, and it allows room for Jack to fall for Lydia and think he might actually have a chance to be with her. Short also actually has quite a bit of character development from start to finish, finding some courage along the way that brings about some significant changes in his life.
Unfortunately, the tone of Innerspace is a bit too uneven. It's a comedy, sure, and it does strike a decent balance between the serious and the silly, but things fall apart a bit near the end. The film's best moments involve Tuck and Jack, and Jack and Lydia, so when things start to unravel during the film's climax and some of the bad guys get miniaturized only 50%, it's more corny than it is funny, and the more menacing villains just become silly. Also, if you're not a huge fan of 80s films and the whole 80s vibe, Innerspace is about as 80s as it gets for this kind of action/adventure. It has the look and feel of an episode of MacGyver or maybe A-Team, and I know that's certainly not everyone's cup of tea.
Also, the movie was released at a time when it seems like the MPAA was still trying to figure out the ratings system. It's rated PG, but it would be PG-13 if rated by today's standards. Among the content, there's a good deal of language (mostly the "S" word and "h*ll"), the scenes inside of the body are pretty realistic (and therefore may make some viewers uneasy), a scene where bad guys raid a lab shows them gassing and knocking out everyone in the lab (up until this viewing, I'd always assumed they were getting killed, but they seem to all show up again at the end?), a man is shot and we watch him die, a man's bare butt is seen as he stands naked in the street, a bad guy falls into stomach acid and we see his skeleton with bits of flesh on it, and some other action violence. It's definitely not a movie for the whole family.
While Innerspace holds some special nostalgia for me in my movie-watching history, it doesn't hold up as well as some other movies from the decade (like Back To The Future, Star Wars, Indiana Jones and Ghostbusters). If you're fans of anyone in the main cast, I would recommend checking it out, but otherwise, Innerspace is just a fun, albeit very dated, inner-body experience.
- John DiBiase (reviewed: 8/2/15)
As far as special features go, there isn't much here. We have a theatrical trailer and an optional feature-length audio commentary to listen to while watching the movie. The commentary is from the original DVD release, probably around 10 years or so ago, and features Director Joe Dante, Producer Michael Finnell, co-stars Kevin McCarthy and Robert Picardo, and Visual Effects Supervisor Dennis Muren. This is definitely a nice bonus for fans of the movie (and offers insights into how they did some of the great special effects).
- John DiBiase, (reviewed: 8/2/15)
Disclaimer: All reviews are based solely on the opinions of the reviewer. Most reviews are rated on how the reviewer enjoyed the film overall, not exclusively on content. However, if the content really affects the reviewer's opinion and experience of the film, it will definitely affect the reviewer's overall rating.
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