While doing research for this review, I was kinda surprised to discover that QUICKSILVER was a box office dud back in 1986. For some reason, I thought it was popular movie. But nope, it stunk up the joint so bad that it didn’t even make its budget back. Fun fact: in its 3rd week of release, QUICKSILVER was only a few hundred grand ahead of BACK TO THE FUTURE which was in its 35th week. Yikes!
Anyway, box office poison or not, I enjoyed watching QUICKSILVER (in 2024) for the nostalgic value but can understand why it didn’t connect with audiences back in 1986: it’s way too serious, the stock market stuff didn’t even make any sense, the soundtrack was weak and there just wasn’t enough Kevin Bacon. Audiences were probably expecting some kind of FOOTLOOSE-style party movie with everyday man Kevin pedaling in and out of traffic showing off his tight buns while romancing a local rich girl who is too snooty to date a lowly bicycle messenger. (Think, Billy Joel's 1983 music video for Uptown Girl.) They also probably expected it to be set in New York City, because even though I saw this movie back in the 1980’s I still expected it to be set in NYC! I totally forgot that it was set in San Francisco.
Solid acting, disjointed story that’s too depressing, weak direction, a cool looking person in the art gallery scene that needed way more screentime, up and down pace, exciting bicycle scenes, stock market storyline that probably alienated some audience members, good supporting cast, a quick Michael Myers (from HALLOWEEN II) sighting, an even quicker Al Leong sighting, wall ads for CORRUPT (1983) and THE HUNGER (1983), a car sparking before it grinds against a wall, zero nudity, zero gore, two depressing scenes with Kevin's spiritbroken parents that were huge bummers, an interesting bicycle / ballet dancing scene early on that I wish had changed the tone of the movie into something more uplifting, a backyard dinner scene that kinda reminded me of the backyard dinner scenes from the Fast & Furious movies.
Worth a watch for Bacon completionists, but nothing to get overly excited about. I'd love to see a remake or reboot.
