hamachi@KIM.BERKELEY.EDU (Gordon Hamachi) (02/18/86)
Quicksilver: Mercurial. Flighty, elusive, lively, fickle, erratic, changeable. That describes many aspects of the new movie "Quicksilver". Kevin Bacon stars as Jack Casey, an options trader whose mercurial business luck prompts him to give up his career to become a San Francisco bicycle messenger. The movie's story is Jack Casey coping with his shattered confidence in himself, but somehow the real thrust of this idea gets diluted and slips away. Quicksilver starts off lively-enough, as 1984 Olympic silver(!) medalist Nelson "Cheetah" Vails, wearing a red beret, races a cab carrying Mr. Businessman through city streets and then vanishes, leaving only his hat behind. For a while it looks like this will be a business movie. Then we see a Wolfman-like transformation that would do Lon Chaney proud, as Mr. Businessman becomes plain messenger boy. Mercury, the messenger of the Gods, on a 10-speed. In another transformation, for a terrifying instant Quicksilver looks like it will turn into a "Flashdance" ripoff. Rest room violence reminded me of "Witness", as the movie settles down into a more contemporary version of "The Terminator" with Rudy Ramos filling in admirably for Arnold Schwartzenegger. The conclusion becomes the last voyage of the space shuttle Challenger, as a mysterious plume emanating from the right side of a beat-up Ford foreshadows disaster. From all of this you may think that I didn't like the movie. On the contrary, I liked it so much I saw it twice. The plot isn't much, but there are some beautiful telephoto shots of bicyclists amidst behemoth Muni busses, mad careening down San Francisco's steepest hills, and some awesome trick riding. There's an interesting contrast between the hectic life of power lunches and trading sessions at the stock exchange, versus the hazardous yet simple life of a bike messenger. Two-and-a-half stars.