Quicksilver (1986) User Reviews (30)

Bacon On A Roll, And Make It Fast.

[sol-kay · 7/10 · 16 December 2003]

"Some Spoilers" Jack Casey, Kevin Bacon, is a successful stock trader at the San Francisco stock exchange. One day thinking that a certain stock will be heavily traded, and to the up side, Jack puts everything that he has on it including his parents life savings. The stock was traded heavily all right, heavily down. In one day Jack lost everything that he made in the last three years as a whiz kid in the stock market: $30,000,000.00 as well as his fathers and mothers life saving.

Devastated over what he lost his father Mr. Casey, Gerald O'Loughin, in trying to comfort him, tells Jack to keep his chin up and says "We Casey's can take a punch". Later when Jack go outside to get a cab he sees that he left his wallet back in the house and when he quietly goes in to get it he sees his father sitting by the kitchen table with his head in his arms sobbing,that was the first time that Jack ever saw his father cry.

Getting a job as a bike messenger at "Quicksilver Messenger Service" Jack starts from the bottom to work himself up. Working there Jack really starts to enjoy the job and the people that he's working with better then the stuff shirts that he used to work with at the stock exchange and develops a number of close friendships there: Hector, Paul Rodriguez, Voodoo, Laurence Fishburne, and Terri, Jami Gertz.

Though the money that Jack makes as a messenger is minuscule to what he made in the stock market he really likes and is very happy with his job and his new found friends there at the messenger service. Like the saying goes :"Money can't buy you happiness".

Jack's fellow bike messenger Hector wants to get a bank lone so he can open up a food stand business but the banks won't give him one because he doesn't any collateral to cover it. Knowing that Jack was a "Market Mavin" Hector entrusts him with what little money that he has to invest and make a profit with it.

Jack hesitant at first, because of what happened to him in the market, then goes along with Hector's idea because Hector tells him that if he loses his money he wont hold it against him. It's that Jack's expertise is the only way that Hector can get the cash that he needs outside of going to the local Mexican loan-sharks who would break his head if he couldn't pay them back the money with interest that they loaned him. Jack's old touch in picking winners in the stock market comes back. Jack puts Hectors money in the stocks that he thinks that will click and they do and Jack rolls up more that what Hector would need in profits to open up the business that he was always dreaming about.

Voodoo always seems to have far more money then any of the messengers make at the job because Voodoo works for Gypsy ,Rudy Ramos, delivering drugs for him while he doing his job at the messenger service. One day Voodoo tells Gypsy that he's had it with delivering his "goods" and wants out of the drug business and is going to stop working for him. A few days later when Jack and Voodoo engage in a bike race Gypsy, who was waiting to ambush him, saw his chance to keep Voodoo quiet about his drug dealing for good. It's then that Gypsy runs down Voodoo with his car and kills him on the deserted San Francisco waterfront to not only keep Voodoo from quiting but from letting out the story that Gypsy is using messengers to deal drugs.

Terri is a very sweet but naive girl who Gypsy got to work delivering drugs for him after he paid her bill at a diner when she didn't have the money for her meal. Terri, like Voodoo, after realizing what she was doing and how dangerous it was, wanted out of Gypsy's drug dealing racket.

Gypsy couldn't let Terri go because like Voodoo she was dangerous to him when he couldn't have any control of her and felt threatened by her quiting him. With Gyspy going all out to try to kidnapped or even kill to keep Terri quiet she runs to Jack's place to get away and hide from Gypsy.

Jack having Terri safe in his apartment gets on his bike and goes outside to finish the race that he had with Voodoo that Gypsy so rudely interrupted earlier in the movie; but this time the ending to that race will be far more different.

Nice little movie about someone going from riches to rags and back to riches again. The story may be a bit uneven but it's easy to overlook and enjoy the film. The "Quicksilver" musical score alone is well worth the price of admission or in this case the price of rental.

quicksilver as an alternative life promoter

[martago · 7/10 · 28 May 2006]

I liked quicksilver and still do today after 20 years of its release date. Instead of looking at Quicksilver as a bunch of losers who ran a bike, I appreciated the kevin Bacon part as a character who suffered from a severe setback, and found in cycling a way to overcome depression and become a loser. The initial scene where he goes on a taxi and paid the taxi driver to race a bike courier, show how fascinated he was by this "alternative life", representing more freedom, athletic performance, and no ties to an office or a company organization. For me this was the main interest of Quicksilver, besides its music, which is quite good.

As a negative point, I regret that none of the characters, followed a different path to its life, as a result of the quicksilver experience, and in fact they all dream of having a regular job, making more money, etc. In fact the script is light, trying to please a large audience, and I think the movie was reasonably successful at the time it was released. I recommend viewing it or buying the DVD.

Film deserves more love.....

[dunsuls-1 · 7/10 · 20 July 2013]

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.

Yes, DO go along for the ride with this ex stock broker!

[roghache · 6/10 · 19 March 2006]

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.

Great music score, if a little slow paced

[Rob-77 · 30 January 2001]

Hey, I liked this movie. Bacon puts in a solid performance both as an actor and as a bike courier who is trying to turn his life around after loosing big time on the stock exchange.

Positives- The music score is great and if you are feeling the need for a little of the 80's, you could do a lot worse.

Negatives- okay, so the plot is a little light on. Some of the acting supports are a little rough too, but hey you got to love the red berret.

Okay movie, undeserved of the harsh criticism is getting. Could achieve more if less muddled though.

[Rodrigo_Amaro · 7/10 · 7 March 2013]

The "Premium Rush" of the 1980's is a source of good entertainment, raises some relevant questions, but it never achieves the magnitude of being too memorable or spectacularly interesting as the 2012 movie was. "Quicksilver" aims at many different directions - social drama, romantic story and some thrills in between - but it isn't fulfilling in any of those, just halfway there while "Premium Rush" which could also be all of those (and incredibly more relevant after 2008's economical crisis), deliver in all those aspects but no, instead is a helluva of entertainment flick which is so much fun to see and tolerate rather than the depressive overtones carried by the picture made during the Reaganomics.

In it, Kevin Bacon plays a successful trader who after losing everything on a bad business (never quite explained what really happened) joins a team of bike messengers, gladly working with them, gaining very little but finding true joy. It all happens in a finger snapping, just like that. The problem comes when he testifies one of his colleagues (Laurence Fishburne) being murdered by a drug dealer who uses their services as messenger to transport merchandising. And wouldn't be a successful 80's movie without a little romance between co-workers Bacon and Jami Gertz, and the main character's chance of redemption and rise back from where he started.

The bike scenes offer a great deal of excitement (specially the race between Fishburne and Bacon), cool to watch, there's good comic relief with Paul Rodriguez character but most of the dramatic subplots are annoying and should be reduced if not cut from the film at all costs; if focused only on the thriller it might be better but the villain is quite obnoxious, not because of the character is more because of a bad performance from the actor. The driven force of "Quicksilver" - and I don't know if this was intentional or not - is that is practically showing how people can be creative in troubled times, finding useful solutions for their problems. Such clichéd positivism was quite alright, if only they didn't took a lot of time after a slow and very depressive beginning that is more inclined to make you turn off the movie than to watch it.

Enjoyable for the majority of moments and because of the soundtrack - specially the Peter Frampton theme played at the opening scene. 7/10

Just Where the H*LL are they?

[Music_Elf · 4/10 · 3 September 2006]

I usually don't let little things like geographic errors bug me, but the switching back and forth between New York and San Francisco gets to be too much. Some chase and race scenes have notable SF landmarks, like Coit Tower and a brief glimpse of the TransAmerica Pyramid, in the background. I guess they really wanted those hills. There was also the convenient "dead end" off the Embarcadero Freeway, used to get rid of Gypsy. (That freeway is no more. It was declared unsafe after the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake.) Jack gets a name sticker with "PSE" on it. PSE is the abbreviation for Pacific Stock Exchange (also now defunct) which was in San Francisco. The messengers hang out in Civic Center.

Then there's the NYC aspects. One of the deliveries is to West 88th Street. The rough accents are all Brooklyn/Bronx. The tight traffic scenes are all Manhattan. The city buses are from NYC. SF just doesn't have that many yellow cabs on the streets.

Does it really matter? Perhaps for people who aren't familiar with either city it's all background. But when the movie has very little going for it in the first place, the location flip flops are a huge distraction.

fine cheesy 80s movie

[SnoopyStyle · 6/10 · 2 September 2014]

Jack Casey (Kevin Bacon) is a big shot stock broker. He makes a big move that doesn't work out and loses all his parents' savings. He gets gun shy and ends up as a bicycle messenger. Terri (Jami Gertz) is the new rider. Hector Rodriguez (Paul Rodriguez) is the entrepreneur who wants to buy a hot dog cart. Voodoo (Laurence Fishburne) is the big rider who is not particular about what he carries. Gypsy is a local drug dealer who uses messengers to deliver his product.

I have to admit that I don't remember how cheesy 80s this movie actually is and that Louie Anderson is in this as a bike messenger. The music is so 80s and the bike acrobatics is fun. The story is nothing special. It's got Kevin Bacon and a few really good actors. The bike riding is fun. It's not more than that.

Needed more action, less drama. (spoilers)

[vertigo_14 · 4/10 · 5 December 2004]

'Quicksilver' is not a bad start at what could've been a much better movie, if only they hadn't substituted an awkward love story for good suspense. This is the story of a highly acclaimed stock broker (Kevin Bacon as "Jack Casey") who loses everything in the crash. Absconding from the scene like an athlete who's no long in his prime, he takes a job as a bicycle messenger. He's left everyone wondering whether Jack Casey is ready for a comeback.

However, most of the movie transpires on dramatic fluff until we actually get to the good part of the story. That is, when Jack, in trying to save his friend, Voodoo (Larry Fishburne) from a sleazy drug dealer that he gets mixed up with, Jack eventually becomes the target of the dealer. And from this, you get one or two action sequences, to breakup the mundane dramatic lull of the rest of the movie which includes the awkward romance between Jack and another bike messenger/nomad (who is also running from her past), Terri (Jami Gertz).

The story tends to drag at points and, given the shifting genres at point (probably done so to pick up the pace), I'd recommend this for those who don't mind trying out obscure movies, especially ones that serve up extra helpings of an 80s nostalgia trip (and you would probably have to be, since you've found the page for it). There's some good moments, and it's still entertaining for the most part.

Love the choreographed action scenes without the use of CGI as well as the cyclist performers

[jordondave-28085 · 6/10 · 3 June 2023]

(1986) Quicksilver ACTION

Written and directed by Thomas Michael Donnelly, that has delivery cyclists, used as middle men to transport unsuspecting packages/ parcels that may or may not include illegal drug dealing, except that when one of them has caught on and was killed as a result, for knowing too much, motivating one of the cyclists, the Kevin Bacon character as he plays Jack Casey to hold the person's responsible after dealer, Gypsy (Rudy Ramos) goes after his love interest, Teri (Jamie Gertz). Predictable and cliche but love the choreographed action cycling scenes as well as "actual" cycling performers.

As A Kid, I Liked It

[ddb1965 · 5/10 · 19 January 2005]

When I first saw this film in the theater, I really liked it. I rode my bike to work all the time and seeing a film where people rode their bikes for a living was really cool.

Now, as an adult who works as a bike messenger in Honolulu, I still enjoy this film, though there are some downsides I see in it that I didn't see as a teenager.

The worst part of the film is the fact that all the bike messengers at Quicksilver are losers of some kind. One used to work for the mayor, former college professors, a former stock broker, etc All losers for whom the job is just something to fall back on after they failed at their life's pursuit. All looking to get out ASAP.

Some messengers may have gotten into it after failing at something else. But most get into it for the money, excitement and the daily rush of adrenaline.

I wish the movie had shown more adrenaline junkies and fewer losers.

The Other Side of the Coin

[Snowgo · 8/10 · 12 September 2018]

I enjoyed Quicksilver. Most movies with the theme of renegades I will like. I'm glad Jack turned his back on the stock exchange and found something that made him feel alive. The worlds of messenger and stock broker were vastly different, but ironically similar in some aspects. The reality of the seedy, urban element that abuses parcel deliverers gave Quicksilver a gutty feel. In other words, the movie was not just doing stunts on a fixed-gear bike or barreling down one way streets the wrong way. The character of Hector gave some good context to the movie, and Jack showed his good side by helping him in whatever way he could. What I don't understand about Quicksilver are a couple of scenes where Jack seemed downright mean. One was when the female messenger Terri, played by Jami Gertz, showed up at his door, asking to stay the night because of necessity. Why did Jack have to act like such a @#$%? What was his point? The other scene was when Jack was eating dinner with his mother and father and he brought up the subject of seeing his father cry. He didn't have to say that. He was the one who lost all his father's money, and then insults him for crying about it? The messenger's hat that Jack picked up off the street at the beginning of the movie I expected him to return to its owner. Isn't that just poetic justice? Nothing ever comes of it. While Quicksilver is a little uneven at times and I was a little annoyed by the raucus and dangerous style of cycle riding displayed, this movie gives us a rare glimpse into the individualistic, rebellious, fleeting, demanding and carnival nature of urban bicycle messengers (and their dispatchers). I was convinced that a vital change had taken place in Jack's world view.., a change that would assist him no matter what he did for work in the future.

VIEWS ON FILM review of Quicksilver

[burlesonjesse5 · 6/10 · 1 June 2014]

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!

Boring movie about a group of bicycle messengers...

[dwpollar · 3/10 · 27 August 2005]

1st watched 8/27/2005 - 3 out of 10(Dir-Tom Donnelly): Boring movie about a group of bicycle messengers who get hooked up with a drug dealer leading to bad times for all. Kevin Bacon plays a stockbroker who loses all his and his family's money and decides to back away from the business and become a bicycle messenger for a company called "Quicksilver." Now, does this make any sense? Well, that's pretty much the problem with the whole movie. One senseless scene after another(including a "goofy" dance scene with Bacon on a bicycle and his girlfriend toe-tapping) is pieced together for some reason that the viewer is not quite clear about, even by the end. The acting is OK, but the story goes nowhere very slowly. Probably the best scene is thrown-in shots of some of the messengers doing bike tricks but again, why is this even put in the movie? It seems like more time and effort was put into the soundtrack instead of the movie, so if you like movie music this might be one to purchase but don't even offer at the movie itself. There are a few subplots but the characters are never given enough detail behind them for anyone to care. So when it's all over were excited about 1 thing, that it's over!! This at least allows us the opportunity to do something much more worthwhile for 1 hour and a half, hopefully.

Don't go along for this ride

[Squonk · 19 August 1999]

In 'Quicksilver,' Kevin Bacon is a stock market big shot who loses everything and ends up a bicycle messenger. From there, the film can't make up it's mind what on earth it's about. Drug dealers, rival bike riders...they're all here. This film just coasts around for awhile, but there's nothing interesting along the way. About the only thing this film has going for it is it's synthesizer score by Genesis keyboardist Tony Banks.

So Kevin has a Tik Tok

[staciarose20 · 6/10 · 8 July 2022]

Recently the movie poster was found behind layers of other movie posters in the NY subway. Kevin tried to find it, but it had been covered up in no time. That made me watch the movie because I had never heard of it. NY is a funny place where there's layers of history under the surface.

Horrible

[nycscott1 · 3/10 · 30 March 2018]

What a bad film boring and really full of cliches worst of the bad 80s movies . It skips around all over the place and doesn't really make you care about the characters in any way shape or form !

On your bike

[Prismark10 · 3/10 · 25 July 2015]

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.

Needed stabilisers.....

[FlashCallahan · 5/10 · 16 July 2012]

Jack Casey used to be a hot-shot stock market whiz kid. After a disastrous professional decision, his life in the fast lane is over.

He loses his nerve and joins a speed delivery firm which relies on bicycles to avoid traffic jams of San Francisco.

He is also attracted to a fellow bicycler, Terri, and befriends Hector, a budding entrepreneur.

Can Jack regain his nerve and his self-respect, and rebuild his life on a more sound basis.....

The first thing that strikes you in this movie is Bacons moustache. It has to be the worst cinematic moustache I have ever seen.

It goes downhill pretty fast from there. Learning to live without the material things, which is portrayed as his girlfriend, Bacon settles down into his new life and never feels bitter about anything.

He meets Gertz who is waiting for The Lost Boys, and their are subplots involving minorities not having any money, gangsters wanting Terris to do stuff, and Larry Fishburne, getting killed at the end of the first act.

It's all pretty silly, and never really adds up to much. There is the obligatory 'look what I can do on a bike' scene, an over the top end sequence, and honestly a scene where a man in a bar hears some bad news and snatches the drink from the guy sitting next to him.

It all ends how you would expect, but it's an uphill struggle to get there.

Even Small Films Kevn Bacon Still Remains Charismatic

[eric262003 · 8/10 · 4 November 2013]

Even though Kevin Bacon has turned in some wonderful performances in the 35 years as a performer I for many years have dodged the 1986 low-budgeted thriller "Quicksilver". I just felt that Bacon has made far better movies than this. But once I purchased it on Blu-ray, I was pleased by the movie. For a meagre budget, this movie was very heart pumping, entertaining and once again, Bacon excels in another vibrant performance.

Granted it has its bizarre scenes. But what do you expect? This movie was released in the 1980's. But to delve deeper into the layers of the movie, I think it will satisfy an audience who like a vast variety of genres because there's some thing there for everyone to enjoy. Kevin Bacon plays the part of Jack Casey, who at one time was a top notch stockbroker who made a living trading stocks. One day, a bad tip has come his way and suddenly he gets knocked down from Cloud 9 to rock bottom, even his parents are left in the drenches of his financial downfall. Down on his luck, he ends up getting a job as a messenger cyclist and becomes an unwritten adviser to other messenger cyclists in San Francisco who take their low-payed jobs very seriously. With a talent pool of outstanding supporting players like Jami Gertz, Paul Rodriguez and Laurence Fishburne these performers utilize their abilities to provide, thrills, drama and action.

With the concentration of Mr. Casey returning back to his old job, he must resolve his past failures while trying to win back his dignity once again. Losing everything he's got has made Jack downtrodden and just fixated with hanging on to everything he still has. When his fellow messenger Hector (Paul Rodriguez) has ambitions to open up a hot-dog stand, Jack pulls all his resources to help Hector fulfill his dream. Jack stands up to his fellow messengers once drug-dealers begin to take over to deliver their goods. After being a witness to a murder, Jack learns first hand that these druggies are hiring messengers to do their dirty work, this leads to Jack coming to the aid of Terri (Jami Gertz) so that she does not bite in with their manipulative schemes.

Terri is quite vulnerable to give into their schemes, while Hector in an reluctant act of desperation joins in to make quick money to gather his funds. And while Jack's quest to go back to being a broker, takes a negative impact on the bikers as they're now part of this illegal operation. They're fates all depend on Jack for getting back to his old ways again as Jack has now become a hero to all of them.

The editing was tightly knitted and the action pieces were purely sublime as it compliments the rather dark sub-plot that this movie has to offer. This movie stands the test of time as a definitive Kevin Bacon 80's film that's worth to take a gander at. Though it was made 27 years ago, it has aged quite gracefully. Even though the Blu-ray offers no special features, the picture restoration is quite an improvement.

The Vidiot Reviews

[capone666 · 5/10 · 26 December 2012]

Quicksilver

The worst part of riding your bike to work is getting your necktie caught in the spokes.

Luckily, the bipedal commuter in this thriller no longer has to wear the potential hazard around his throat.

When hotshot stock-trader Jack (Kevin Bacon) loses millions in a bad deal that he setup, he quits and retreats from the market in disgrace.

To make ends meet, he becomes a bike messenger, delivering vital documents at breakneck speeds through the same traffic congestion he once idled in.

Along the way, her falls for a fellow biker (Jami Gertz) and gets into hot water with an unsavory character (Laurence Fishburne) thanks to his scheming co-worker (Paul Rodriguez).

While it has a rocking soundtrack to accompanying its surprisingly striking bike riding sequences, the bulk of Quicksilver's story has square wheels that go nowhere.

Incidentally, the second most popular career choice of failed stock-traders is suicide victim. (Yellow Light)

vidiotreviews.blogspot.ca

Do you like BiKES?

[bobwhitt1210 · 23 October 2004]

Anyone who has a 6 digit salary would agree that the only thing better than have a great income is not having one...which is exactly what Kevin Bacon decides to do in Quicksilver. Bacon is a stockbroker, the best there is, but somehow manages to lose all his and his parents money. What happens next is that he decides that being a bike messenger is the only life he can have now. He learns all the bike tricks and can even do jumps. This may not be suitable for children since he rides around without a helmet or reflectors. Things to remember when you go on your next bike ride. A. Check you tires, make sure you haven't caught any debris in them. B. Make sure you have a nice hairdo so old ladies aren't offended by your appearance. c. Don't talk to dogs you don't know, stray dogs may bite you.

WHAT DID I WATCH!!!!

[k-94469 · 5/10 · 20 June 2021]

When I walked in I thought I was going to see marvels wannabe flash but instead it's Kevin fried bacon I want flash and quicksilver.

So slow. Weird acting. Straining to find a plot.

[bczech-46-485595 · 5/10 · 17 January 2024]

Let me start by saying that this is a must-watch for fans of 80's movies. A good soundtrack, Interesting costuming and vibe...but if you are looking for a solid plot, there really isn't one. Is it a movie about a messenger being under the thumb of a drug dealer? About a couple that is going different directions? About a girl looking for her way in a male dominated profession? About a family coming to terms with each other? Or about any of the other dozen or so themes? Is it a movie about trick riding and speed? A comedy? A drama. There are so many of these threads that it makes the movie drag. Focus might have saved the plot...but the acting...hoo boy. Jami Gertz swings back and forth with what might be a Jersey accent or a New England...then a midWestern. Bacon can't decide if his approach is confidence in vulnerability or street cool with book smarts. His relationship with his girlfriend lacks any level of chemistry. The only thing that was interesting about the two was an out of left field, dance/bicycle duet, probably thrown in to capture some fan-service after Bacon's Footloose success.

Overall, it is watchable but also mostly forgettable, with a side of ridiculous dialogue.

Flashdance on Bicycles.

[tgreene_msp · 8/10 · 2 February 2012]

Battleship / Transformers ... Quicksilver / Flashdance ... No matter the decade, Hollywood always tries new ways on working ideas. In this case, the latter two have more in common than the former do to their origins. Contrary to the early review, this film starts off and runs through most of the film staying close to the bike messenger world of its namesake. From some of the opening scenes to the name of the messenger service nearly everyone in the film works for, the Quicksilver theme is present throughout as much as half of the film. While not the bike film of "American Flyers" or "Breaking Away", the film follows more in the footsteps of Flashdance in following Jack and a select few of the other messengers as they either rebound or shoot higher for a better life.