|
The Geneva Convention, chamber music, Susan Sontag. Everything your society has
worked so hard to accomplish over the centuries, that's what we aspire to; we
want to be civilized.
The film takes place a few years after the original film in New York City,
where Randall Peltzer (protagonist Billy's father) had acquired Gizmo (voiced by
Howie Mandel). Gizmo is a
mysterious, cute, good-natured furry creature called a mogwai. In the
first film, Billy was informed of the "rules" regarding mogwai; namely that one
must keep mogwai away from any bright light and water, and must never feed them
after midnight.
Nevertheless, Gizmo was later exposed to water and therefore multiplied. When the new mogwai ate after
midnight, they morphed into dark green, reptilian-skinned, ferocious monsters having sharp
teeth and claws. These monsters, called gremlins, caused much destruction and mayhem in Billy's
small hometown of Kingston Falls. Gizmo's original owner Mr. Wing (Keye Luke) later took the mogwai
back after the gremlins had been eradicated.
Billy and his girlfriend Kate Beringer (Phoebe Cates) now live in New York, where they are
having difficulty adapting to the large and impersonal city. Both work for Clamp
Enterprises, which is based in a large, automated skyscraper in Manhattan: Billy in the design
department, Kate as a tour guide. The head of Clamp Enterprises, Daniel Clamp
(John
Glover), is a caricature of
tycoon Donald Trump and
media mogul Ted Turner.[1]
As part of the new development in the area, Gizmo's owner Mr. Wing is offered
money to sell his store to Clamp. Mr. Wing
refuses, but not long afterwards dies of old age. His store is then demolished,
whereupon Gizmo is captured and taken to a laboratory in the Clamp office building. The lead
scientist of this laboratory, Dr. Catheter (Christopher Lee), is a sinister mad scientist who threatens
to dissect Gizmo.
Billy eventually learns that Gizmo is in the building and rescues him. When
one of Billy's bosses takes Billy away to a restaurant, however, Gizmo is left
in the office and accidentally gets wet. The resulting mogwai, Mohawk (Stripe
from the first movie reincarnated), Daffy (the crazy one), George (the tough
one), and Lenny (the stupid one), soon eat after midnight and are transformed
into gremlins. They quickly start a fire by blowing up a microwave, triggering
the sprinkler system and causing them to multiply even further. The new gremlins
cannot leave the building because it is still daytime, given sunlight is lethal
to them. While confined to the building, the gremlins thoroughly invade the
structure, including a genetics laboratory, where they discover various chemical
mixtures (presumably created by Dr. Catheter) that cause them to transform into
various alterations of themselves. One gremlin consumes a hormone that makes him especially intelligent,
whereinafter he speaks with a refined voice (provided by actor Tony Randall); this "Brain
Gremlin" acquires a pair of spectacles from some undisclosed source to denote
his newfound intellect. Another gremlin is changed into animate electricity; after this one kills
Dr. Catheter, Billy captures him in the telephone system. Mohawk/Stripe drinks a
potion which enables him to change into a centauroid spider-Gremlin hybrid. Another gremlin sprouts batlike
wings and is later made immune to sunlight by the Brain Gremlin. This Bat
Gremlin then breaks out through the lab's wall and flies through the city. It
soon attacks the Futtermans, Billy's neighbours from Kingston Falls; Murray
Futterman pours cement on it, after which it lands on the church of Saint Eva
Marie (a play on Eva
Marie Saint) and becomes a gargoyle. Another gremlin becomes part-vegetable as a result of the formula
it drinks.
Here, the action of the film becomes abnormally chaotic. As the newly
transformed Gremlins continue to wreak havoc throughout the building, the Brain
Gremlin begins speaking amiably with children's host (and impromptu newscaster)
Grandpa Fred, stating in apparent contradiction to the facts that the Gremlins
desire to become "civilized". Meanwhile, and almost separately from the general
impression of mayhem, Kate and Billy's boss Marla are trapped in
Mohawk's/Stripe's spider web while Mohawk/Stripe advances on them; Billy is tied
up in a dentist's chair with Daffy about to experiment on him; and Gizmo is tied
up after being tortured by Mohawk/Stripe. Gizmo, fed up with the other gremlins
pushing him around manages to free himself and makes a bow and a flaming arrow out of found office supplies to use as
a weapon. Mr. Futterman enters the building and rescues Billy by driving off
Daffy with a dentist's light, whereinafter they seek and find Kate and Marla,
while Gizmo kills Mohawk.
Later, the Brain Gremlin leads all gremlins into the lobby when they are
ready to leave the building, having been tricked into thinking that night has
fallen. However, the plan is in jeopardy, when the sunlight outside becomes
clouded over, and thunder can be heard. Billy is aware of this, and knows that
if the Gremlins are released into the impending storm, Manhattan will be
swarming with more Gremlins than can be imagined! Remembering the existence of
the Electric Gremlin still in the phone lines of the building, Billy gets a new
idea to finish off the Gremlins. Billy turns on the sprinkler systems, drenching
the Gremlins and causing them to multiply. Billy then releases the Electric
Gremlin, which proceeds to electrocute and kill all the wet Gremlins, before the
Electric Gremlin explodes into lifeless sparks. Upon resolution of the crisis,
Billy, Gizmo, and Grandpa Fred are promoted by a thankful Clamp, who uses
Billy's hometown as the basis upon which he decides to make his own town (which
he calls "Clamp Corners"). Billy and Kate take Gizmo to live with them. The sole
survivor of the new batch of gremlins is Greta, a female Gremlin who at the very
end of the film has cornered Forster, and displays amorous affections towards
him.
 Copyright(C) 2007
- 2020. All rights reserved
|
|