Terminator 2: Judgment Day Review (Revisited Part 2) "No problemo!"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So, figured I would get one more post in before Christmas comes round and this one will be on yet another Arnie film and this one is of course Terminator 2 (or T2 if you like) which is the mega budgeted sequel to the original. So, this post will be a revisit of my previous post, which was also a revisitation of the much older original one.

So, with that said, let's load up and see how T2 fairs after 32 years...

And the usual warning is coming...

PLOT SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

STORY

OK starting with the usual stuff the story of the film begins back in 1995, where John Connor (Edward Furlong) is just a 10 year old boy, who at this time lives in Los Angeles with his foster parents.  John's mother Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton) however has been sent to an asylum after she tried to blow up a computer factory, and is monitored by Dr Silberman (Earl Boen) from the first film.  

Skynet in the future, still set on destroying the resistance, sends a new terminator back in time to kill the young John Connor, the terminator, a T-1000 model, is far more advanced than the T-800 model, which is composed of liquid metal and can imitate anyone it comes into contact with, as well morph its hands into stabbing weapons.  The T-1000 (Robert Patrick) assumes the identity of a police officer, and starts to track down John, but at the same time, the future resistance send back an older T-800 model Terminator (Arnie) to protect John.  

Both terminators eventually track John to a mall, and they end up both fighting each other, with John barely escaping on his motorbike.  The T-1000 chases John in a truck along the freeway and before he is run over, the T-800 rescues him, and shoots out one of the truck's tyres, causing to crash and explode, but the T-1000 soon emerges unharmed, as it morphs back into its normal form.

The T-800 (or Terminator as I will call him from now on!) then explains to John that his mission is to protect him and that he was sent by the future John.  The Terminator tells John that the T-1000 in attempt to kill him, will wait for John to contact his mother, who he will assume her identity and kill her.  John orders the Terminator to help him avoid Sarah from being killed, and they soon rescue her from the maximum security hospital, as she was in the process of trying to escape herself, but they are soon intercepted by the T-1000 who gives them chase, but they escape.  

John, Sarah and the Terminator then travel out south where Sarah meets with an old friend, Enrique (Castulo Guerra) who helped her during her resistance days.  Sarah during their stay has a terrible nightmare about the nuclear holocaust of Judgment day and this pre-empts her to go after the man responsible for creating Skynet, Miles Dyson (Joe Morton).  With the knowledge the Terminator has given Sarah, she travels out to Dyson's home and attempts to assassinate him, on entering his house however, on the verge of pulling the trigger, with Dyson's family around him, she can't bring herself to do it.  

John and the Terminator soon arrive once they realise what Sarah is doing, and they tell Dyson about Judgment day and the future.  Dyson agrees to go to Cyberdyne labs with them to destroy his research, however they are soon surrounded by police, and as the police breach the building, they shoot Dyson, who holds the detonator, wired to blow up his research, on his dying breath he lets it go, and blows the labs up.

John, Sarah and the terminator manage to escape the Cyberdyne building, but they are pursued by the T-1000 who chases them on the freeway, and they eventually arrive at a steel mill, where they face the T-1000 in the final final confrontation.....

THOUGHTS 
 
After the sleeper success of the original Terminator, Terminator 2: Judgment Day had quite a bit to live up to, and for the most part it delivers on its promise in doing so.  At its time it was easily the most expensive film ever made, budgeting at just under $100 million dollars, and CGI just in its infancy, it proved to be one of the most groundbreaking visual films in the last 30 years or so, which paved the way for computer imaged based films since.  In fact its probably safe to say that alot of films CGI have paled in comparison ever since this film was released so that is saying alot for how good the effects are.  

Terminator 2 also is definitely one hell of a thrill ride as there are plenty of great action set pieces throughout the film, of which some of the highlights are the first scene where John is confronted by the two terminators at the mall, the scene where Sarah tries to escape the hospital and stumbles into the Terminator coming out the lift.  And of course one of the biggest set pieces is the police seige at the Cyberdyne building, with the Terminator using a mini-gun to take out the police cars (with zero human casulaties measured down to the decimal point! (i.e. 0.0).

And if there is one thing that has changed in the terminator universe in the 2nd film then that is the added morality of the T-800 terminator being re-programmed to protect John Connor, and John ordering it to not kill anyone, and all of a sudden the terminator has become a tamer version of its former self.  But that's not to say the terminator still doesn't do a fair amount of damage in the film, as he certainly does that, with him throwing people through windows, stabbing them in the shoulders, or kneecapping them with a gun, as well as blowing stuff up.  

WARNING: BIG SPOILER MENTIONED BELOW!

The terminator also takes on a father figure for John in T2 where its mission is to protect John, which helps bridge the gap of not having a dad in John's life, but in the end the Terminator admits to John that its something he could never do, in which is one of the film's rare poignant moments at the end when terminator gently consoles John, before he sacrifices himself by lowering himself into the lava pit in the steel mill. 

PERFORMANCES AND NOTABLE SCENES (Warning: this section may contain spoilers and strong language!)

As for the cast well things are pretty good here overall.

Starting with Edward Furlong as John Connor, he does a pretty good job as the young cocky upstart, who despite his mischievious youth, realises the importance of his future existance and he also starts to take on a commanding position later in the film.  Admittedly though at times Furlong can be a bit annoying little knob when he is being cocky, and telling the Terminator how to talk and sound cool among people, "and if you really wanna shine them on, then its "hasta la vista, baby!", but overall he does his part well.   

Furlong also has some amusing moments such as the scene where John twigs that the Terminator has to obey his commands as the Terminator grabs him after telling its not a good idea to rescue Sarah from being killed by the T-1000. 

So, in the scene, the Terminator says to John "The T-1000's next best chance of success would be to copy Sarah Connor and wait for you to contact her" and John asks "What happens to her?" and the Terminator says "Typically the subject being copied, is terminated". John shocked then shouts "Shit! Why didn't you tell me?! We have to go there right now!!". The Terminator then grabs John and says "Negative. It's not a mission priority" and John angrily hits him and says "Well, fuck you! She's a priority to me!" but the Terminator won't let go and John shouts "What's your problem?! Goddamn it!" and he calls out "Hey get this pyscho off me! Let me go!" and the Terminator does so and John asks "Why the hell did you do that?!" and the Terminator says "Because you told me to". John then realises "You have to do what I say, huh?" and Termiantor says "Its one of my mission parameters" and John says "Prove it, stand on one foot" and the Terminator does so and John says "YES!". 

However, having called out, attracts the attention of two nearby jocks he tells one of them to "Take a hike, bozo!".  And one of the jocks says "Fuck you, you little dipshit!" and John says in response "Dipshit?!  You called "moi" a dipshit?" and he turns to the Terminator and says "Grab this guy!" and the Terminator grabs the jock by his hair, lifting him off his feet and John says "NOW who's the dipshit, you jock douchebag?!". However as the other jock tries to save him, the Terminator nearly kills the other one with a gun and John stops him and shouts "NO! Put that gun down NOW!!" which the Terminator does. So, as the two guys run off, John shocked says "Jesus, you were gonna kill that guy!" and the Terminator says "Of course. I'm a terminator". John however tells the Terminator "But you just can't go round killing poeple?" and the Terminator asks "Why?" and John "Because you just can't OK? Promise me on this!" and then he tells him "I'm gonna go and get my mom and I order you to help me!".  

Another good scene is when the Terminator tries to fix one of the jeeps and John talks to him about growing up with Sarah on the road. So, John says of Sarah and her brief relationship with Kyle Reese (his father) "She still loves him I guess. I see her cry sometimes, but she totally denies it of course, like she's got something in her eye". The Terminator then looks up and asks John "Why do you cry?" and John says "I don't know. People cry, you know, like when it hurts". The Terminator get's up from under the jeep and asks "Pain causes it?" and John says "No, its like their is nothing wrong with you but you're hurt anyways. Get it?" and the Terminator says "No" and he tries the jeep and it starts up and John excited says "Alright, my man!" and Terminator says "No problemo". Then John tries to teach the Terminator how to do a high five and says "High five me! Alright!" and John does it first but the Terminator then high fives him back and John winces in pain "Alrighhhtt!". 

Then there is the scene where John and ther Terminator having seen Sarah drive off abruptly, check the carving she made on the table that says "No fate". So, John says to himself "This is a messsage I made to memorise to give to her. So, the whole thing goes...the future is not set, there is no fate except what we make for ourselves". The Terminator then suggests "She intends to change the future" and John says "Yeah..." but then it dawns on him "Oh shit!" and Terminator says "Dyson" and John shocked says "Yeah, gotta be! Miles Dyson! She's gonna blow him away!" and he starts to run off "Come on, let's go! Come on, let's go! Come on!". 

Then there is the scene where John and Dyson at Cyberdyne enter the safe and retrieve the original Terminator from the first film's cpu and remains of its hand. So, in the scene, John and Dyson enter the vault and Dyson tells John "Now to get that out all you need to do is..." and John suddenly smashes the containers open and takes them saying to Dyson "We've got Skynet by the balls now, don't we!  Come on, let's book!".     

And last of all is the scene where (SPOILER!!!) the Terminator decides that he must be destroyed as well after the T-1000 has been melted in the steel mill and John becomes very upset by this as the T-800 has been like a father figure to him. 

So, in the scene after Sarah says "Its over", Terminator says "No. There is still one chip" and he points to his head and says "...and it must be destroyed also". John looks shocked by this and says "No. No! You can't!" and the Terminator says "I have to go away, John" and prepares to lower himself by grabbing a chain that dangles over the steel molten pit. John then grabs him and tearfully says "I order you not to go! I ORDER you not to go!" and the Terminator gently touches his face and says "I know why you cry, but its something I can never do" and the two of them hug for the first and last time. 

Robert Patrick as the newly enhanced T-1000 model terminator is perfect, as he plays the terminator almost like a cat, who is very cool and detached, and his ability to move in a smooth and stealth like manner, suits his ability to play the part perfectly in the film.

Patrick also has some good scenes such as the one where the T-1000 pays a visit to John's foster parents and asks them "Are you the legal guardian of John Connor" and John's foster dad, Todd says "Yeah, that's right officer. What's he done now?" and T-1000 says "May I speak with him please?" and Todd says "You would if he was here, but he took off on his bike an hour ago". T-1000 then asks "Do you have a photo of John?" and Janelle says "Yeah, one minute" and she goes off to get the photo. Todd then asks "What is this about?" and the T-1000 says "I just need to ask him a few questions" and Janelle gives him the photo and he says "He's a good looking boy. Do you mind if I keep this picture?" and Janelle says "No, go ahead". Janelle then says "There was someone here earlier looking for him" and Todd says "Yeah, a big guy on a bike. Is that something to do with this?" and the T-1000 looks up and says "No. I wouldn't worry about him. Thanks for your cooperation". 

Then there is the scene where after John, Sarah and the T-800 give the T-1000 the slip, the T-1000 is approached by a police officer riding a bike. So, the officer stops to ask him "Are you OK?" and the T-1000 says "Fine" and looks at the bike "Say.... that's a nice bike!".  

And last of all is the scene in the steel mill where the T-1000 corners Sarah as she fumbles to load her shotgun and shoot him and he swiftly knocks the shotgun away and impales Sarah's left shoulder with his finger turning into a sharp knive. So, the T-1000 tells her "Call to John" and he twists his finger causing Sarah to groan in pain and he says "I know this hurts, Call to John" and Sarah tries to resist. The T-1000 looks at her again and says "Call to John now!" and she looks at him and says "Fuck you!".

Linda Hamilton also gives a fine performance once again as Sarah Connor, who by now has become half crazed by her nightmares, and being imprisoned in a maximum security hospital, when she desparately wants to protect her son and try and end the nightmare that would become Skynet.  

So, this time round the Sarah we see is a far cry from the one in the first film, as she has become a more hardened, physically stronger woman, Linda has her share of good scenes and amusing moment in the film comes in her first scene where she is doing pull ups in her cell and Dr Silberman, who is giving a tour of the hospital to some guests, say good morning to her through the speaker com, and she says "Good morning, Dr Silberman, how's the knee?" and Dr Silberman awardly says "Fine, Sarah".  

Then there is the powerful scene which albeit is basically a retread of Reese's rant in the original film where we see a playback of a video tape of Sarah telling Silberman of her nightmare of Judgement day.  And in the scene forewarns "Its not a dream its real!  I know the date it happens and on 29th August 1997 its gonna feel pretty fuckin real to you too! Anybody not wearing two million sunblock is gonna have a real bad day, GET IT??!!".  And she continues by shouting "You think your safe and alive? You're dead, him, you everybody!! Everything you see this whole place is GONE!  You're the one living in a FUCKING DREAM, SILBERMAN!  BECAUSE I KNOW IT HAPPENS!  IT HAPPENS!!!".  

Then there is the scene comes when Sarah tries to escape from the hospital and she knocks out one of the guards and hits Silberman's arm with a trunchoen.  And Silberman painfully says "You broke my arm!" and Sarah spits back "There are 215 bones in the human body, that's one!  Now don't move!" and she injects a syringe she stole into a bottle liquid drainer. Then as the scene continues, she holds Silberman hostage with the syringe pressed at his neck and she tells the staff to open the door to let her out. Silberman however weakly tries to persuade her to stop "You're no killer, Sarah, I don't believe you'll do it" but Sarah tells him "You know I believe it, Silberman. Everybody dies, so don't FUCK WITH ME!!".  

Then we have the scene where Sarah infiltrates Dyson's house to assasinate him as she is poised outside with a sniper rifle, aiming through a scope as she watches Dyson work on his computer. However, just as she is ready to pull the trigger, Dyson's son rams a remote controlled toy car into his leg and he bends down and Sarah misses and shoots Dyson's computer screen and she then proceeds to shoot up the place and shoot Dyson in the shoulder.

And as Sarah runs in and points her gun at Dyson and his wife and son she says "Nobody fuckin move!" and she points to Dyson's wife "Down on the floor bitch! FUCKING DOWN NOW!" and she tells the boy to back away, who covers Dyson. Sarah then shouts at Dyson "Its all your fault, motherfucker! Its all your fault!" and Dyson shaking violently, having been shot in the shoulder asks "What?" and Sarah trembling herself says "I'm not gonna let you do it!". However Sarah can't bring herself to kill Dyson and she backs off against the wall and slides down on the floor tearfully.

Then there is the scene just after, where the Terminator and John arrive and the Terminator lays down the future events caused by Dyson's research. So, in the scene, Sarah narrates "Terminator laid it all down for Dyson. Judgment day, Skynet. Its not every day you learn you are responsible for the deaths of three billion lives. He took it pretty well" and Dyson shocked says "I think I'm gonna throw up!". Dyson then says to them "You're judging me on things I haven't even done yet. How are we supposed to know?". Sarah then scornfully says "Yeah right! How are we supposed to know? Fuckin men like you invented the hydrogen bomb! Men like YOU, thought it up! Men like you have no idea how to create something all you create is death and destruction..." and John interrupts shouting "MOM! We need to be a little more constructive here. I mean we still have to stop this from happening, don't we?".

Last of all is the scene where the T-1000 stabs Sarah in the shoulder in the steelworks and tells her to call John. So, in the scene after the T-1000 stabs Sarah, he tells her "Call to John" and Sarah in great pain defiantly says "No!" and the T-1000 twists his metal finger knive in and says "I know this hurts, Call John!" and Sarah resists and the T-1000 produces another sharp from a finger on his other hand and says to her "Call to John now" and Sarah looks at him and says "Fuck you!". 

Earl Boen also makes another appearance as Dr Silberman, and he provides a fair bit of amusement as the smarmy criminal psychologist, who does everything he can to keep Sarah down.  

And I will mention two of Boen's scenes incuding his first where he is taking some people on a tour around the institute and he tells them about Sarah. So, Silberman says of Sarah "29 year old female, who suffers from acute case of paranoid delusions. She said that her son in the future said a soldier back in time to protect her from a robot that was going to kill her". So, they stop at Sarah's cell door and hits the button on the intercom as she finishes doing pull ups and he says "Morning, Sarah" and she turns around and says "Good morning, Silberman. How's the knee?" and he smiles and says "Fine Sarah". Silberman then turns to the people he is with and says "She stabbed me in the kneecap with my pen a week ago". So, after the people he is with walk away, Silberman says to one of the orderlies "I don't like how she is disturbing things like this, see to it she takes her thorizine". 

Then there is there is the scene Sarah tries to convince Silberman that her stories of the Terminator and the future were just fantasies in an effort to try and see John.  So, in the scene Sarah says to Silberman "Well, Doctor. I have shown improvement, haven't I?" Silberman replies "Well Sarah, here's the problem.  I know how smart you are and I don't think you really believe what you are telling me today and I think you are just telling me what I want to hear.  And if I put you in minimum security wing I think you will just try and escape again".  And after Sarah fails to convince Silberman she tries to throttle him, and he gets away as the staff move in to restrain her he looks to the video camera recording the interview, and he says sarcastically "model citizen!".

Jeanette Goldstein and Xander Berkeley are also both very good in their roles as Janelle and Todd Voight respectively, who are John's foster parents. 

And I will mention a coupe of their scenes, starting with their first one where Janelle tells off John for not cleaning his room but he is on his bike revving it in an effor to ignore her. So, Janelle goes back inside and complains to Todd, "I swear to God, I have had it with that goddamn kid! He won't even answer me anymore!". Todd however just sits there and Janelle complains to him "Would you get off your butt and help me? Todd?!" and Todd says "What?!!" and Janelle says "He hasn't cleaned that room of his in a month!" and Todd annoyed says "Jesus, its an emergency, I'll get right on it" and he goes outside to John, who is now on his bike. So, Todd says to him "John, come on get your ass back inside, do what your mother tells you!" and John looks at him and says "She's not my mother, Todd!" and he drives off.  

And lastly there is the scene where John calls home from a pay phone, and Janelle answers it but she sounds suspiciously nice to him. So, as they talk Janelle says "John, where are you? I've been so worried!" and John covers the phone and says to the Terminator "Something's wrong, she's never this nice!". And in the background of Todd and Janelle's household, we hear the dog barking and Todd says "What is that goddamn dog barking at?" and he shouts at it "Hey shut up, you worthless piece of shit!" and John back on the phone looks worried "The dog is really barking". Todd then says to Janelle "I thought you told the kid to get rid of that fuckin mutt!" and we then see Janelle change phone hands and she pushes her right hand out and we hear noise and she says to John "John sweetheart, don't be long". The Terminator then takes the phone and asks John "What is the dog's name?" and John tells him "Max" and the Terminator asks "Janelle, I can hear Wolfie barking. Is he OK?" and Janelle says "Wolfie is just fine, sweetheart, he's fine. Where are you?" and the Terminator hangs up and tells John "Your foster parents are dead". And we cut back to see that Janelle has indeed been copied by the T-1000 who has stabbed Todd through his mouth with his arm formed into long metal shaped blade and he pulls it ot and Todd falls down dead, and the T-1000 morphs back into himself.

Joe Morton is also excellent in his role as Miles Dyson, the director of special projects at Cyberdyne systems, who unbeknownst to him, would go on to become the man who spurned Judgment day. 

So, I will mention a few of his scenes starting with the one where one of Dyson's staff tells him ne needs to sign out an order. So, the staff member asks Dyson "I wanted to ask you something" regarding the terminator's arm remains from the first film "Where did it come from?" and Dyson tells him "You know I asked them that very same question one time and you know what they said? Don't ask". 

Then there is the scene where after Sarah fails in her atttempt to assassinate Dyson, John and the Terminator arrive and the Terminator shows Dyson his robotic arm and later the future events after Judgment day. So, in the scene Dyson looks shocked and says "I feel like I'm gonna throw up. You're judging me on things I haven't even done yet. How are we supposed to know?". And after Sarah has a go at him, John says they have to be more constructive and they still have to change Judgment day from happening. 

Dyson's wife however suggests "But aren't we changing things right now? Changing the way it goes?" and Dyson says "That's right. No way I'm gonna finish the new processor. I'm out, I quit Cyberdyne tomorrow" but Sarah tells him "Thats not good enough" and the Terminator says "No one must follow your work". Dyson then says "OK, well then we have destroy all my files at the lab, everything. Everything. I don't care. Do you know about the chip?" and Sarah asks "What chip?" and the Terminator says "The cpu from the first terminator" and Sarah angrily says "Son of a bitch! I KNEW IT!". Dyson then says "They told us not to ask where they got it" and Sarah angrily says to herself "Those lying motherfuckers!" Dyson then becomes more animated as he tells them about the chip "It was scary stuff, radically advacned. It was shattered, it wouldn't work. But it gave us ideas, took us in new directions. Thing we would never..." and he stops as he realises he is getting carried away and says "All my work was based on it". 

And last of all is the scene where Dyson and the trio of John, Sarah and the T-800 arrive at Cyberdyne labs and place explosives around the lab and destroy his own work. So, in the scene Sarah says to John "Get started on the door" and to Dyson "Miles, hand me the detonator". However, as Dyson goes for it, the doors open and SWAT arrive and open fire and Dyson is shot several times and falls down with the detonator still in his hands. So, a few minutes later, the SWAT team move in and find Dyson dying and gasping for breath as he holds the detonator over a trigger and says desperately "I don't know how much longer I can hold this!" and the police scarper just before Dyson dies and drops the detonator on the trigger causing a massive explosion. 

And finally we have of course Arnold Schwarzenegger as the Terminator (or T-800 or if you like, the OG model!) and once again he is terrific at playing the cyborg, and his terminator in this film becomes a more humanised version of the remorseless killer in the original.  And there is plenty of room for humour in this film, where the terminator learns from John Connor how to adapt and ape human behaviour, as well as pick up phrases from him such as "hasta la vista baby" and "chill out, dickwad".  

Arnie has plenty of great scenes such as his opening one where the T-800 walks naked into a bar and analyses the customers and spots a biker who is a perfect match for his clothes size and he simply asks the biker "I need your clothes, your boots and your motorcycle".  And as the whole room erupts with laughter the biker says "Hey, you forgot to say please!" before making the mistake of stubbing out his cigar on the T-800's chest.  

Another good scene is when John asks the T-800 to swear to promise not to kill anyone when they arrive outside the psychiatric hospital. So, John tells the Terminator to stop and he asks "Why do we stop now?" and John says "Now remember our promise right?" and the Terminator asks "What?" and John says to him "Just put up your hand and say "I swear I won't kill anyone" and the Terminator does so. So, as the Terminator drives the bike up to the gate, one of the security staff comes over to them and Terminator takes out his gun and shoots the guard in one of his kneecaps and takes his gun and hits the button at the barrier to let them in and he says to John after "He'll live!".

Then there is the scene where the T-800 drives his bike with John on the back and he tells him about the T-1000 and the T-800 warns John not to go back to his foster parents house.  "Negative.  The T-1000 will definitely try and reacquire you there?" and John asks "Are you sure?" and the T-800 almost sarcastically says "I would".

Then we have the scene where the T-800 subdues a bunch of armed cops at the Cyberdyne building while taking heavy gunfire to his chest and face. So, as the Terminator approaches them, he caps the officers in the knees with his gun, but before he does he says to John and Sarah "Stay here. I'll be back". Afterward he goes outside and fires several rounds of tear gas to incipacitate the police officers and he goes up to one takes their mask and says "Here hold this!" and gives him the smoke grenade launcher and gets into a police truck, and as he is about to hotwire, he remembers John earlier telling him to look under the sun flap and he finds the keys there.  

And last of all there is the final showdown at the steelworks plant which starts with the T-1000 suffering the effects of colliding into liquid nitrogen its body starts to freeze and crumble and the T-800 aims his gun and says "Hasta la vista, baby!" and shoots, blasting the T-1000 into a thousand pieces.  And.... (SPOILER!) after the T-800 finally destroys the T-1000 by firing a grenade launcher shell at it, blowing it apart it falls into a pit of molten lava and dissolves.  And the T-800 afterward wearily says "I need a vacation" but then says "There is still one more chip and it must be destroyed also" pointing to his head.  And as John tearfully begs him not to go the T-800 says to him "I now know why you cry.  But its something I can never do".        

DIRECTION AND MUSIC

Finally getting onto the film's director, there is not much doubt that James Cameron has done an excellent job with T2 and he keeps the film zipping along at a fairly quick pace and he is no stranger on how to shoot a great action sequence and T2 has plenty.  Cameron also confidently handles for the most part the story's characters and manages to elicit some pretty good performances from the cast although I've already mentioned them so I won't need to again.  Music wise the film also features a fine score by Brad Fiedel who of course did the music for the original Terminator film and in this film he expands on the score from the original and manages to make it sound bigger and better than the first one.  

FLAWS 

As for T2's flaws...... well yeah OK it has a few.

So, to start off it has to be said that one of the main ones for me is Linda Hamilton's mostly cringeworthy narration, which is for the most just embarrassing to listen to.  An example of which is the scene where Sarah watches John with the terminator who tries to make him learn human phrases and give a thumbs up, and she says "In an insane world, it was the sanest choice".  Also the her final line is probably the worst where she says "Because if a terminator can learn the value of human life, maybe we can too!".  God!!!!!!

The tone of T2 is also alot more cheesy overall than the fairly straight dramatic tone of the original, and it allows for some pretty corny moments, especially with the young precocious John and his young friend with the mullet hairdo (despite the fact this film was made in 1991, they still hadn't quite yet got out of the 80s!) saying "cool, piece of cake!" etc etc.  And in regards to the director's cut of the film while most of the additional scenes are good there are some corny ones too such as the one with Dyson's family, as he is so obssessed with his work, his wife comes in and reminds him "why don't you make time for your other babies!" as his kids peep their heads round the corner and race into the room its like something out of a TV advert!

The film also falls foul to that rather annoying tradition in action movies of its time where they keep referring to dialogue from the original film such as Arnie saying "stay here I'll be back!" or the T-1000 saying "Get out", which Arnie said in the first Terminator film when he tells a truck drive to beat it out the tanker.  And I also can't forget the one line where the T-800 having rescued Sarah from the hospital guards and says to her that immortal line uttered by Reese in the first film "Come with me if you want to live".  Yeah its a very bad trend and as the series went on it got worse by the time we got to the incredibly medicore Terminator Salvation it reached fever pitch!   

Another issue stems from the casting of Edward Furlong which in terms of his age was a bit miscast as John in the film was supposed to be 10 years old, yet Edward Furlong was 13 at the time and clearly looked a bit too old to play the part.  So in that respect Ed looks less than believable as a 10 year old boy and if he was 10 than he would clearly be pre-pubescent and his voice wouldn't have broken but this clearly is the case with Ed here!  But this purely boils down to an issue with the age of Furlong himself and of course there are plenty of other actors who were cast in films who were much older than they were supposed to be, e.g. Malcolm MacDowell in A Clockwork Orange who at the time of making the film as 27 but he was playing a 15 year old.

Further to this point, there is also an issue with Sarah's age, as Silberman says she is 29 years old, which given the film was set in 1995 would mean Sarah was born in either 1965 or 1966. Now, that would mean that Sarah was only 19 when she gave birth to John, which suggests that the events of the first Terminator film meant she was only 18 at the time. However, you'd imagine that surely Sarah would have been a bit older in the first film, at least in her earlier 20's and not just 18, plus she was getting in nightclubs without ID and are they not supposed to be for people aged 21 or over??? Anyway just a thought and one that doesn't quite sound right in terms of Sarah's appearance in the first film.

Another problem I have with the film is to do with the Terminator's lack of understanding of human behaviour as on one hand it says it has detailed files of human anatomy but it also has to ask what is wrong with John when he sees him cry at one point during the film.  Now this is a flaw because in the film the Terminator clearly must know something about human behaviour as it knows how to lie and that is pretty much without any of John's future tutelage for the T-800 on how to do sarcastic putdowns etc.  And a lie is of course part of human behaviour and if the T-800 knows that he/it must have some understanding of human emotion and crying, so clearly I think its a bit crap in the film when the T-800 doesn't recognise this. 

Then there is a continuity flaw within the series, as when at the end when the T-1000 is destroyed and the T-800 sacrifices itself by being lowered into the steel mill lava pit, doesn't this mean that Skynet will no longer exist? As if the only two surviving terminator cpus, are the one which came from the first terminator as well as the remains of its skeletal arm, which Dyson used for his research, and the one inside the T-800 in this film, once they are destroyed along with Dyson's research at Cyberdyne, does this not change the timeline and thereby Skynet will be pre-emptively aborted?  Because if Terminator 3 is anything to go by then this certainly isn't the case, as it would appear the destruction of the two cpus and the cyborg arm, would only postpone judgment day, and the hellish future world will still remain the same.  And this is where the whole logic of the timelines becomes blurred, and in that regard it was something that was done that bit better in Back to the Future!

But further to this point if you look closer at the scene where the T-800 and T-1000 fight each other at the steelworks plant and the T-1000 pushes and thereby jams the T-800's hand into a large gear in the next scene the T-800 uses a crowbar to snap off his hand to free himself from the gear.  Now.... by doing this the T-800 had left his severed mechanical hand behind and in doing so he ensured that Skynet will still exist in the future as he had neglected to pick up his own hand and throw it into the lava himself.  

So this means that investigators searching place were sure to find the T-800's hand and from there it would doubtless find its way into the hands of more government scientists and before you know it, voila!.... we have Skynet once again.  So in short, thanks T-800, you failed in your mission to prevent the creation of Skynet and from the worldwide genocide of Judgement day as it was always ensured that it would happen! ;-) 

So, that's it for the flaws.

SUM UP

So, to sum up, Terminator 2 still remains a highly entertaining sci-fi action film after over 30 years later as well as one of the most groundbreaking films in terms of computer generated effects, as the T-1000's liquid metal effects still hold up really well to this day. The film also features some great action setpieces and James Cameron keeps the pace going nicely throughout and ramps up the tension as the film progresses. There are also of course some fine performanes from the cast as Arnie is perfect again as the re-programmed Terminator, and Edward Furlong makes a fine debut as John Connor, and Linda Hamilton also nicely reprises her role as Sarah Connor, plus Robert Patrick is perfect as the eerie and patient T-1000.

And despite some plot holes and minor flaws elsewhere, Terminator 2 still remains one of the most seminal and groundbreaking films of the 1990's. 

So, I will rate T2:

9 out of 10 

So, that's it for now and I might not make another post in time before Christmas, so I will wish you all a Merry Christmas just now and see you back on here with another one before the New Year. 

So, until then have a good one! 

Total Recall Review (Revisited) "Get your ass to Mars!"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So, its time for another post revisit and this one is on the sci-fi classic action thriller, Total Recall starring Arnold Schwarzenegger.

So, after 33 years, let's take another look and see how Total Recall fairs...

And the usual warning is coming...

PLOT SPOILERS ARE AHEAD 

STORY

Right so the story begins with the story's main protagonist, Douglas Quaid (Arnie) waking up from a nightmare as he was dreaming about being on Mars alongside a mysterious woman but in the dream he slips down a mountain and cracks open his space helmet, which results in him beginning to suffocate.  Quaid however has a decent normal life where he works as a construction worker and is married to the beautiful Lori (Sharon Stone).  Quaid says to Lori that they should move to Mars but she is discouraged by the idea and tries to convince him not to.  

Quaid then decides to go to Rekall, which is a company who provides implant memories of vacations and opts to go on a trip to Mars as a secret agent.  However during the procedure something goes wrong and Quaid becomes agitated and appears to reveal some repressed memories and he is sedated by the Rekall staff who also wipes his memory and put him in a taxi.  As Quaid comes round after he is dropped off he is suddenly met with his fellow worker and friend, Harry (Robert Costanzo) along with some other construction workers they lead him away at gunpoint but Quaid suddenly out of nowhere reveals he has superior fighting skills and he kills them and flees.  

Quaid returns home where he tells Lori of his visit to Rekall and how he killed the construction workers, which leads to Lori making a call to someone unknown.  Soon after Quaid is attacked by Lori who attempts to kill him with a gun but he soon disarms her and she admits that their marriage was a fake and his memories of their marriage were implants and his job was set up by an agency and she herself was sent by her boss, the corrupt Vilos Cohaagen (Ronny Cox).  Quaid then knocks out Lori and then leaves but is soon persued by one of the Cohaagen's henchmen, Richter (Michael Ironside) who turns out to be Lori's real husband but he manages to escape them.

Quaid afterward is given a suitcase containing money, gadgets, false IDs, a disguise and a video recording which is of himself except in the video Quaid calls himself "Hauser" and says that he used to work for Cohaagen but he found out about a precious alien artefact on Mars, which Cohaagen is after, so he had his mind wiped to protect himself.  Hauser tells Quaid to get to Mars and also remove a bug that was implanted in his head, which he does by using a special gadget provided in the suitcase and he flees just as Richter and his men arrive. 

And from here, Quaid travels to Mars where he must find a way to discover his hidden memories and stop his enemies...

THOUGHTS

There is not much doubt that Total Recall is one of Arnie's most entertaining films but it is also one of his most violent as well but it still manages despite that to be a fairly intelligent sci-fi action film which has no shortage of twists and turns.  The film itself is based on a story "We can remember it for you wholesale" by the legendary sci-fi writer, Philip K.Dick and at the time the writers of Alien and also of this film's screenplay, Ronald Shusset and Dan Bannon tried to get the book made into a film but to no avail.  

And after being taken to several studios and years afterward, Arnie himself was interested in the project and got the film production company, Carolco to buy the rights for the film and insisted that he star in it as well and also even managed to give himself rights to veto any member of the production and the studio (wow!).  After Arnie was onboard and negotiated his salary for the film he then approached Paul Verhoeven to direct the film having been impressed with him from seeing Robocop and the rest is history.

PERFORMANCES AND NOTABLE SCENES (Warning: this section contains spoilers and strong language!)

Performance wise Total Recall is actually pretty good overall even though Arnie as we all know was never and is never going to be the greatest Thespian on the planet, he still slips effortlessly into playing the role of Quaid and provides the usual wisecracks along the way as well as racking up a hefty bodycount.  

Arnie has his share of good scenes in the film himself such as the one where after having killed his co-worker Harry and some construction workers goes back to Lori and she says "Those assholes at Rekall have fucked up your mind! Youre having paranoid delusions!" and Quaid shows her his bloody hands "You call THIS a deluison?!".  And in the same scene after they fight, Quaid holds a gun to Lori who nervously says "You wouldn't shoot me, would you Doug?  After all we've been through" and Quaid considers it and says "Yeah some of it was fun!" and he punches her knocking her out cold, he takes his jacket and leaves saying "Nice knowing you!".  

Then there is the scene where Quaid goes to an abandoned building and opens the suitcase he was given and plays a video of himself or "Hauser" and Hauser says to Quaid "Well howdy buddy. If you're watching this video, then I assume I am talking to myself and you've got a wet towel wrapped around your head. Now get ready for a big surprise. You are not you anymore.  You are me!" and Quaid says "No shit!". And as the scene carries on, Hauser tells Quaid "Right first off all, we need to get rid of that bug in your head. Just take the device out of the case and shove it up your nose, don't worry its self guiding" and Quaid nervously prepares the device and he shoves it right up his right nostril and Hauser says "Just shove real hard!". Quaid then painfully pulls with the device as his nose begins to bulge with the effort of pulling the bug out and Hauser says "Careful, its my head too!" and Quaid finally pulls out the bug and looks at it. 

Hauser in the video then tells Quaid "This is the plan. Get your ass to Mars, and go to the Hilton Hotel and flash the fake Brubaker I.D. at the front desk, that's all there is to it. Just do as I tell you. You can nail that son of a bitch that fucked you and me. I'm counting on you, old buddy. Don't let me down!".  

Another good scene comes when Quaid is visited Dr Edgemar on Mars who tries to persuade him to take the pill and that he is still at Rekall strapped into the chair and Quaid says "Ah I get it!  I'm dreaming!  And this all part of the wonderful vacation your company has provided!".  Dr Edgemar then tells Quaid "I'm afraid you've suffered a schizoid embelism and you are in a free falling delusion, which you are making up as you go". and Quaid asks "If this is my delusion, then who the hell invited you?" and Edgemar tells him "I've been artificially implanted to bring you down". Quaid then says "Let's say this is a dream" and he points his gun at Edgemar's head and says "..then I can pull this trigger and it won't matter". However as Edgemar gives him the pill and persuades him to swallow, Quaid notices a bead of sweat on Edgemar's head and Quaid shoots him dead and spits out the pill. 

Then there is the scene where Quaid is taken to Cohaagen after Quato has been killed and Cohaagen says to Quaid "Well, my boy, you're a hero!" and Quaid angrily says "Fuck you" and Cohaagen says "Now, don't be modest!". And as Cohaagen explains his convoluted plan to expose and kill Quato by using Quaid in place of Hauser, Quaid says "Well, Cohaagen, I've got to hand it to you. Its the best mind fuck yet!". Cohaagen then says "Don't take my word for it, an old friend of yours has something to say" and he plays another video of Hauser. 

So, Hauser in the video says "Howdy, Quaid. If you're watching this, that means that Kuato is dead, and you led us to him. I knew that you wouldn't let me down. Sorry for all of the shit I've put you through, but hey, what are friends are for? All I want to do is wish you happiness and good living, old buddy, but unfortunately, that's not gonna happen. You see, that's "my" body you have there, and I want it back. Sorry for being an Indian giver, but I was here first. So, adios, amigo and thanks for not getting yourself killed! Who knows? Maybe we meet each other in our dreams, you never know!" and he smiles as we see Cohaagen along side him.

And last of all there is the scene where Quaid fights Richter on a lift as the lift rises, Quaid hits him and leaves Richter dangling who grabs hold of Quaid's arms but as the lift rises over a structure, Richter's arms are severed and falls to his death and Quaid holds Richter's arms, throwing them away he shouts out "See you a the party, Richter!!".

Sharon Stone who was virtually unknown back then is excellent here as the seductive and dangerous Lori who poses as Quaid's wife but really is working as an agent for Cohaagen.  

Sharon obviously has some good scenes as well such her opening scene where Quaid wakes up from his nightmare and she comforts him but get's angry when she asks him about his dream with another women on Mars. So, she asks "Who is she?" and Quaid smiles and says "Lori, I can't believe you are jealous of a dream" and Lori asks "Who is she?" and Quaid says "Nobody" and she says teasinlgy "Nobody! Tell me who she is" and Quaid says "I don't know!". Lori then becomes annoyed and starts slapping him "Its not funny! You dream about her every night!" and Quaid says "But I'm always back in the morning!" and Quaid grabs her and says "Come one, baby, you know you're girl of my dreams" and they kiss and she says to him as she undoes her top "I'll give you something to dream about!".  

And later on in the scene where Lori attacks Quaid she reveals to him the truth about himself as he holds her at gunpoint. So, Quaid says "Talk! I said talk!" and Lori gasps "I'm not your wife!" and Quaid says "The hell you're not!" and Lori says "I swear to God, I've only known you for six weeks, our marriage was an implant at the agency". And Quaid asks "My job, eight yours together?" and Lori says "The job's real, the agency set it up" and Quaid let's her go and says "Bullshit!". Lori get's up and says "I was written in as your wife to watch and make sure the erasure took" and she says "Sorry Quaid, you're whole life is just a dream" and Quaid asks "Well, if I'm not me, who the hell am I?" and Lori says "Beats me I just work here".  And then Lori follows it up by saying "You were the best assignment I ever had" and Quaid says "I'm honoured!" and Lori says "Are you sure you don't want to?  Just for old time's sake?  If you don't trust me you can tie me up!".  

And later on there is the scene where Dr Edgemar tries to persuade Quaid to take the pill and he shoots him dead instead which prompts Lori to say "Now you've done it!  NOW YOU'VE DONE IT!!!" which is a signal for Cohaagen's men to burst in and capture Quaid.  And in the scene Lori kicks Quaid in the face "That's for making me come to Mars!" and she then kicks him in the nuts "You know much I hate this FUCKING PLANET!" and kicks him again and he passes out.  

And then in her last scene there, Stone as Lori engages in a fist fight with Melina and as she is about to kill Melina, Quaid shoots Lori's knife out of her hand and she says to him "Doug, honey... you wouldn't hurt me, would you, sweetheart? Sweetheart, be reasonable. After all, we're married!" and she goes to shoot him and Quaid kills her with a shot to the head. Quaid smiles and glibly says to her "Consider that a divorcce!".

Ronny Cox who is great as the main antagonist of the film, Cohaagen who is a corrupt governor of the mining colony on Mars.  And Cox also has some great moments such as the one where he calls Richter to his office and he says to Richter "Richter, you know why I'm such a happy person?   Because I have one of the greatest jobs in the solar system. As long as the turbinium keeps flowing, I can do anything I want. Anything!  In fact, the only thing I worry about is, one day, if the rebels win, it all might end".  And then Cohaagen turns angrily to Richter and yells "AND YOU'RE FUCKING MAKING IT HAPPEN!!".  

Another good scene from Cox comes when Cohaagen is looks at Kuato's dead body and he says to him "So this is the great man!" and he pulls back the cover saying with disgust "No wonder he kept out of sight!".  And then there is the next scene where Cohaagen has Quaid and Melina placed in the implant chairs to have their minds erased and he says to Quaid "And you like Melina right?  Well, you get to fuck her every night!  That's right, she's going to be Hauser's babe!".  And Melina angrily says "I'll bust his balls!" and Cohaagen says "Uh-uh, Princess. We're having you fixed. You're gonna be respectful, compliant, and appreciative... the way a woman should be!" and she spits in his face!  

And lastly there is the scene near the end where Cohaagen tries to stop Quaid from activating the tirbinium reactor and he says to Quaid "In thirty seconds you'll be dead, and I'll blow this place up and be home in time for Corn Flakes!". And as Quaid tries to touch the reactor, Cohaagen fires a warning shot at him and says "I wanted you to be Hauser, but no, you had to be Quaid!" and Quaid says to him "I AM Quaid" and Cohaagen "You're nothing! You're nobody! You're just a stupid dream! Well all dreams come to an end!".

Rachel Ticotin is also very good in her role as Melina, the woman of Quaid's dreams who eventually helps Quaid and falls in love with him as they fight together against Cohaagen.  

Rachel has some good moments in the film as well such as the scene where Melina meets with Quaid at the bar and she says to him "Hello Hauser.  Still bulging, I see" and she grabs his crotch and says "What have you been feeding this thing?" and Quaid says "Blondes" and Melina sexily says "Its still hungry!".  And after they go upstairs she get's him in a room and then she slaps him in the face saying "You son of a bitch!  You're alive?  I thought that Cohaagen tortured you to death!". Melina then kisses Quaid and says "Hauser, thank god you're alive!" but Quaid pushes away and says "Melina! I don't remember you or us!". Melina then says "Hauser you've lost your mind" and Quaid tells her "Now I'm Quaid. Douglas Quaid". 

Quaid then pleas with Melina to help him "Melina you've got to help me!" and Melina pushes him toward the door "Get out!" and Quaid points to his head and says "Hauser says there is enough in here to nail Cohaaegen for good!".  However as Melina pushes further and says "Get out!" and Quaid says "Melina, please! People are tying to kill me!" and Melina takes a machine gun and points it at him and says "Really?!" and Quaid says "Fine, I'm leaving!".  

And later on there is the big fist fight between Melina and Lori and after Quaid kills Lori, Melina looks up and says to Quaid "THAT was your wife?!" and Quaid nods and Melina get's up saying "What a bitch!" and Quaid shrugs as Melina get's up.  

Then there is the scene where Coaahgen has Quaid and Melina strapped into the machines where their minds will be altered and Melina defies Cohaagen's wish to have her turned into an obedient partner. So, Cohaagen says to Quaid "As for Melina, you get to fuck her every night. That's right, she's gonna be Hauser's babe!" and Melina says "I'll bust his balls!" but Cohaagen tells her "No, we're having you fixed. You're going to be appreciative, obedient, just like every woman should be" and Melina then spits in his face. However, after Quaid manages to free himself from the machine and kills Cohaagen's men, Quaid releases her from the machine and asks "Melina! Are you still you?!" and Melina dazed says "I'm not sure. What do you think?" and she kisses him and says "Let's get the hell out of here!".

And last of all there is the film's last moment (PLOT SPOILER!!!!!!!) where Mars has been saved by Quaid who turns to be Melina and says "I just had a terrible thought, what if this is a dream?" and Melina says "Well then kiss me quick before you wake up!".

And lastly we have Michael Ironside who is great in his role as Richter, Cohaagen's psychotic henchman and he appears to relish in his part.  Ironside is pretty much great as soon as he steps on screen and his first scene quickly sets the tone for his character as he runs in to check on Lori and one of his men goes to help her but Richter kicks the man aside and warns him "Don't touch her!".  

And in the scene after Richter fails to capture Quaid there is a good moment when Richter says "I want that fucker dead!" and his associate Helm says "I don't blame you, I wouldn't want Quaid porkin my old lady" and Richter threateningly says "You saying she liked it?!" and Helm teasingly says "No I'm sure she hated every minute of it!".  

And then there is the scene where Quaid is placed in the implant chair and Richter asks the doctor who is about to work on Quaid "Excuse me, doctor, but is he gonna remember any of this?" and the doctor says "Not a thing" and Richter smiles saying "Oh really?" and he punches Quaid hard in the face.  And as Cohaagen says to Quaid "Oh by the way I'm having a party tonight.  Why don't you and Melina drop by" and Richter grins saying "See you at the party!".  

And another good scene for Ironside comes when after Quaid escapes from the implant process, Richter goes into Cohaagen's office and says "You have to make a decision, sir" and Cohaagen ponders and finally says "Kill him!" and Richter smiles and cocks his gun saying "Its about goddamn time!". Richter then leaves hurriedly and Cohaagen angrily kicks over a fish tank, which cracks open with all the fish swimming about on the floor.   

DIRECTOR AND MUSIC

And now for the director and music starting with the film's director Paul Verhoeven who has done an excellent job with the film and when it comes to making compelling violent action films he is second to none (well he was back then anyway!).  Verhoeven also keeps the action and the pace going pretty thick and fast so the film is never in any danger of lagging and he also manages to get some pretty good performances out of his cast (well most of them!).   

As for the film's music it features an excellent score by the late and great Jerry Goldsmith and the film's main theme is a memorable one also.  Goldsmith also nicely blends in some orchestral and electronic arrangements into the score and it features some excellent tracks (especially the chase scene music for Quaid near the start and the theme where Quaid "opens his mind" to Kuato). So, overall it provides the perfect tone for the film with a good mixture of atmosphere and suspense.

FLAWS

Right as for the flaws.......well yeah OK Total Recall has some problems. 

For starters I would say one of the problems I have with the film is its over the top violence which is quite extreme at times.  And even though it is never really disturbing there are some moments where it can make the viewer uncomfortable but at other times laugh out loud (especially when in one scene Quaid jams a crowbar through the head of one of Cohaagen's scientists!).  But one such example of the film's violence being over the top and unpleasant is in the scene when Quaid uses an innocent bystander on a moving escalator as a human shield, who proceeds to get shot to pieces as Quaid uses him for cover to take down Richter's men.  Its always been the one violent scene in the film that I felt went just that bit too far but then again in Verhoeven's mind you can never go too far, morely a case you can never go far enough no doubt!

Another thing that bugged me was some of the special effects are a bit naff looking especially the rather pointless scene where Quaid tries to disguise himself as a women using a special body suit and a face mask, which starts to malfunction and he is forced to deactivate it and reveal himself.  But it begs the question???  Why didn't he just change his clothes and wear a baseball cap and some shades or something???  Or even shave his head??!!  Achh well.

The visuals of the film also look a bit ugly at times, especially the Mars sequences which have some a drab colour palette (well it is Mars I guess!) but in future films such as The Martian, they succeeded in at least making Mars look a bit more pleasing to the eye but here it is pretty ugly (but I guess that was maybe the point).   

Then there are some annoying inclusions in the film such as the Johnny cabs, which are just a daft idea of having a friendly robotic cabbie automatically driving the cab for passengers (voiced by Robert Picardo). In fact the moment where Quaid yanks out the Johnny cab robot and self drives it himself has that silly moment where it says "Fast your seat belt!" and "We hope you enjoyed the ride!". 

Another thing was although I never read the short story by Philip K. Dick I would however imagine that the original story was probably aimed to be a bit more cerebral than it ended up being here and as such I think while Verhoeven has made a good solid sci-fi action film, he also has somewhat dumbed down the concepts a bit as well to make room for the film's mindless violence.  And if that is the case with the story then it in itself is a bit of a letdown as it would have been good if the film had a better balance of its clever ideas as well as the action involved too, but here it has to be said its probably 80% action and 20% ideas.  But again I guess they needed to make the film more accessible to a mainstream audience and with Arnie involved you would always get your fair share of violence anyway.

Anyway that's it for the flaws.

SUM UP

So that's it for my look at Total Recall which is still a very enjoyable sci-fi action film and its hard to believe that its been out for 33 years already!  And it has to be said that even though the film has its share of cheesy moments and a rather excessive level of violence its still one of Arnie's strongest films and it still is worth a look after three decades on from its release.

So, I will rate Total Recall:

9 out of 10

So, that's it for this one and I will be back soon with another post hopefully before Christmas.

Until then get your ass to Mars! ;-)

Resident Evil 4 Remake Review

 

 

 

 

 

 

So folks as we are now into December, I figured its time to do another review before Christmas and this one will be on a video, which is Resident Evil 4 Remake, which is a remake of the acclaimed 2005 original. 

So, how does it compare to the original? Well, let's take a look and find out...

STORY

So, as for the story, I will mention briefly what it is about, as it follows Leon Kennedy, a former cop, who is now a US government agent, who is given the assignment of rescuing the President's daughter, Ashley, who has been held captive in a village in rural Spain. On arriving in the village, Leon is soon attacked by the villagers, who have been infected with the Las Plagas parasite. Leon himself is soon captured the village head, Mendez, who injects Leon with the parasite but Leon manages to escape along with the help of Luis, who once worked for the Umbrella corporation. 

Leon soon rescues Ashley, who has been infected with the parasite also and together they must try and find a way to cure themselves and stop whoever is behind the mysterious cult that controls the infected villagers. But along the way, Leon and Ashley also find help in the form of one of Leon's former acquiantences, the mysterious Ada Wong, who is after something for an old foe...

THOUGHTS

As a remake, Resident Evil 4, is a terrific update of the original game, which excels on just about every level in terms of its presentation, visuals and its storytelling. The game also keeps the humour of the original too with Leon's quips still in tact with the most famous being when all the villagers vanish after they attack him as they heare the chime of a bell and after they leave, Leon asks "Where did they all go? Bingo?!". It also does a fine job at restaging the action scenes from the game and keeping everything that bit tighter in terms of pacing as the game clocks in at around 17 hours as opposed to the 25 hour run time for the original. In short, the remake really does build very impressively on the acclaimed original in just about every way.

GAMEPLAY

As for the gameplay, I will do my usual and split it into sections as below.

WEAPONS AND COMBAT

Starting with the weapons, Leon has a good selection of weapons to choose from here as there is a mix of handguns, shotguns, machine guns, assault riles, sniper rifles and of course the classic rocket launcher. You can also assign shortcuts in the inventory system for different weapons, so Leon will have easier access to them. He will also have access to other weapons such as grenades, flash bangs as well as combat knives. Leon can also craft ammo from resources found such as gunpowder to create different types of ammo such as handgun bullets or shotgun shells.

As for the combat, Leon will generally rely on gunplay and shooting enemies but the game also has some new mecahnics as well. For starters, Leon can now move around as he shoots at enemies and is no longer stationary like in the original, Leon can also perform melee attacks up close and additionally, stealth kills with his knive when creeping up on enemies as well as counter attack them. 

MERCHANT "What are ya buying?!!"

As for the classic RE4 merchant, he returns here with his usual banter of "What are you buying?" and "What are you selling?" and has a large number of weapons and other items on sale for Leon. The merchant can also tune-up your weapons for you as well as repair broken combat knives (for a price of course!). You can also sell items back to him (generally at a reduced price) or valuable items you might have discovered as well as trade items as part of side quests to shoot down precious jewels. 

COMMANDING ASHLEY & PLAYING ASHLEY

In the game, similar to the original, Leon will also have give commands to Ashley to keep her safe, such as to stay back, or move up in order to avoid enemies. However you need to be wary of this, as leaving Ashley too long will likely get her killed, so its important to keep an eye on her. There are also sections of the game where you control Ashley as she helps Leon in moments where he has been trapped again similar to the original, or even moments where Ashley has to move levers or wheels to rotate or bring up platforms. 

PUZZLES

As for the puzzles in the game, they make their return once again, which for the most part aren't too bad but there are still one or two pretty annoying ones (especially that one with the muticoloured lights in the church!). The puzzles generally are designed to open doors to new areas, or obtain keys or other valuable items to progress further into the game. For once though, I have to say, I was able to solve quite a few of the puzzles whereas normally I tend not to be able to in Ressie games! ;-)

ENEMIES & BOSSES

As for the enemies, there is quite a varitey of infected enemies from the rural villagers, to the religious cult members (who are very creepy!) some of whom even sprout big tentacles out their heads and later on there are infected soldiers on the island. And the bosses in the game are quite memorable and include the intimidating Mendez, who turns into a giant tentacled creature who Leon fights in a burning barn. Then there is Ramon Salazar, who is a creepy little Spanish lord, who turns into something a bit more sinister later on and lastly there is the Krauser, who trained Leon as an agent, and later the two of them duel one another. 

HEALING ITEMS AND HERBS

As for healing items, simialr to the crafting ammo, you can create your own healing items using herbs that you discover. Generally speaking you will find green herbs that restore your health partially alone, however combined with red herds, they will restore Leon's health entirely. And this time there is the inclusion of yellow herbs, which when combined with green, will extend Leon's health bar beyond its initial rate. Leon can also heal his health fully via the use of first aid sprays, which can be found throughout the game and purchased from the merchant. 

GRAPHICS

As for the game's graphics, they look stunning as the game's environments are detailed and varied in design and it also has some great environmental weather effects on display for rain, sun or other conditions. The character models however are also where the visuals really standout as Leon, Ashley, Ada and Luis's models all look terrific and while not quite lifelike, they still are very impressive as are the models of the enemies and the bosses. In short, RE4 Remake looks superb here.

MUSIC

As for the music score it was written by Kota Suzuki, and overall is pretty good although I wouldn't say it stands out as strongly as the original score does but its still worth listening to albeit along with the game and not on a solo basis as much. 

FLAWS

As for flaws, does RE4 remake have any worth a mention??? Yeah there are one or two.

For starters, I think one of the issues with the game is Ashley's stay close or run away scheme, as it can easily get her into trouble and be killed easily, which can be quite annoying (but then so is she lol!). Also when she is attacked, she will fall down and you need Leon to pick her up in order to restore her health, which I thought was a daft way to restore her health. Why didn't they just give her some kind of health kit rather than relying on Leon to pick her up!

Also further to the point of Ashley, she is still pretty annoying like she was in the original, as she does alot of feeble screaming as she runs around like the typical damsel in distress. Ashley does have her moments where she is forced to be useful in order to pull levers or turn wheels to help Leon progress or to rescue him, which does she has some use I guess, but ultimaltey the remake coudn't quite not make Ashley that much better a character (well maybe a little!).

I also though the inclusion of Leon's breakable combat knife was a bit pointless in a way, as none of his other weapons has durability issues and this wasn't something appeared in the previous games, so I don't really know why they included it in here. So, for the sake of using to kill or block attacks from enemies, you have to eventually get it repaired for a few thousands pesos, it just seems a bit lame. 

You could also maybe argue the voice acting is a bit of a mixed bag, as the voice actors for Ada and Krauser are a bit disappointing in different ways. For starters, Ada Wong's delivery by Lily Gao, is pretty wooden for the most part and she barely puts any feeling into her performance at all and unfortunatlely she ended up taking a lot of flak for her performance, which was a bit unfair in a way because her performance isn't terrible by any means, its just a bit lacklustre at times. However as for the voice actor, who did Krauser, he was way more annoying in his delivery of his lines, as he sounds like an overexcited maniacal villain, unlike how Krauser was played in the original in a more calculated way. So, the voice acting certainly is pretty good for the most part but it still can be a mixed bag.

So, that's it for the flaws.

SUM UP

So, to sum up, Resident Evil 4 Remake, is an excellent game and a very worthy re-imagining of the original back in 2005 with vastly superior graphics and finely tuned gameplay. The game's pacing is also a good bit tighter here compared to the original yet it still retains most of the original's action setpieces. And while there are some minor complaints regarding some control issues with Ashley and some of the voice acting, this is a still a top drawer remake and well worth looking at. 

So, I will rate RE4 Remake:

9.5 out of 10

So, that's it for now and I will be back soon with another post or two before Christmas.

Until then its bye for now!