Definitely the original one.
Reasons:
-The original is, well, original. It was a product of great creativity. T2 inevitably reused many elements, even scenes, and started messing with its own plot/timelines to justify the second movie and Arnold finally getting to play a hero, which I wasn't impressed by very much. The internal inconsistencies in T2 are really frustrating.
- T1 is basically a horror movie. A frightening one really. T2 is fun, daytime action flick, that only occasionally, and briefly, resembles its older brother and most of the time, doesn't even try to be anything else than a mindless fun. And when it does try, it fails.
- The original was menacing, and Terminator was simply merciless machine, a nightmare that you couldn't get out of. T2 is a robo buddy who 'understands why humans cry', says all kinds of 90's teenage nonsense and is a fairly efficient cure for T1000. In T2 'Our guy' is a good enough match for the villain and it makes the whole journey a lot more comfortable. T1000 gets temporarily destroyed too many times, and you don't get that tension T1 has. You become bored of its action. You were afraid every time original Terminator was on screen in T1, because it was hopeless, as it should be with a bloody killing machine traveling back in time to do its only job.
- T2 was also a lot more melodramatic, as if subtle 'message' of the first movie wasn't clear enough for the audience. The 'future of humanity' anti nuclear war theme was clear enough even without Sarah's nightmares, and her narrating it all so even the most disengaged viewer who somehow missed less than subtle hints, will eventually understand the point. And T1 managed to pull off a romance, without descending into any kind of melodrama. T2 isn't as bad as new movies in that aspect, but I thought it was worth mentioning.
- And speaking about day and night. Night feels more 'natural' for a movie/story such as Terminator. T1 seems to understand it way better than T2 which, if it wasn't for the superb soundtrack, would look ridiculously 'happy' in its optimistic sunshine. T2 made the same mistake as Dark Knight movies, putting most of the movie in daylight (to show off new cool effects/costumes or what not).
- Arnold being protagonist rather than antagonist just screamed money, marketing, career, compromise etc.
- Some scenes that I suppose were meant to be 'plot twists' in T2 were ruined by advertisement even before we went to the cinema. And then again in opening narration. The entire first sequence, up to a scene where T800 and T1000 meet John (the shotgun/roses scene) is clearly shot with an intent to be ambiguous, making us think Arnold is, again, a bad guy (bar scene certainly doesn't establish a hero). When we know who the real bad guy is from the start, the tension of such scenes is really unnecessary and it doesn't have a desired effect.
- Humor in T2 was out of place and used way too much, from 'Hasta la vista' to 'I need a vacation'. Daylight, the boy and one liners just watered the movie down too much for me. I don't mind occasional black humor in this kind of movie, but T2 went full 90's here. Terminator became a clown, your friendly robo-toy. A parody of itself. And when he wasn't robo-emotional, he, a thing called Terminator, gave moral lessons to humans about how there is no hope for us because it is in our nature to destroy ourselves.
- T2 did have some nice action and the iconic main theme, and some special effects were ahead of its time, but all in all T2, although a bigger box office success, didn't live up to T1's horrifying greatness.
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foxhound-37781
8 years ago
Yeah you raise some very good points. I think it just boils down to the genre audiences were expecting out of T2.
T1 is a retro sci-fi/horror that did a fantastic job with building suspense and that's what audiences probably wanted out of T2. but what we got instead was just a straight up action film... I think Cameron probably was all about showing off the new 90's era of special effects and to do this he needed more day time scenes and just plain action
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croat-hr
8 years ago
I couldn't agree with you more.
T1 is a pure horror flick, and one of the best there is.
T2 is a teenage-friendly action pop corn movie. Not bad at all, but not nearly as good as the first one.
Also, Arnold's acting in T1 is better than in T2.
He's not a good actor at all, but he was really a perfect choice for playing a ruthless, emotionless robot, which he is supposed to be.
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foxhound-37781
8 years ago
Yeah I agree with you there, Arnie in T1 only has a very small amount of lines (which are basically just repeats of quotes he's heard other people say). The fact that he barely says anything adds to his robotic nature too. and back in the 1980's, Schwarzeneggers english was very limited at the time, so this was literally the perfect movie for him.
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