Nothing wrong with being cheesy especially when the cheese like the final thumbs up was pretty well earned by everything that came before it.
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Terminator 1 vs Terminator 2. Which do you prefer?
- Thread starter GurgleBot20
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Nothing wrong with being cheesy especially when the cheese like the final thumbs up was pretty well earned by everything that came before it.
DontBeThatGuy
Member
Terminator 2 is still very impressive (and nostalgia runs deep with that one). It's just got shit that irks me.
Stallion Dan
Member
T1.
Got that 80s feel.
Got that 80s feel.
The pacing of 1 is relentless. I rewatched it not long back and there is pretty much zero bloat in terms of telling a story. Absolutely none. No wasted scenes and no retelling the audience things they've already established.
That's the remarkable thing and why I consider Aliens and T1 to be his highlights. His eye for screenplay efficiency and translating that into his final cut for those two films was incredible, never bettered within his career.
That's the remarkable thing and why I consider Aliens and T1 to be his highlights. His eye for screenplay efficiency and translating that into his final cut for those two films was incredible, never bettered within his career.
Slightly off topic but I wanted to get other people's takes on this opinion since I had a debate about this a long time back. Despite Terminator 2 generally being viewed as the movie with the "happy ending", I actually think Terminator 2 has a bleaker or more scary ending than Terminator 1 does. At the end of Terminator 1, Sarah is pregnant and she knows the incoming storm that is the bleak future of Skynet. But that's the thing, at the end of Terminator 1 Sarah knows what is coming and knows how to prepare for it.
At the end of Terminator 2, Sarah and John have absolutely no idea what to do with the future now. They have no idea whether or not the actually saved the future and in my opinion they're faced with a much scarier and more personal problem. Do they finally relax and enjoy life or do they continue preparing for the apocalypse? If they relax and assume the future is saved, and then Judgement Day still happens, they're fucked because they stopped preparing. If they keep preparing for Judgement Day and it never happens, they've potentially wasted their lives for nothing. To me, that's a much scarier reality to face especially with the looming shadow of one awful potential future still there.
This part of Terminator 2 is cheesy as hell, but god damnit it works so well. I couldn't think of a better sendoff for the Terminator in that movie
At the end of Terminator 2, Sarah and John have absolutely no idea what to do with the future now. They have no idea whether or not the actually saved the future and in my opinion they're faced with a much scarier and more personal problem. Do they finally relax and enjoy life or do they continue preparing for the apocalypse? If they relax and assume the future is saved, and then Judgement Day still happens, they're fucked because they stopped preparing. If they keep preparing for Judgement Day and it never happens, they've potentially wasted their lives for nothing. To me, that's a much scarier reality to face especially with the looming shadow of one awful potential future still there.
This part of Terminator 2 is cheesy as hell, but god damnit it works so well. I couldn't think of a better sendoff for the Terminator in that movie
Rhomega Beta
Member
Terminator 2. It's more epic, and the T-1000's abilities make it a more interesting villain.
Gnome Scat
Member
Hard to compare, but probably Terminator 2.
TwoDurans
"Never said I wasn't a hypocrite."
I was thinking about this the first time I saw Terminator 3. John had no reason to be the way that he was since it was entirely possible for him to live a normal life since they thought they had won, or at least didn't know. The ambiguous nature of T2's ending led him to lead a crazy life. It turned out that he was right, but he was never able to actualy live.
Gai Murakumo
Member
To me it is like comparing Alien to Aliens. Both are great in their own respective ways. But at the end of the day I would choose Terminator 2.
Sub_Level
wants to fuck an Asian grill.
I prefer to watch Terminator 2. Its more fun.
But the first one really is the better movie. Its tighter. Less fluff. The story was pretty original. And the bad guy is more threatening cuz the good guys don't have a terminator on their team. The T-1000 was a very menacing foe but it never really feels like he is truly threatening until the end at the factory.
But the first one really is the better movie. Its tighter. Less fluff. The story was pretty original. And the bad guy is more threatening cuz the good guys don't have a terminator on their team. The T-1000 was a very menacing foe but it never really feels like he is truly threatening until the end at the factory.
pokeystaples
Banned
T2. Special effects blew my tiny mind at the time and I have spent an inordinate time trying to get Sarah Connor/Angela Bassett arms.
Sectorseven
Member
It's not even about the budget. Everything about it just felt like it was from a time gone by, even when it was relatively new, whereas 2 felt much more modern. Even by today's standards 2 could pass as contemporary film, for the most part. Other films like Alien - Aliens or Back to the Future - Back to the Future 2 or even Godfather 2 - Godfather 3 felt much more consistent in their look.
That's not to say it was a bad film - quite the contrary, it was always just a little jarring.
Fancy Clown
Member
T2, while nicely ambiguous, is still mostly optimistic. Sarah expresses her hope, because if a literal inhuman killing machine can learn to value human life, then its no stretch that humans can do the same and avert disaster before it's too late.
Space Runaway
Member
Terminator
Despite some shoddy stop-motion compositing at the end, I find it to be a super solid movie that gets a little better each year while T2 gets a little worse.
Despite some shoddy stop-motion compositing at the end, I find it to be a super solid movie that gets a little better each year while T2 gets a little worse.
Neither hold up.
T2 was super offensive to me when I was a 7th grader in 1991. It seemed so toned down compared to the first movie. Not in action, but in making it more child/family friendly. And the first movie wasn't even that good.
Mr Fahrenheit
Member
That's how I feel about it, they're different movies doing different things, both very well. If they were both on different channels at the same time I'd probably pick T2 more often.
Vulcano's assistant
Banned
At the end of the day, cheese or not, T2 still gets to juggle more and heavier concepts and situations that arrive from the events of T1 and the science fiction elemets. Of course whether it is as successful at each of those as the relatively more one- note T1 is up to argument, and very much so.
Had T2 been focusing on exploring its best story element in depth and in a more focused matter, then it would have more about reversing the premise of the first film to Sarah Connor hunting down people for the crime they are yet to commit and less about setting the stage for great car chases. Not that one aim is more valid than the other. T2 is a wonderful and very innovative action film.
Had T2 been focusing on exploring its best story element in depth and in a more focused matter, then it would have more about reversing the premise of the first film to Sarah Connor hunting down people for the crime they are yet to commit and less about setting the stage for great car chases. Not that one aim is more valid than the other. T2 is a wonderful and very innovative action film.
Manny Calavera
Member
I'm not usually a fan of action movies but in this case I prefer Terminator 2 and consider it as one of the best films in the genre. It has intense pace, threatening villain and the visuals still hold up perfectly.
Haven't seen them for a while but my ratings would be
Terminator 2 - 9
Terminator - 8
When it comes to Alien vs Aliens I choose Alien without a question.
Haven't seen them for a while but my ratings would be
Terminator 2 - 9
Terminator - 8
When it comes to Alien vs Aliens I choose Alien without a question.
Into the Light
Banned
While 2 was excellent, and one of the best sequels ever made, Terminator was so ahead of its time, and pure.
SillyEskimo
Member
Younger me prefered T2 but older me prefers T1.
kunonabi
Member
Terminator 2 was not a family friendly movie
90's familes weren't so wussy back then.
Sub_Level
wants to fuck an Asian grill.
"i'm at a bar called TECH NOIR!"
Fancy Clown
Member
Terminator 2 was not a family friendly movie
It feels like a weird mix of a family movie with R rated violence. That's not necessarily a bad thing, either.
GurgleBot20
Member
What was the point of that scene in 2 where Arnold blows up a bunch of police cars with a minigun? It didn't cause the police to back down. In fact, it just ensured that they'd start using hostile force.
Yeah, it definitely has some family friendly themes to it and it's definitely toned down from the first movie, but I still wouldn't put it anywhere close to a family friendly level at all.
It was to scare and delay the police from entering the building
Mortimer Brewster
Member
Terminator 2 was not a family friendly movie
It was more accessible then the original. The first film was an economical,lean relentless with a legitimate mean streak. It was a slasher film with a sci if coat of paint and preference to firearms instead of blunt or stab by weapons. The sequel has a couple of particularly violent sequences and lots of swearing but it is generally a much more accessible four quadrant film. Its much lighter tonally whereas the original was outright nihilistic.
itchyass86
Member
Been thinkin bout Terminator 2 a lot lately. Even been hummin the tune.
T2 is my favorite movie of all time. Right above Wall-E. Still watch it every couple of years and it still leaves me in the same contemplative mood every time.
T2 is my favorite movie of all time. Right above Wall-E. Still watch it every couple of years and it still leaves me in the same contemplative mood every time.
Sato Koiji
Member
T2.
I now know why you cry...
;(
I now know why you cry...
;(
ProtomanNeo
Member
You mean the same tune from Terminator 1?
afternoon delight
Member
T1, so much so I don't even bother with the John Connor child sequel (despite Hamilton being a BAMF). It's just boring compared to the Reese / Sarah show.
Triple threat Godfather Part I > Part II or clearly Predator > Predator 2
Right on right on!
Triple threat Godfather Part I > Part II or clearly Predator > Predator 2
| Praxis |
Banned
Both great, but the first one is the best. Better soundtrack, I prefer the setpieces and Arnie is better as a bad guy over cheesy sidekick.
True Savior
Member
T1 is very crude in many parts. They are not even in the same ballpark. Terminator 2 is Cameronism from beginning to end, and it's glorious.
NOLA_Gaffer
Banned
I enjoy the horror/slasher feel of "The Terminator" over the action movie feel of "Terminator 2".
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