Really Surprised!

Please don't spend money on this.

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties. It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.

Quicksilver has Jack Casey (Kevin Bacon) playing a hotshot mid 1980s stockbroker in New York. We see Jack getting a cab driver to race with a bike courier at the start of the film.However Casey bets wrong in the stock exchange and loses a lot of money and is all washed up. He has lost his parents money but instead of getting off the floor and fight back which was his father's advice he emerges as a bicycle messenger in San Francisco. Well those hills looked like the streets of San Francisco.However this bicycle courier firms seems to be made up of a bunch of losers and assorted waifs and strays such as new girl Terri (Jami Gertz) who incidentally all seem to have come from New York.One of them Voodoo (Larry Fishburne) is mixed up with a sleazy drug dealer for easy money but ends up getting killed by him which Jack has witnessed. Jack becomes fond of Terri but she is also now doing errands for the same drug dealer. Jack also wants to help out another courier to open his own hot dog stand and in order for him to do this he returns to investing in the stock exchange but the stock exchange he worked at seems to have been in San Francisco all along as were his parents.That is about it plot-wise. Jack trying to find redemption while also taking out with the drug dealer who has been stalking him. Going to the police never entered his mind. Then again in all the pursuits on the streets we never see the police in this movie. To keep the film moving along we have various bicycle stunt scenes and chase scenes set to 1980s rock music so the film looks like a part rock video.The more recent movie Premium Rush made a better fist of this kind of film. Quicksilver went into obscurity because it was badly written. Kevin Bacon was reportedly unhappy with the finished film. Its geographical setting is awkward. Is it set in New York, LA or San Francisco?The story is choppy. Characters such as Jack's parents flit in and out after long gaps. We get to know very little of the other characters in the courier firm, even Fishburne is wasted. The drug dealer subplot comes across as terrible and the romance subplot looks awkward.Still the 1980s 'greed is good' setting and Giorgio Moroder tinny electro-pop gives it some nostalgia.

Kevin Bacon, hot off the heels from his sleeper mega hit Footloose (1984), decided to take on the eccentric role of a floor trader turned bicycle messenger in the underrated, but yet somewhat misguided Quicksilver. I read somewhere that he called this flick quote unquote, "the lowest point of my career." Well Kevin, I'm here to tell ya, it ain't that bad. There is a lot to admire in this mid 80's nugget. It's got an incomparable synthesizer-ready soundtrack, intense bicycle sequences that kill stuff from duds like American Flyers (1985) (Oh don't forget the chase scenes. The movie takes place in San Francisco so just think Bullitt on bikes), a little bit of what I call bicycle "break dancing" (you'll see it about 20 minutes in), and an exciting, tantalizing opening credits montage that holds a bit of a promise. Unfortunately, like most 2 and a half star movies, Quicksilver's flaws outweigh its strengths. Let me put it this way, it's a film that doesn't quite know what it wants to be. Somewhere along the line, it seemed like this thing wasn't quite edited in time. A deadline had to be meant, Quicksilver had to be unleashed into theaters, and you can tell that some scenes were left on the cutting room floor. However, even with its moderately short running time (1 hr. almost 40 minutes), it still feels like you're watching 3 different movies at once. Back in 1986 (year it was released), theater owners probably should have charged double admission (I hate to say it, but it's justifiable).Quicksilver plays out like this: Kevin Bacon glides into the role of Jack Casey (by the way he is really moody in this vehicle), a one time stock broker who loses all his life savings (along with his parents as well) on a bad trade and decides to quit the business and become a bicycle messenger. In fact, it's explained early on that a lot of bike messengers used to have big time, well paying jobs (it's also explained that one of these dudes used to work for the mayor). At first, I chalked this up to be sort of an unusual career change (He was in a cab that raced a random cyclist and lost. That could have been his inspiration, who knows?) but then Bacon's character explains the whole thing in a tiny compelling soliloquy while talking to a friend in a coffee shop. He explains that this job is simple, less stressful, and the main thing is, he doesn't have a lot of responsibility (take the package from here to there, que sera sera). Since taking this job, Casey barely pays his rent, lives in kind of a warehouse, and shares the space with a snobby pretentious dancer (Whitney Kershaw, who I'm guessing is his girlfriend). So okay, you get the blueprint. But I will reveal a little more later on in the review. It's not exactly an exercise bent on storytelling in the cycling realm. That's for darn sure. I will say this though, I learned a lot about the bike messenger business from a recent viewing. It seems to be run like a pizza delivery chain, a very lucrative pizza delivery chain. Oh, and be on the lookout for the outside of the building or home base where all the messengers huddle while waiting for assignments. It clearly looks like an almost blatant, fake, Hollywood set instead of an actual shooting location. So anyway, I stated earlier that this film didn't quite have an idea what it wants to be. Okay, let's examine this rather large factoid. Is it about Bacon wanting to return to his old job, is it about his friend Terry (Jami Gertz) delivering packages for a psychotic drug dealer named "Gypsy" (Rudy Ramos) and not getting paid for it, is it about Bacon's friend Hector (the likable Paul Rodriguez) needing his help to start a hot dog cart business, or is it about Bacon's parents disapproving of his new lifestyle (his dad is in two powerful scenes that have value, but we never see him after that)? Notice, I didn't really mention cycling. When the movie was about to come out, it was clearly advertised this way but gosh, it feels like good old ten speeds got pushed to the wayside.Now as I said in the beginning of the review, I certainly don't think that Quicksilver is a bad film. There are some poignant and excitedly dark moments where tension is mounted and we view the bare bones of a solid dramatic thriller. But alas, this in an exercise where momentum is sometimes undercut by hardly relevant side plots and massively underdeveloped characters. Now listen, don't be so "quick" to judge it based on some of the things I've said. You just gotta know what you're getting into. Entertaining yet flawed, promising yet manipulative, this is a flick about bicycles that's not really about bicycles. In truth, it's a solid nostalgic rental (if you can find it) and with multiple viewings, it may just bring home the "Bacon". Natch!

Strange this film doesn't get more love.Maybe because I'm a city kid,worked on wall street and was a messenger in HS,and road a Bike A lot as a kid,I see more to this film than most.yeah the story is a little out there but most of the "characters"are fair enough stereotypes and it was released in 1986 and runs 105 minutes,right at the height or low,depending on your point of view,of the "bike messenger" craze that hit all the major urban locals in the country.Kevin Bacon starts a little slow but warms to the character,Jack Casey,soon enough and Laurence Fishburne has a small but very powerful presence in the film as a character named"voodoo".Paul Rodriguez is fun as well as a ,you guessed it,Mexican wants a better life type.Its not great cinema at all,but its very watchable and fits that period of time as well as most films of the day.You could do FAR worse.

To be honest, it's some years since I saw this movie, so have forgotten most of the story details. However, the film now seems rather obscure and apparently not very well regarded, so I wanted to put in my two cents worth of praise for a movie that, while it may not have been memorable, was certainly entertaining at the time. The story revolves around a hot shot stock market whiz kid named Jack Casey, who loses not only his own money, but also all his parents' life savings in a failed market deal / stock crash. Devastated by his failure, especially the effect it has on his father, he withdraws completely from the financial world, embarking upon a new career as a bicycle messenger. I enjoyed the unusual theme here, the disillusioned stock broker reverting to a simpler and (supposedly) more carefree lifestyle. Jack befriends his fellow messengers, including a guy, Voodoo, who's involved with delivering the goods for a sleazy drug dealer, and also a girl named Terri, who of course becomes the love interest. Jack and Voodoo plan a bike race, but there's trouble brewing from the drug dealer...Other plot details? I don't recall them, but Kevin Bacon is adept in the role of Jack, the story catchy enough, and the theme regarding the fleeting nature of wealth always relevant, particularly as related to the stock market. Also, although I'm not personally a cyclist, I quite enjoyed the dashing bicycle sequences, up and down and across the sometimes hilly streets, of (I believe) San Francisco. Don't listen to the naysayers, it's a perfectly entertaining way to spend a couple of hours, and not just for the 1980's nostalgia.