This is true to some extent, but I've still got to give it to T2.
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Terminator 1 vs Terminator 2. Which do you prefer?
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This is true to some extent, but I've still got to give it to T2.
Brian Fellows
Pete Carroll Owns Me
Those are both easy for me. Terminator and Aliens.
Prototype Viktor
Member
T2 > Thor 2 > T1
autumnleaf
Member
I'd probably say T2 but the first Terminator is legitimately one of the scariest films I've ever seen. The low budget, the 80s setting, Arnie, the music, it's incredibly tense.
Pumpernickle Humperdink
Member
Terminator has more charm, but it looks like a 80's movie. T2 actually holds up much better in the SFX department, you can tell everything was state of the art (at that time).
AppleSeason
Member
I love them both. Back in the day as a kid the first Terminator felt a bit meh compared to the just released T2, but watching it again recently, it was pretty good too.
Until the recent rewatch and HD I never noticed / remebered (I was a kid) how the Terminator's skin degrades over time, the burnt hair... It's like over time it becomes much less human and more like a possesed corpse. Although TBH, the fucking T-1000 scared me shitless. as a kid and made me suffer till the end of the movie. he never stopped following you, he barely made any mistakes and if it grabbed you, you were pretty much dead. While the T-800 would take some time to prepare between assaults, this one was a constant source of panic and fear, never allowing you to rest for too long.
Until the recent rewatch and HD I never noticed / remebered (I was a kid) how the Terminator's skin degrades over time, the burnt hair... It's like over time it becomes much less human and more like a possesed corpse. Although TBH, the fucking T-1000 scared me shitless. as a kid and made me suffer till the end of the movie. he never stopped following you, he barely made any mistakes and if it grabbed you, you were pretty much dead. While the T-800 would take some time to prepare between assaults, this one was a constant source of panic and fear, never allowing you to rest for too long.
Hunter-Zero
Member
Clearly Thor 2: The Dark World
But joking aside, i always enjoyed Terminator 1 the most... T2 is cool too, but i prefer the more creepy and serious tone of the first one, is basically an slasher movie with guns and a really bleak ending, i love it.
But joking aside, i always enjoyed Terminator 1 the most... T2 is cool too, but i prefer the more creepy and serious tone of the first one, is basically an slasher movie with guns and a really bleak ending, i love it.
Prototype Viktor
Member
a negative point on Doug Loves Movies
Sikamikanico
#1 Dad
Terminator 2. It resonated more with me as a kid then the first movie, and I still love it to this day. Fond memories of my mum being away during the day, and my dad asking me and my little brother which grown-up movie we'd like to watch as she wasn't home.
Good times.
(That and I think it's the better movie in terms of pacing and performance/effects etc.)
Good times.
(That and I think it's the better movie in terms of pacing and performance/effects etc.)
This is one of the first films to use computer assisted cable paint-out. Cameron even mentions in the commentary that the cables were made huge to make it easier for the computers to find (like the bike jump into the canal), whereas today the cables can actually be made pretty small and the computers can find them just fine. All those effects were what was available at the time, but since the rest of the film punched above it's weight, the contemporary effects stick out more.
Another thing is you'll notice later on in the film, more T-1000 transformations happen off-screen. This an old trick, and Cameron mentions they needed to do it because they didn't have the money to do any more on screen CG than they did.
Nowadays even the damn blood in a scene is VFX.
Fun fact: there's effects being done even when you don't think so. The scene where Arnie drives the motorcycle out of the garage was manually hand-undercranked just to make it look a bit faster and quicker because Arnold was afraid of crashing after a reset.
hydrophilic attack
Member
fml
bob_arctor
Tough_Smooth
I am stunned that people think T2 has better pacing. Wow.
MightyHedgehog
Member
Without a doubt, it's T1.
pigeon interrupted
Member
Gosh, this. T1 is a really menacing horror film and you can see the influence that Corman had on younger Cameron. Great music and practical effects.
T2 was much more tame. And was the "can't have Arnie as the bad guy anymore, let's make him the nanny" entry in the series. It's all been downhill since T1.
Zeouterlimits
Member
T2 is winning?
Disgusting.
Disgusting.
neurosisxeno
Member
Thor 2: The Dark World of course.
soundscream
Member
Thinking about T1 again just pisses me off how they fucked up 4. Those Kyle Reese flashbacks were so good, then they fucked it all up.
LabouredSubterfuge
Member
T1 definitely.
Mortimer Brewster
Member
I've always said that a pure future war film wouldn't work. This scenes work because they are used sparingly to visually convey the terrors of the future that Reese describes. They exist as a cog in the films framework to provide the agency to propel the film forward. A movie set entirely in the future lacks that agency and risked ruining the specialness of those fleeting sequences.
I doubt even Cameron himself would have ver been able to make a compelling film set entirely during the Future War. Not that I think he would even try, he understood the value and place they had within the films full context.
Triggerhappytel
Member
I love them both, although while I would probably agree that the first is a better film I prefer the sequel.
Hero_of_the_Day
Member
You're not actually surprised, are you? I totally understand liking the first more, but of course T2 will win in any poll. It's T2.
I don't really have a problem with the pacing in either movie. I mean, I guess I'd say it takes T2 a while to get going, where not much exciting shit happens until the terminators reach John. Whereas the first does a fantastic job of building tension at the start, building up to night club scene. But, even the slow start of T2 doesn't really bother me.
Terminator 1 for me. It was a cool concept and the Terminator was a menacing force to be reckoned with. I don't like T2 at all because they took that awesome character and completely neutered him with that no-kill rule AND they teamed him up with a bratty teenager. It doesn't matter who that teenager was.
BassForever
Member
Terminator 1 and Alien are fantastic sci fi slasher/horror films
Aliens is a fantastic sci fi action/horror film that continues the story in a natural way
Terminator 2 imo is not only a fantastic sci fi action/horror film, but one of the best films ever made with a fantastic moral to the story that not onky feels like a natural extension of the original film but brings the story to a perfect close.
Its a good thing they stopped making terminator films after 2, since those films would have diminished the beautiful mastery of that film's ending.
Aliens is a fantastic sci fi action/horror film that continues the story in a natural way
Terminator 2 imo is not only a fantastic sci fi action/horror film, but one of the best films ever made with a fantastic moral to the story that not onky feels like a natural extension of the original film but brings the story to a perfect close.
Its a good thing they stopped making terminator films after 2, since those films would have diminished the beautiful mastery of that film's ending.
PhantomZone
Member
I wouldn't know the exact number of times I have watched it. I saw it a few times at the cinema, it was the longest wait ever to get the vhs. When I did I watched it daily after school, took it to slumber parties on weekends. I watched it so much in the 90s I went years without seeing it again (just prior to T3s release.. was the first time I'd seen T2 in almost 6 years). I generally watch it 2-3 times a year.
SolVanderlyn
Thanos acquires the fully powered Infinity Gauntlet in The Avengers: Infinity War, but loses when all the superheroes team up together to stop him.
Wow, T2 beat out the joke answer.
That's all you really need to know.
That's all you really need to know.
Sir_Crocodile
Member
T2
T1000 is best terminator
T1000 is best terminator
Magic Mushroom
Member
Terminator, but they're both great.
Robocop is better than both though.
Robocop is better than both though.
aygomyownroad
Member
1 always
yes!
T1 has superior set pieces and Arnolds acting was better and more robotic in nature.
Beren the Empty-Handed
Member
What's the point of life if Thor 2 doesn't win polls?
Oveja Negra
Member
T1 obviously. The level of fear that machine induces anytime it appears on screen is just sublime. That sense of "no matter what you do, no matter how fast you run, I'll catch you and I'll kill you" was never achieved again in any other terminator film.
It's pretty obvious to me that T1's director gave Cameron a lesson on how to direct a movie.
T2 is not bad at all, actually is great, but it's no way at the same level of the original masterpiece.
It's pretty obvious to me that T1's director gave Cameron a lesson on how to direct a movie.
T2 is not bad at all, actually is great, but it's no way at the same level of the original masterpiece.
Fancy Clown
Member
Uhhhhh...so Cameron gave himself a lesson?
Norris1020
Member
As a kid nothing topped T2. But as an adult I enjoy T1's gritty look and story more than T2's blockbuster style although it's amazing how good T2 still looks today.
Terminator 1 is great, but Terminator 2 is even greatest despite some cringe john connor related moments.
So it's Terminator 2.
So it's Terminator 2.
I've always thought making Kyle Reese the father of John Connor, while a neat twist, felt entirely unnecessary. Kyle crushing on Sarah just because of a picture is creepy even if it's understandable considering how fucked up Reese is. I think Terminator 1 could still work perfectly fine without the love story jammed in there too.
Smooth Operator
Member
Predator.
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