Movie Review: A SHOCK TO THE SYSTEM (1990) **** out of *****

(C) Corsair Pictures.

Adapted for the screen by Andrew Klavan (from a novel by Simon Brett), and directed by TV and stage veteran Jan Egleson, A Shock to The System (1990) is a strange creature: a Hollywood movie made at the tail-end of the Regan years, yet one that approaches its subject matter - greed - with a subtlety and wit rarely found in the reactionary filmmaking of that era.

The premise is simple: Graham Marshall (Michael Caine), a middle-aged, modestly ambitious man, leads a moderately successful life, both professionally and personally. But when he is passed over for promotion by a brash and much younger colleague, he is shocked. And, slowly, Graham finds himself being drawn to a darker way of doing things, as he slowly but surely reaps the rewards of his misdeeds and climbs the corporate ladder.

The story, of the older, meek man slowly going dark, is a hoary, tired concept that, by the 1990s, had been done to death. But in the hands of screenwriter Klavan and director Egleson, this exhausted concept becomes fresh, compelling, and wryly funny. Egleson's direction, in particular, is so steady, so visually elegant, that it lends both the darker and darkly funny aspects of the script a surprisingly refined tone, making A Shock to The System one of the best films about corporate greed to ever come out of Hollywood.

But writing and direction aside, this is Michael Caine's show, as he takes a difficult role, and one which could have easily become a grating caricature in the hands of a less capable actor, and turns it into a believable, charming, and disturbing character that is always threatening to spiral out of control into the realm of the absurd, but never does. With dry humor and tremendous restraint, Caine portrays Graham as a man who gets a taste of evil by accident, and, as a result, transforms his life into a marvel of devious design; a man who sees himself as some sort of dark sorcerer who has found the keys to the world.

Yes, some of the twists and turns are a bit far-fetched, and Egleson lays it on a bit thick when it comes to depicting what greed has done to the New York city of the 1980s and 90s. But, for the most part, A Shock to The System tells a riveting tale about the decay of corporate culture, and how a new generation of morally bankrupt over-achievers created a system that breeds greed and immorality. And like its corrupt protagonist, A Shock to The System manages to fulfill its ambitions so well, it's almost a magic act.

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Text © Ahmed Khalifa. 2022.

Ahmed Khalifa is a filmmaker and novelist. He is the writer/director of several short films and a feature, which was released on Netflix, and the author of a number of novels and short stories, including the YA horror novel, Beware The Stranger, available on Amazon. He is also the host of The Dark Fantastic Podcast. Find him on Twitter @AFKhalifa and on Facebook @DFantasticPodcast

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