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+++
title = "Lawmower Man 2: Beyond Cyberspace (1996)"
author = ["Michał Sapka"]
date = 2024-02-23T20:29:00+01:00
categories = ["brainrot"]
draft = false
weight = 3001
image_dir = "brain-rot/screenshots"
image_max_width = 765
abstract = "My mirco reviview of the sequeo to a vr killer thriller"
aliases = ["/blog/2024/lawmower-man-2-1996//", "brain-rot/lawnmower-man/lawmower-man-2-1996/"]
rating = 3.75
[menu]
[menu.brain-rot-ascifi]
weight = 3001
identifier = "lawmower-man-2-beyond-cyberspace-1996"
parent = "lawnmower-man"
+++
Fun fact: I remembered close to nothing about this movie back.
When I was watching the first, everything seems familiar.
Here?
Not so much.
Guess _Polsat_ consider the second one too expensive for regular broadcast.
In _Lawnmawer Man[^fn:1]_ we meet Jobe, now a genius being living in the cyberspace.
But not so much, because in the first few minutes of _Lawmnower Man 2_ we learn that he has not left his meatsuit for the cyberspace.
The explosion at the lab left him an amputee.
But his talents are now in use of the Evil Corporation designing the future of cyberspace.
Of course, Jobe wants the cyberspace for himself.
The general plot seems similar to the first one, but they are very much different.
The plot is much more complex, there are many more explosions and I think it makes much less sense than the first one.
I would rate it at 2/5.
But the biggest difference is that this movie is target towards certain audience.
_Lawmower Man_ was a kid-friendly horror.
_Lawmower Man 2_ is a kids' movie.
They completely removed the part which tried to be scary.
We've got bunch od kids (and a dog) fighting and winning against a grown-up.
Yes, they get the help from an adult - the creator of cyberspace.
But the main heroes are the kids.
And the main target are the kids.
{{< img-c "lawnmower-man-2-1996-0002.jpg" >}}
Kids flying in cyberspace
{{< /img-c >}}
{{< img-c "lawnmower-man-2-1996-0012.jpg" >}}
And flying even more.
{{< /img-c >}}
{{< img-c "lawnmower-man-2-1996-0003.jpg" >}}
Dog preparing to save a day...
{{< /img-c >}}
{{< img-c "lawnmower-man-2-1996-0004.jpg" >}}
And saving the day by inserting a CD in the drive.
How can anyone consider this to be a movie for adoults?
{{< /img-c >}}
I've read that the director was locked out of the editing room as he was trying to make a different movie.
The producers said a firm "no" and made _Lawmower Man 2_ close to the likes of _Goonies_, _Explorers_ or _Flight of the Navigator_.
It never reaches the coolness of those, but it tries.
A lot of people on the interweb bash the movie on logical problems or being goofy.
Yes - occasionally the plot makes so little sense that they needed to add voice over explaining why the hell the _gang_ is going where they are going.
Yes, it has a dog who saves the day.
38 years old me was not amused, but the 10-year-old inside me screamed "yeah! Radical!".
He was not doing well with being _modern_ back then as well.
{{< img-c "lawnmower-man-2-1996-0005.jpg" >}}
Her hair is the closest thing to a "scare" in the entire movie
{{< /img-c >}}
{{< img-c "lawnmower-man-2-1996-0006.jpg" >}}
This hippie is the inventor of VR.
Tech geniuses leaving all the tech behind to live in the wild is now more real than ever
{{< /img-c >}}
Jobe is being played by Matt Frewer, who quite often acts like Jim Carey, which is fitting.
He is not the magical-killer he used to be.
He is goofy.
Even the music sounds like something Spielberg would use.
There is no Pierce Brosnan here, as only Austin O'Brien returns from the first one, once again reprising the role of Peter Parkette.
My biggest gripe is the special effect here.
The movie takes place in the future, so we're no longer seeing green grass.
The real world vibe is close to _Blade Runner_ or _Dark City_.
I dig it!
{{< img-c "lawnmower-man-2-1996-0001.jpg" >}}
Cyberpunk!
I'm pretty sure that almost all those scenes happened on the same crossroad.
{{< /img-c >}}
{{< img-c "lawnmower-man-2-1996-0011.jpg" >}}
Almost Blade Runner.
{{< /img-c >}}
But then there is the _cyberspace_.
In _Lawmower Man_ we had amazing, early CGI closer to an acid trip than anything else.
Here, the cyberspace looks like ours.
They just added CGI here and there.
It looks like an episode of _The Next Generation_, but without most of the campiness.
For the most part it is competent, but there is no spark.
It's not _cool_.
{{< img-c "lawnmower-man-2-1996-0010.jpg" >}}
Our first meeting with new Jobe in the cyberspace.
Yes, this is VR-forest.
{{< /img-c >}}
{{< img-c "lawnmower-man-2-1996-0007.jpg" >}}
Cyberspace here give more of FMV-game kind of vibe than I would have expected
{{< /img-c >}}
{{< img-c "lawnmower-man-2-1996-0008.jpg" >}}
The VR here more social than what Apple showed.
{{< /img-c >}}
{{< img-c "lawnmower-man-2-1996-0009.jpg" >}}
Luckily, sometimes the VR almost delivers.
{{< /img-c >}}
But the 10-year-old me would not care.
He would rate it as 3.75/5 or "that was cool!".
But he he wasn't picky at all.
[^fn:1]: Vide: [my review of Lawmower Man](/blog/2024/lawmower-man-1229/).
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