User Reviews

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.

This movie may not be good and seem slightly 80's but it certainly doesn't deserve to be in the bottom 100. Some of the effects are pretty impressive despite what you read here and the acting is really not bad at all. There are far, far worse flicks out there.

I'd give it a 6/10.

The first Lawnmover Man was a decent movie, at least for the first half.I liked the movie, and was really hoping to see Lawnmower Man 2 in the theater. There is a good reason: it is one of the precursor movie to Matrix, Existenz, Dark City, 13th Floor which deals with concept of virtual reality. Despite the good showing of the first lawnmower man the theaters here in Thailand refused to be shown. So I had to wait until it came out in video stores. Strangely enough, the first time it went on sale, they were selling at a deep discount. I thought it was a bargain, so I bought it. It was the one of biggest mistake I have ever made in my life. Stephen King is no longer active. Actors are totally changed. I cannot see any resemblance at all to the first movie. At least hiring Pierce Brosnan would have helped a lot to the continuity. The characters looked like paper doll. The story line just did not fit with the first movie at all. You can watch this movie in itself without any knowledge whatsoever to the first film. The ending of the first Lawnmower man was he is now in Cyberspace. In the second part, he is back and still alive as a human and no longer in cyberspace. Total contradiction. I completely forgot the entire movie minutes after watching it and had to forced watch THREE TIMES because I could not understand it. The PLOTS for the entire movie are so complicated and if you bothered analyzing them, made no sense at all. The technology that the Evil Company offered made no sense and the public looked far too gullible and the government is as mindless as ever. The "religion" that people joined looked like zombies. If you pretend you are in a video game playing Lawnmower Man 2, then it looks just that, a video game not a movie, but lacking of action sequences. Movie is somewhat similar to the lame Matrix 3. This has got to be the worse movie I ever watched, besides Super Babies: Baby Geniuses 2. Oh yes, I forgot, my pet dog died while watching this movie.

Score 2/10

My brother has repressed the memory of this film. I remain traumatized. Why would anyone make a movie like this and release it? Do they hate people? What are they going to do for an encore? Kick the homeless? Steal from the food shelves?

This movie is terrible. Not in the so bad it is good way. This movie should not be viewed by anyone - ever. The plot is incoherent - acting wooden and has more holes in the plot than swiss cheese. I think this film can kill puppies, club seals, slash the rain forest, throw kittens in the river, oils penguins.

I'm going to get a roofalate and see if I can forget this movie.

Pretty much a permanent fixture on IMDb's Bottom 100 list, 1996's "Lawnmower Man 2: Beyond Cyberspace" is not only widely considered one of the worst sequels ever made... it's widely considered one of the worst films ever made period. While the second claim might be somewhat debatable in retrospect (oh, it's bad... it's really bad, but maybe not "worst of all time bad"), the former is most certainly a given. The original film is a wildly dated but mostly harmless sci-fi thriller about a mentally-challenged man who is granted superhuman intelligence and abilities through the power of virtual reality, sending him spiraling on a path towards an evil plot for world domination. It's forgettable save for its cheesy early-CG effects and a few decent performances by future star Pierce Brosnan and the titular Lawnmower Man Jobe played by Jeff Fahey. It's a mediocre film, but it hit it fairly big at the box office, so a sequel was pretty much guaranteed.

What people couldn't have predicted, however, is just how incredibly insane the follow-up would be. "Lawnmower Man 2" is frankly bizarre, and never anything less than over-the-top from scene to scene. Story goes the studio-suits behind this mess were hoping to spin the series off into a teen-aimed superhero movie franchise set in cyberspace (a far cry from the more deliberate and slow-burn thriller the original was), and this film would be sort-of a stepping stone in that direction. Add to that woeful miscasting of pretty much every lead character, a lot of nonsensical ret-con work that frequently butchers the storyline of the first film and post-production problems including the director being locked out of the editing room... and you pretty much have a recipe for disaster.

Six years after the events of the first film in a now post- apocalyptic world right out of "Blade Runner" (I guess?), Jobe (now played by Max Headroom himself, Matt Frewer) has been discovered and brought back from the brink of death by an evil megalomaniacal VR tycoon, who needs him to perfect the film's MacGuffin- the "Chiron Chip"... the most powerful computer chip ever conceived. After re-discovering his old friend Peter Parkette (Austin O'Brien) in virtual reality, Jobe goes on a quest to track down the creator of VR, Dr. Trace (Patrick Bergin), who has key information that will assist in Jobe taking control of the Chiron Chip... or something stupid like that. Blah, blah, blah... Jobe goes power-crazy yet again and tries to take over the world with the Chiron Chip. Chiron Chip, Chiron Chip... Chiron Chip. You'll be sick of that combination of words by the time the film's over. They say it constantly.

Basically, the film is a weird mixed-drink from Satan's tavern... one part "Blade Runner", one part "Super Mario Bros. The Movie", one part "Tron", one-half part the original "Lawnmower Man"... topped off with five parts "Highlander 2: The Quickening." Garnish with overacting. Serve over ice from Flint, Michigan.

Everything is a fundamental mess. The storyline is nonsensical and completely unclear, with the main focus being on delivering constant techno-babble as often as possible while punctuating every few scenes with an explosion or bizarro murder-sequence as Jobe picks off various targets, though sanitized for a PG-13 rating. As mentioned above, the film's MacGuffin of choice is the "Chiron Chip", though the Chip itself is poorly established and doesn't seem to amount to all that much in the story. There's also some genuinely laughable mis-judgments on the part of the filmmakers to try and gear the film towards children as per studio request... so you get uproarious scenes where the "Information Superhighway" is personified as an actual highway in cyberspace that our heroes get into a car-chase on. I could not stop laughing. Everyone in the cast mugs for the camera in such a way that you cringe so much that you can't help but giggle, with special props going to Frewer, who turns the quiet and sinister Jobe from the first-film into a cackling Jim Carrey wannabe who spouts one- liners at the top of his lungs in every scene. The editing is an absolute mess, with not a single moment given more than an instance of breathing room before it rockets to the next scene... probably because producers oh-so-needed it to appeal to the kids with their "Mtv's and their Nintendo's and whatever kids these days like." And the effects sucked, plain and simple. Not only were they poor in comparison to other films released around the time... they're somehow objectively worse than the effects in the original four years earlier!

Yet... I don't totally hate the film, and I even do have a mild recommendation for it. It's awful. Dreadful. But also kinda entertaining. Fans of trashy B-movies and bad cinema will probably get a kick out of it, much as I did. It's worth watching once for those crowds. I know I couldn't stop laughing at it. It's just so baffling and mind-numbing, that even as you feel your braincells depleting... you might get some serious chuckles thanks to it. Also, I can't help but comment... there is an occasional hint at brilliance here and there. You get the feeling that director/co- writer Farhad Mann was really trying his hardest, and there are a few scenes that are competently filmed and directed. I think there's a significantly better film somewhere beneath the surface that you glean the occasional look at here. Not a good film... but a better film. It'd be interesting to see what his original vision was.

But really, aside from bad-movie buffs, I cannot in good conscience recommend "Lawnmower Man 2" to anyone. It's terrible. Strange. And wildly confusing. And it is easily and indisputably one of the worst sequels ever made, earning a much-deserved 1 out of 10 for me.

Dear lord. I went to see this movie in the theater only because my S.O. at the time dragged me along. Normally, even when a movie isn't great, I remain respectful of others and remain silent. Not so here. It was so bad, I was actually SCREAMING "Dear God, Why?!?!?" Instead of getting shushed or having people get angry, I actually had people JOIN me in the sentiment. It was like we had to support each other to survive the blasted thing.

See it only to abuse it. It pained me.

An epic of unbounded worthlessness...

I always hate it when the sequel ignores the ending of the previous film and come up with a nonsensical way to continue the series on(Escape from the Planet of the Apes was the first to do that, though there was some redeeming value to continuing that particular series).

Anyway, dreadful as a descriptive term is not really enough. Abomination is more apt. Somehow the future has become a rainy Blade-Runner-esqe culture with lots of orphan kids banding together in subterranean hovels hacking the net and using words like "cool" a lot while fighting the Big Evil Fascist Programming Corporation. And becoming allied to Neo-Navaho Chip designers who've moved in to the Unibomber's cabin.

Enough with trying to describe this spam on film. It's main star, like the plot, has no legs to stand on right from the outset.

The Computer animation was far inferior to the first film, like low-grade hamburger is to prime-rib. Hamburger left out on the counter overnight. Phew!

A list of the faults and problems with this film could fill volumes and I'd just like to say AVOID THIS TORTURE, especially if you halfway liked the first film. This one completely ruins the first and even complaining about it won't help the sour taste left in your mouth after you swallow back your own bile.

Really, really ghastly...

Oh, God, this film is bad, oh so bad. I think I must have had too many beers in the pub prior to renting this pile of pants!

I do remember looking at the clock on the video and noticed 15 minutes of the film had passed. I don't remember the first 14 minutes, and by the time we got to 20, I realised I had better things to do, like inspect the innards of the toilet or cleanout the attic with a toothbrush & tweezers.

Its true when they say getting slightly drunk has an inverse affect on a person's ability to sort the wheat from the chaff. I must have had my drinks severely spiked to end up with something like this. But another good thing about alcohol, it makes you sleepy, and the following morning you tend to forget all those minor indescretions from the night before.

I like the original Lawnmower Man, and even though most sequels generally suck, this just gets blown away. I just don't have it in me to comment on the acting, directing etc, since they are all tended to blur into each other to form one big blob of Hmmm!

Not a good film, although if you have irritating guests in your home that you simply can't get rid of, put this on and I guarantee their coats will be on and the car keys ajingling before the opening credits finish!

Bad!

(blank)/*****

For anybody else who has sat and watched this, I urge you all to write and complain. I thought the Titanic was bad, so bad that I was routing for the iceberg, but this, this is beyond the limits.

92 minutes of 'What is going on', or 'what is the point 'questions. The truth, no point what so ever.

At least I did not pay to watch this at the cinema; I made the mistake of getting it out on video.

I can honestly say without fear or contradiction, that this film is the worst that I have ever EVER seen, and I have seen a lot.

a complete waste of video tape & time

God help me, but I actually liked the first movie. When I heard this movie was coming out, I rushed to the theater on the opening day.

At first I was confused, then upset, and finally insanely depressed. This movie was absolutely horrid. Bad acting, horrible plot, and mediocre effects. The first movie was definitely focused on adults/teens. This movie was either meant for young children or retarded monkeys (no offense intended to monkeys).

I should have seen it coming as there are no actors in common with both movies. This would not have been such a big deal if the "story" had not revolved around the original characters.

Dr. Bejamin Trace creates a brilliant device which allows unhindered access to all sources of electronic information: banks, hospitals, etc. When he questions their motives, the corporation that funded his research take him to court and claim the device as their own. Since Trace -- the only man who can make it work -- takes off to who-knows-where, the corporation pulls a crippled Jobe from the wreckage of the first movie and offer him a job.

Several years down the road, Jobe's secret work has lead to a future that's advanced on the surface, but hides a sad underbelly of poverty and unemployment. Jobe's nearly cracked the networking device, but needs to find Trace for the last crucial bits, so he contacts his old friend Pete, who's working the streets with a gang of homeless hackers. Pete's overjoyed that Jobe is alive and tracks the nomadic Trace down in a desert home free of modern convenience, only to learn that Jobe has plans of his own for the networking device. Plans that go far beyond the sharing or stealing of information.

First off, this film is cheap. It was made on a nonexistent budget and skipped out of the theaters before people even knew it existed. But, that aside, it works.

The sets and costumes brilliantly portray a Blade Runner-style future clearly divided between the haves and have-nots. The casting is perfect, from Patrick Bergan's portrayal of Trace as a man shoved around so long he finally ran away from the world, and Eli Pouget as Jobe's doctor who falls for her patient's seeming innocence. But the rowdy gang of kids steal the show. Heck, even Frewer, who I normally don't enjoy, does a decent job.

Farhad Mann deserves credit for a well constructed story with plenty of twists and turns that moves at a perfect pace. And more credit for bringing that script to life on such a meager budget.

There's really only two problems I have with the film.

First, Jobe doesn't gel with the original movie. Frewer's portrayal is of an anarchistic goof along the lines of Batman's Joker (especially the animated version), whereas Fahey played him as a twisted Buddha, one who thinks on a level beyond those around him. The performance works, though, if you just approach it as a different character.

Secondly, the VR scenes with actors in front of blue screen suffer when compared to the dated but beautiful cgi of the original. They still look fairly good, superimposing the actors over sprawling cybernetic vistas, but I guess I just miss the gimmick from the first one.

I like this movie. I know many out there don't, but I do. It's a rare sequel that tries to take the story off in a new direction.

After suffering through this pitiful excuse for a movie. My girlfriend and I just looked at each other as if to say, "What the hell was that??".

If you feel like wasting a few bucks, give it to the poor! If you haven't seen this embarrassment yet, don't let your curiosity get the best of you. No matter how you look at it, you'll be very disappointed.

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.

In the 1980s and 90s, two huge problems were big in films. The first I would like to call the "Spielberg" cliché. That's where the world is saved by sensitive and all-knowing children. While governments, scientists and the like do their thing, the REAL geniuses (kids with a home computer in this case) save humanity! Ugghhh!! Second, there is the film makers' notion that says special effects can take the place of plot. However, rarely have I seen a film with such a bizarre and incomprehensible plot and such wonderful graphics--it's like a story wasn't even important to the film. What WAS important was lots and lots and lots of computer tricks and explosions--with graphics that were brilliant for 1996--but did nothing to create a movie worth seeing or understanding. It's as if they were making a film for people too dumb to want any plot! The plot, such as it is, is about some smart disabled guy who is using his über-brain to tie into all the world computers and mess with people--killing them in various ways that are super-graphics intensive. And, of course, it's up to a bunch of kids (and a down-and-out Patrick Bergen who must have been desperate for work) to save everyone. Is this really the best they could do?!

Well it's obvious that I think this is a bad and vacuous film. However, is it bad enough to merit the inclusion on IMDb's Bottom 100 list? Well, that's not an easy answer and I should talk about the confusion in putting any film on the list. I guess it all depends on how you personally would interpret a bad film and what should be on the list. For example, the films of Ed Wood and Al Adamson are abysmal low-budget messes and yet they are not on the list. Perhaps this is because in their own weird way, they are so bad that they are funny. Or, perhaps because they are so low-budget they shouldn't be taken seriously. "Lawnmower Man 2" is clearly nothing like these films--with a relatively large budget (despite some bargain basement actors) and wider release than an Ed Wood film, it clearly is in a different league. And, sadly, while bad, it isn't what I would consider fun viewing. And, considering the sheer waste of money (i.e., "bang for the buck") and unwatchability, I would consider putting it on this infamous list. Pretty too look at mindless brain-rotting mush--that's MY interpretation of what should be on the list--and this clearly is brain-rotting mush!!

I didn't have high expectations for this movie, as I didn't think the first Lawnmower man was great and this was after all a sequel. I can't say I thought the film was good. However, I didn't walk away. I have seen some really BAD movies in my day, and while this was no prize winner, I wouldn't put it on my all time s*** list. Bottom line: If you're really bored and you can see this for free on cable, its worth a look. Otherwise, forget it.

To get an idea of how bad this movie is, the stars of the original, Pierce Brosnan and Jeff Fahey, wouldn't even return to reprise their roles. And its no wonder why they refused: the whole thing is a disgrace to movies everywhere. For starters, it contradicts the ending of the first film, and since Fahey wouldn't return, they had to make up some dumb story about Jobe having plastic surgery.

I had the misfortune of seeing this movie in the theaters, and I was truly in awe of what I was seeing on the screen. It was like a nightmare. You know, the one where you're trapped someplace and you can't move, then you wake up. Only I couldn't wake up. I was frozen in terror at this...this excrement of films. Let me detail the more ridiculous points of the film:

1. When all of the people of the world are flocking in herds to worship, through cyberspace, a bald, crippled goof who talks mumbo-jumbo.

2. When the young kid and some woman track down the scientist from the first film to help them find Jobe, only to realize that he has become some wigged out crackpot who looks like an indian.

3. A ridiculous chase scene in the middle of the film, as an evil tycoon and his guards race our heroes to find some chip or something.

The first Lawnmower Man was an okay film with great special effects. This sequel is a bad film with bad special effects, characters, visuals, etc. etc. etc. I could go on, but that would simply be wasting your time, just like, coincidentally, this movie.

This is not so much a review as it is to the confession of a crime; a tale of theft, an unreturned VHS-tape, left at the rental-return but not properly shoved into the slot and having taking said film home to be watched for free.

See, it was the middle of the night, the shop long closed and the label of said videotape said "Lawnmover Man 2". Having been a huge fan of the first part, I couldn't resist grabbing the tape, dragging it home and shoving it into the player. Even acquired a litre of plonk wine (back then favoured by impoverished students) to celebrate the joyous occasion of finally seeing a sequel.

The plonk didn't help it, the bottle empty before the second half of the film, upon which I ended this farce and pressed first the "stop", then the "eject" bottom. Returned the VHS to said return-slot the same night, not wanting to have it at home and fearing that a trash bin would reject the tape.

And, if whoever had to pay late-fees for this tape happens to read this review: consider this the price of an education. One doesn't rent crap like that! No points from me and the obligatory one point that IMDb gives it.

I may be one of the few people who loved the first Lawnmower Man, but I did.

I've watched it over a dozen times and still look forward to my next viewing.

The horrible piece of tripe that LM2, however, is something that I wish I could erase from my brain.

There is no continuity from the first movie. There are none of the interesting themes from the first movie, like the awe-inspiring wonders of technology and their dangers, or the well-executed "power corrupts" motif.

Just don't do it.

This movie predicted Zuckerberg before anyone had ever heard of him. You all ready for META?

This movie is really bad. The first wasn't great by any means but was at least entertaining.

i don't believe it!!! people are cursing this great action sci fi movie!!! i know,and i admit that this movie does not follow the original movie...as a sequel, it should have been a horror movie, not action...but the movie has every good elements in it!!!! the acting is superb!!!i just really don't get it!!!

worse movie in history?? come on...people are rating stupid idiot movie like blade runner, the matrix, iron man and many others 10 out of 10 stars...and this movie which contain great sci fi action with 1 stars???

this movie is superbly great!!! come on...watch it again!!!!! then only you decide!!!! you idiot voters!!!!

10/10****

Dr. Benjamin Trace (Patrick Bergin) loses the patent of his Chiron Chip and the wealthy Jonathan Walker (Kelvin Conway), who owns the Virtual Light Industries, helps Jobe (Matt Frewer), who was found with his face destructed and his legs amputated after the explosion of the VSI. A few years later, Jobe contacts the hacker Peter Parkette (Austin O'brien) in the virtual reality and asks him to find Benjamin Trace in the desert. He wants information about Trace's subroutine Egypt, but Trace does not provide the information. Soon Trace decides to retrieve his chip to avoid the insane Jobe's plan that intends to destroy the real world.

"Lawnmower Man 2: Beyond Cyberspace" is not an Oscar film to be nominated, but not so bad as the reviews indicate. If the viewer sees as an adventure, it is very reasonable. But as a sequel of "The Lawnmower Man", it is terrible. Dr. Benjamin Trace does not exist in the first film. Jobe had already reached all the network since telephones ringed in the most different continents. Peter is a homeless teenager, but in the first film it seems that his mother and Dr. Angelo were together. A few years later, Los Angeles recalls Blade Runner environment. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "O Passageiro do Futuro 2" ("The Passenger from the Future 2")

I walked out of this movie initially and only barely got through the rented copy my roommate brought home. Unfortunately, I cannot say this movie was so bad it was good. The acting was sub-par and the plot was riddled with dead-ends and useless one-liners. Though the original is definitely a "must see" cult classic, this sequel is a waste of fi