Unofficial Arnold’s Sci-fi Corner

[LivingDeadGirl]

No cheating Bart! I don't think you need the keys to the site back yet, not even the spare ones. Don't make us throw that tough love on you again! heh

[Bartwald]

Heineken said:

Not even close. The original PITCH BLACK is only a couple of years old and its first sequel hasn't even been released yet. T2 on the other hand is 13 years old and you've already seen Part 3.

Here goes the explanation: I was sick of T2 by the time it hit the theatres because the adverts and trailers for it were everywhere - plus there was this G'n'R video that only seemed cool the first couple of times I saw it. Advertising killed T2 for me, then, on its original release, and when it came out on VHS I didn't think this sequel is something I should care too much about. The Terminator world is NOT my favourite cinema world, mind you. And why did I see T3? Just because it wasn't as much advertised as T2 and because I was hoping to get a more 'crazy' movie than anything Cameron can deliver (if you can say Cameron did anything crazy in his life it was Piranha 2: The Flying Killer); also, because there was a woman terminator in T3.

For some time now I wanted to finally see T2 but, believe me or not, it wasn't available for rent here - only weeks ago it came out as Q-DVD. I'll see it, I'll tell you what it's worth, but I honestly doubt it comes close to Pitch Black.

[spacer]

I must say something about the Terminator 3 The Rise of the Machines.
As I said earlier I enjoyed both previous parts greatly, so I waited with immeasurable impatience for the 3 part of it.
Before even I watched it I had been I a bit alarmed that Cameron is not directing it. But still I had hoped it would be a next masterpiece of SF. I haven't watched the trailers to stay fresh and unpolluted by the ads which tend to reveal what shoudn't be in advance.
In other way, I was very excited indeed.
To the detriment of my high expectations I was completely devastated. What they've done
Another glitzy brainless flick. A lot of stupid demolition without the trace of reason and logic, action full of illogical events (especially I detested the role of feminine terminator not that I am a male chauvinist but she was said to be very best newest model but behaved like the oldest and stupidest one), and all that shit to make it seem funny Definitely not to me. Like the scene when she gave the fax signal
But the saviour-to-be of the Humankind was even worse a complete failure.
Where's the depth, darkness and the serious message of previous parts. All gone!
But the film was not a complete disaster saved by the good old Arnie Terminator who remained the only part to enjoy save for the bullshit scene where he fights with himself because of what? his feelings? - the most pathetic and corny stuff Arnie was ever forced to play.
And the f/x were O.K. but most of them were mostly digressions delaying only the action and not being its vital part as in T1 or T2.

[Unbend5440]

The ending of Terminator 3 made it very worth it. There was at least an idea there that went against the typical action/sci-fi formula. I thought it was quite refreshing to have a movie like this with so much violence and action and destruction end with such a simple scene of dialogue. I do kind of agree with the T-X, though. She did seem to be a lot dumber than either of the previous Terminators. What I do like is the performance that the actress gives. There are these subtle things that she throws in there, imitating the previous 2 Terminators. Watch for her doing the surveilance camera scan, looking from left to right like the Terminator in part 1 did, and also the curious head tilt that the T-1000 did in Judgment Day. I also have to give tons of credit to Nick Stahl. There was a great mix of the immature obnoxious 10 year old John Connor, and the commanding hero that he obviously becomes.

As for other Schwarzenneger Sci-Fi movies, I loved The 6th Day. That has to be the best remake of Total Recall that I've seen.

[Heineken Skywalker]

On the one hand, I agree with just about everything Spacer said regarding T3. The most glaring defect to me were some of the attempts at humor, which were really lame.
1) Ooh, look at the bad ass Terminator wearing funny sunglasses! Hilarious.
2) "Talk to the hand!"?? That stopped being funny..... no wait, it was never funny!
3) The cameo by the doctor from the two previous movies was pointless and lame. And again. Not funny.
4) The Terminatrix's expanding bustline to distract the cop was silly.

On the other hand: Some of the special f/x, action scenes and stunts were fantastic and I did enjoy most of the continuation of the story, as was mentioned, the ending was good and not typical. It was interesting to see what became of Earth's saviour and I thought Nick Stahl made a pretty good John Connor.

It was entertaining, and I definitely didn't hate it, but it felt more like TERMINATOR LITE. It had most of the ingredients of previous entries in the series but wasn't as filling. THE TERMINATOR was a steak and a beer, T2 was a steak and lobster with a glass of red wine and T3 felt more like a cheeseburger and a coke. It'll fill you, but it's not nearly as tasty or memorable.
Linda Hamilton and James Cameron were definitely missed.
Bart, if you can, just purchase T2, don't even bother renting it. If you enjoyed 1 and 3, I can almost guarantee that you'll at least "like" part 2. You've got the slices of bread, T1 & T3, now you need the meat to put between them.
What is this, a movie forum or a cooking show?

[LivingDeadGirl]

Dude, you're making me hungry.... ;D Next you're gonna be going around yelling "Bam" all the time.

[Bartwald]

I can see that Heineken's Return injected lots of adrenaline into our whole team! I'm laughing my buttocks off reading today's posts! ...and I think we had a record-breaking number of new posts in Off The Chest today!

Very cool!

But hey - I must come back to my T2 DVD. So long, then.

[Bartwald]

So... T2, right?

There were moments in it when I was thinking 'Ahh... the guys from the board... I like them, I really do, and telling them the movie they adore in my opinion sucks - this won't be easy!' Thankfully it doesn't suck, after all, but my opinion ain't all golden either.

To the point now. Stuff that pissed me most:

- Edward Furlong and his girlie voice: thanks heavens for Nick Stahl in Rise Of The Machines!
- Linda Hamilton and her macho looks: I've no idea why Cameron fell for the woman but as for me... in all honesty, she was difficult to look at
- the sense of humour; you guys criticised the jokes in Part 3 but for me the ones in T2 were much worse! ESPECIALLY Furlong teaching Arnie how to talk in a cool way
- the overlong ending: half of it was thrilling, half of it totally unnecessary; I'd like to see 'Ridley Scott's cut' of it (meaning: shorter, all meaningful).

But then there goes the very good stuff:

- Robert Patrick: both he as an actor and his pain-in-the-ass terminator were the greatest highlights of the movie,
- some good tension here and there
- vision of the 'judgement day': thrilling!
- the violence! ...especially Robert Patrick dealing with Furlong's foster family,
- set pieces: you know, the truck, the helicopter, so on,
- the sfx, obviously (except for a cheesy Arnie thrown in the air by a blast near the end).

This T2 feels too much of an icon to give it less than 6 out of 10. But also, it really has enough very good moments to get these 6 points from me 100% fair. And my favourite Terminator is still Number 1: darker, fresher, more interesting, with a better Linda Hamilton and - last but not least - totally Furlongless.

[spacer]

Heineken said:

The most glaring defect to me were some of the attempts at humor, which were really lame.
1) Ooh, look at the bad ass Terminator wearing funny sunglasses! Hilarious.
2) "Talk to the hand!"?? That stopped being funny..... no wait, it was never funny!
3) The cameo by the doctor from the two previous movies was pointless and lame. And again. Not funny.
4) The Terminatrix's expanding bustline to distract the cop was silly.

It was entertaining, and I definitely didn't hate it, but it felt more like TERMNINATOR LITE. It had most of the ingredients of previous entries in the series but wasn't as filling. THE TERMINATOR was a steak and a beer, T2 was a steak and lobster with a glass of red wine and T3 felt more like a cheeseburger and a coke. It'll fill you, but it's not nearly as tasty or memorable.
Linda Hamilton and James Cameron were definitely missed.

Heineken, you hit the nail on the head.

[Heineken Skywalker]

Bartwald said:

So... T2, right?

There were moments in it when I was thinking 'Ahh... the guys from the board... I like them, I really do, and telling them the movie they adore in my opinion sucks - this won't be easy!' Thankfully it doesn't suck, after all, but my opinion ain't all golden either.

So my prediction in the other thread was right, huh?

To the point now. Stuff that pissed me most:

- Edward Furlong and his girlie voice: thanks heavens for Nick Stahl in Rise Of The Machines!

You know, his voice kinda bugged me at first too, it was only with later viewings that I got over it.

- the sense of humour; you guys criticised the jokes in Part 3 but for me the ones in T2 were much worse! ESPECIALLY Furlong teaching Arnie how to talk in a cool way

I don't agree. The humor in part 3 was much worse.
Wanna take it outside you punk??

- the overlong ending: half of it was thrilling, half of it totally unnecessary; I'd like to see 'Ridley Scott's cut' of it (meaning: shorter, all meaningful).

Meh.

I agree with your "good' points.

And my favourite Terminator is still Number 1: darker, fresher, more interesting, with a better Linda Hamilton and - last but not least - totally Furlongless.

"totally Furlongless" LOL!!
Honestly, I was a little disappointed when I first heard that Furlong wasn't back as Connor in T3, because I'm not a big fan of parts being recast in sequels, but Stahl did a good job.
I can respect that part 1 is your favorite, but how does T2 compare to T3?

[Bartwald]

"So my prediction in the other thread was right, huh?"

It was. Damn them Jedi powers!

"I was a little disappointed when I first heard that Furlong wasn't back as Connor in T3, because I'm not a big fan of parts being recast in sequels, but Stahl did a good job."

I was, too. Having seen Furlong in his other movies I thought he's rather OK and couldn't understand why they decided to replace him. Stahl was alright - he irritated me at moments too, but not as much as the T2 Furlong.

"I can respect that part 1 is your favorite, but how does T2 compare to T3?"

Both get 6 out of 10 but I like Part 3 a bit more. It's never as good as the best moments of T2 but then it's never as irritating as T2's lowest moments. And I feel more comfortable with even flicks.

[mightyalgo]

T1 will forever be the best, as T2 is just a lame retread with a couple of extra plot threads and arnie playing the good guy instead (which was the original plan anyhoo).

Did you know Lance Henriksen was the original terminator, but arnie insisted he should do it, and not play the good guy?

What a different movie that would have been.

you know, Lance out of "Millenium"?
He plays the white cop in T1.
Oh go on! That would be a lot better movie by miles.

[LivingDeadGirl]

I've never heard that about Lance, that's pretty cool! ;D Of course I've always been a bigger Henriksen fan than Arnold fan.

[spacer]

mightyalgo said:

T1 will forever be the best, as T2 is just a lame retread with a couple of extra plot threads and arnie playing the good guy instead (which was the original plan anyhoo).
Arnie was the perfect match for the role of killer machine but I don't agree that the second part was lame. 3rd yes but not the 2nd. Sequels usually suck but this wasn't the case. Both parts are great.

Did you know Lance Henriksen was the original terminator, but arnie insisted he should do it, and not play the good guy?
He did the right thing ;D Lance is not the guy for that role, Arnie saved the plot

What a different movie that would have been.
I'm afraid it wouldn't be as good ;D

Oh go on! That would be a lot better movie by miles.

[Heineken Skywalker]

I agree Spacer. I like Henriksen as an actor ovrall, but not in the role of The Terminator. (I think on the DVD they even include pre-production artwork by Cameron of Henriksen as The Terminator. Hell, O.J. Simpson was almost The Terminator.)
TERMINATOR 2 is a great sequel.