Lawnmower Man 2: Beyond Cyberspace

Talk about a disgraceful waste of film. Sequels have a reputation for being bad and this was certainly no exception. The original Lawnmower Man kept me entertained and had something that its sequel lacked...namely, a plot. It was also missing the good acting, nifty special effects and everything else the original had to offer. Can we say regression in action? If it ever comes out on DVD you'll have a lovely decorative coaster. Or if you want to break up with your significant other then rent this movie to watch with them..they might be gone before the opening credits finish rolling.

The kid from Last Action Hero meets with Max Headroom in a virtual reality version of the internet that's like a early 90s version of The Matrix. There's some special effects and sets that are much better than this B-movie deserves: and those are the two big highlights. Laughably bad characters and actors (for some reason the main characters are all homeless children??), cheesy lines and sparse happenings. You'll yawn as much as you laugh. This movie has little to do with the first film, and could easily have been a standalone movie. It took me twenty minutes to realize that Max Headroom was supposed to be the lawnmower man from the first film. The way they illustrate this is by showing the character pushing a lawnmower for two seconds...

The first movie is polarizing, but I'm in the camp that it's a very entertaining movie, if nothing else. It at least has memorable scenes and characters. This one just doesn't hook you. I think a big problem is that Patrick Bergin is very cringeworthy, and the bad script does him no favors.

The first one is sorta underrated, and this one is, too, technically. That doesn't mean it isn't bad, just that it shouldn't be anywhere near the bottom 100. This looks and sounds like a MST3K movie, that about sums it up.

Before I go to the review, I have to point out that I haven't seen the original LAWNMOWER MAN movie yet, and the fact that I watched only the sequel it's a bit of a surprise. Well, I did it this way because the sequel was in the old IMDB's Bottom 100, and since I set a goal for myself of trying to watch all the movies from this list I gave it a try, However, I have to admit that I didn't found this movie that bad as its rating would suggest.

In this sequel Jobe, a character that died in the first movie, is resuscitated with computer technology. However, he has an idea of creating a chip that will connect his mind to all the computers in the world so that he can control them with his mind and use. Little does he know that a group of teenager computer whiz with Jobe's brother will do everything to stop him with his plans of world domination.

While the movie hasn't nothing to do with his predecessor despite one member of the cast of the previous movie returned and one character returned to life after the events of the predecessor, is good as a stand-alone movie. Plus it has nice sets, nice CGI effects (that were very fresh for 1996 standards) and good cinematography. And I may be one of the very few that said it on IMDB, but I also found the plot very interesting. In substance this movie was kind of a guilty pleasure for me. Nothing more, nothing less.

All effects, no plot, acting that puts a shame on Hollywood and makes us have to rethink this whole movie business, directing that could better be handled by a six year old, horible horrible writing, and a lame computer dork of a plot. Matt Frewer couldn't be worse as an actor. As an actor he makes a pretty good janitor. Just the Hacker's like plot alone is enough to nausiate me. This movie is so bad it rolls over and plagues the first one which was good. The only good part about this movie is using the tape as a coaster for your drink when watching something more entertaining like, infomertials.

LAWNMOWER MAN 2: BEYOND CYBERSPACE currently holds a ranking as one of the IMDb's bottom 100 films, so as you'd expect it's pretty bad. It's not the worst I've seen, not by a long shot, but it is a wasted opportunity for all involved, and it has very little to do with the first film.

In fact, the only thing this really has in common is a sinister villain who lives in a virtual reality world. Unfortunately, the viewer is treated to a grinning, gurning Matt Frewer going way over the top and hamming it up as the cyber-creation. I know Frewer was an obvious choice for the role with MAX HEADROOM and everything, but his acting here stinks.

The rest of the film isn't much better. The virtual reality scenes of characters flying around a fantasy world are really embarrassing and awful to behold. Patrick Bergin (ROBIN HOOD) comes in to pick up his pay cheque but tries to keep his head down for the most part. Can you blame him? Austin O'Brien (LAST ACTION HERO) is back from the original but can do nothing with a stock one-dimensional character. I can't describe the plot to you as I haven't got a clue what was meant to be going on, only that the budget was bigger than I was expecting and it still managed to be awful regardless.