I must mention: I actually enjoy both movies equally. Making me choose between the two could be considered a form of cruel and unusual punishment. *g*
That said, my rebuttal:
1. Plot. I'll give T2 credit for more twists, time devoted to them and reasons thereof, but a some events were borrowed from T1 - including blowing up Cyberdyne (I think Sarah's decision to do this and the argument with Reese about it got edited out of the final cut, but I saw it on the DVD and appear to have mentally added it back...), it's just that the Terminator caught them before they could do it.
2. Character. Here's where most of my contraryness lies. I felt the characters were more static in T2. They were well-developed characters - things happened and they reacted accordingly (Sarah began listening to John, John got more serious, etc.) - so I don't have any complaints, and T2!Arnie may be the source of my "amoral/villainous men who behave as/become heroes" fetish (though I'm not sure a T1!/T2! Arnie comparison is valid, as they're different characters; a T1!/T-1000 compare would be more accurate). However, T1 trumps with a) the development of minor characters - their lines were few, but they stood out without overshadowing the story - and the Big One b) the interaction between Kyle & Sarah, not necessarily the romance but the resulting swap of roles - Sarah went from being a 19-year-old girl so panicked that Kyle had to play drill sergeant to get her to save herself, to playing the sergeant role herself when Kyle had given up.
3. Theme. ...Okay, you win this one. By a lot. But for me (at least in movies), theme is like a soundtrack - a great one can make a film, a horrible one can break it, but anything else is just kind of there.
4. Script. I feel it's more of a difference in style than it is intelligence. In T1, the central dialog existed only to advance the plot, placing the burden of character work squarely on the shoulders of the actors, which could have turned out very badly... except Cameron hired an excellent cast who were able to turn it into something amazing. OTOH, T2 was quite dialog-heavy. We were told about things, plot developments, issues, and technobabble. Keyword being "told." I'm a great fan on monologues, but I don't subscribe to the "more is better" school of dialog (not saying that you do, just saying) - the convoluted T2 script had just as much opportunity to fall flat as T1 did (yay actors!). And I liked the "Come with me if you want to live" line... :P It occurs to me that the the parallel language from T1 to T2 is more like the kind you would see within a single work than the kind you'd see from prequel to sequel (lines increasing in impact due to their repetition, rather than seeming like retreads for amusement value), but since viewing T1 & T2 as two pieces of a single work would negate the need for further bickering... well, that would just be no fun. ;)
5. Costumes/effects/looks. The costumers on T2 did a good job choosing things that were unlikely to date the movie (uniforms, longstanding styles over more trendy fashions, etc.), though the early portions with John and his fosters make me wince just as much as the T1 '80sness. Effects... most of this is down to time, but yeah. The T-1000 kicked ass in so many ways, and one of them was effects, and the T1 effects/reality blend is quite rough by modern standards (the makeup effects were equally great in both films). But the look... T2 was very cool-looking, but it was also very smooth, very safe, and very easy to watch because the visual tone didn't seem like a place where the bad guys could win. T1 scared the crap out of me (in the good way); it was gritty and dark, and that moment at the end where Sarah sees the Terminator standing up out of the fireball still gives me chills.
Plus T1 has Lance Henrickson. ;)
You know, I'd never really taken the time to analyze why I like the Terminator movies. That was kind of fun. Though it may have been more coherent if I'd watched them more recently than a year ago...
(I need an "I <3 pointless arguments" icon. Because I really, really do. ::less-than-threes you::)
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That said, my rebuttal:
1. Plot. I'll give T2 credit for more twists, time devoted to them and reasons thereof, but a some events were borrowed from T1 - including blowing up Cyberdyne (I think Sarah's decision to do this and the argument with Reese about it got edited out of the final cut, but I saw it on the DVD and appear to have mentally added it back...), it's just that the Terminator caught them before they could do it.
2. Character. Here's where most of my contraryness lies. I felt the characters were more static in T2. They were well-developed characters - things happened and they reacted accordingly (Sarah began listening to John, John got more serious, etc.) - so I don't have any complaints, and T2!Arnie may be the source of my "amoral/villainous men who behave as/become heroes" fetish (though I'm not sure a T1!/T2! Arnie comparison is valid, as they're different characters; a T1!/T-1000 compare would be more accurate). However, T1 trumps with a) the development of minor characters - their lines were few, but they stood out without overshadowing the story - and the Big One b) the interaction between Kyle & Sarah, not necessarily the romance but the resulting swap of roles - Sarah went from being a 19-year-old girl so panicked that Kyle had to play drill sergeant to get her to save herself, to playing the sergeant role herself when Kyle had given up.
3. Theme. ...Okay, you win this one. By a lot. But for me (at least in movies), theme is like a soundtrack - a great one can make a film, a horrible one can break it, but anything else is just kind of there.
4. Script. I feel it's more of a difference in style than it is intelligence. In T1, the central dialog existed only to advance the plot, placing the burden of character work squarely on the shoulders of the actors, which could have turned out very badly... except Cameron hired an excellent cast who were able to turn it into something amazing. OTOH, T2 was quite dialog-heavy. We were told about things, plot developments, issues, and technobabble. Keyword being "told." I'm a great fan on monologues, but I don't subscribe to the "more is better" school of dialog (not saying that you do, just saying) - the convoluted T2 script had just as much opportunity to fall flat as T1 did (yay actors!). And I liked the "Come with me if you want to live" line... :P It occurs to me that the the parallel language from T1 to T2 is more like the kind you would see within a single work than the kind you'd see from prequel to sequel (lines increasing in impact due to their repetition, rather than seeming like retreads for amusement value), but since viewing T1 & T2 as two pieces of a single work would negate the need for further bickering... well, that would just be no fun. ;)
5. Costumes/effects/looks. The costumers on T2 did a good job choosing things that were unlikely to date the movie (uniforms, longstanding styles over more trendy fashions, etc.), though the early portions with John and his fosters make me wince just as much as the T1 '80sness. Effects... most of this is down to time, but yeah. The T-1000 kicked ass in so many ways, and one of them was effects, and the T1 effects/reality blend is quite rough by modern standards (the makeup effects were equally great in both films). But the look... T2 was very cool-looking, but it was also very smooth, very safe, and very easy to watch because the visual tone didn't seem like a place where the bad guys could win. T1 scared the crap out of me (in the good way); it was gritty and dark, and that moment at the end where Sarah sees the Terminator standing up out of the fireball still gives me chills.
Plus T1 has Lance Henrickson. ;)
You know, I'd never really taken the time to analyze why I like the Terminator movies. That was kind of fun. Though it may have been more coherent if I'd watched them more recently than a year ago...
(I need an "I <3 pointless arguments" icon. Because I really, really do. ::less-than-threes you::)