Terminator 1 vs Terminator 2

That's the thing. And it's already been touched upon.... T2 is an action movie. T1 is more a psychological thriller.

Arnold and his early stage Alopecia casts my vote against the original.

I would have to say that T2 is more emotionally involving, with wanting to stop judgment day and save humanity. T1 is really good too, but it feels more like an exercise in comparison to T2. But T2 is one of my top 20 movies of all time probably so I have kind of a biased towards it.

Cameron wasn't trying to make an emotionally charged movie with T1. That's the entire basis of Arnold's character... he literally has no emotion. T1 was intended to be a very dark, ominous film.

T1 is an absolute Masterpiece. Danny Boyle's best work and one of my all time favorites.

T2 I still haven't yet. I've heard it's a rehash of the original.

But even on that level it still feels incomplete, like it feels like a movie that is ready for a sequel, and that kind of prevents it from standing out on it's own. Even a dark movie needs to sweep one up more emotionally I feel. But it's been a long time and want to watch it again.

The thing about T1 is that the emotional hook comes from Sarah Connor and Kyle Reese, not the Terminator itself. Sarah's still an ordinary woman who gets dragged into an incomprehensibly traumatic situation where she's in line to become the first casualty of a globally devastating war, while Kyle is a war-ravaged soldier who's essentially going on a suicide mission out of an impossible love of Sarah (who he's only known about through a photograph). It's their relationship that serves as the story's emotional core, not anything to do with the Terminator (who, as noted, is an inherently unemotional being). Without their characterisation and connection, the film wouldn't be what it was.

Besides, T1 works on its own just fine. It establishes a stable time-loop of John Connor being born as a result of an attempt to assassinate his mother and it sees Sarah make the change from unremarkable pushover to determined survivor. For all of T2's good points, it's not like T1 felt like it absolutely needed a sequel to work (and the internal logic gets a little sloppier with each sequel, including T2).

__________________
Iro's Top 100 Movies v3.0

Does the original get a pass for some of the special effects and poor acting. I re-watched this a couple months ago and some stuff is a gamebreaker for me.

Sacriledge. Acting was dreadful but somecthings we don't speak of for fear of the Arnold.

I like his acting in Predator a lot. I think he got into that very well. Gabriel Byrne said that he liked the fact that Arnold wanted to improve and learn as an actor.

His greatest role as a thespian.

Gabriel Byrne got it good. Everyon needs to read the Arnold's unofficial bio.a tru inspiration.

Well after watching Terminator 1 again recently, I would still have to say Terminator 2 is the better movie. T2 has aged really well cause it was so ahead of it's time when it came out, to the point where when you watch it it today, it feels like it could have came out today, and it holds up that much.

Where as Terminator 1 clearly feels like a movie that came out in 1984. Not that that's a bad thing, it's still a really good movie, it's just T2 is ahead of it's time in comparison.

For me it's

1. Terminator 1
2. Sarah Connor Chronicles
3. Terminator 2
4. Terminator 3
5. Terminator Salvation

And I skipped the "new" one.

Happily own both on blu ray. Always favored the first film, but not denying the greatness and blockbuster nature of the sequel. More of an experience watching that one, feels like it has four acts, never gets old. But I just love Fiedel's original score from T1 and the suspense chase nature of it. It introduces the lore and is just a great movie. T2 took everything from T1 and then went Michael Bay with it (not an insult). I just love that "us against a killer machine" vibe of the first one. The romance, chemistry between Biehn and Hamilton, Biehn's performance, the locations, the ending, all of it is perfect to me. Not as impressive.

__________________
"They knew and they let it happen! To kids!"-Spotlight
https://tinyurl.com/ruffalospotlight

T2 is my favorite

genesys 4 lyfe

i previously cast my vote for t2, but i have to say T1 gives you a great look of how 80s scifi was and plants it in our head with the music and the whole grainy image and atmosphere, i love Los angeles how it is shown in the film, los angeles of the 80s, u feel like u live there,they show you the night life, with a great scene, when the arnold is on screen with that 80s synth.this film has tremendous rewatchability because of james cameron s camera work and direction, it feels like the terminator is gonna come for me and not sarah connor.

Same here. My particular taste in film is more in line with T2. Having said that, the first movie is a masterwork of cinema and I love that the fact that the first film is more of a scifi-horror thriller and the 2nd is a scifi-action thriller ......and both are definitely on my shelf.

Currently T2, but I haven't seen T1 in years so I'm being unfair.