Genres

Visitors Review

2012-05-23 03:38:31

Scanners II

Decent sequel with David Hewlitt. Hewlitt was a decent actor already. He appeared on TV shows like Forever Knight. Of course he is probably most recognized from Stargate Atlantis. Here is the main star. Scanners II The New Order is a rehash of the original with slight differences in characters and story. It is, however, regardless of similarities and differences an enjoyable Sci-Fi movie.David plays David Kellum a nurse who doesn't know he is a scanner. He is a bit similar to Cameron's Vale character. Both of them realize they are special but have trouble dealing with their scanning abilities. Just like Vale, Kellum gets recruited by a corporation and a doctor who wants to take advantage of his scanning technique.Whereas in the original, you had this powerful scanner Darryl Revok played excellently by Michael Ironside, here you have Raoul Trujillo. You have a dirty corporate named Commander Forrester doing the same thing Keller did in the same movie: using the Scanners for his own purposes all the while putting on a completely different image for the public..there's also a twist about what happened to the characters of the first movie but it isn't very convincing.That's about where the comparisons with the original end. The movie ends very differently than the first movie. There are couple of added scanning techniques that we didn't see in the movie like the ability of scanners to see somebody through their own eyes.Scanners II has decent if not great acting, another follow able story, decent special effects and all around it is a decent sequel to the original.

jbpott 2012-05-22 08:22:54

What's to hate about Scanners?

I have always love the film Scanners and have always loved DavidCronenberg,but after Deadringers, I always felt he started to go downhill from awonderful ride in the horror genre. Scanners was one of his best in hisearly period, when he was working from original screenplays and wasn't inanadaptation funk at all (ie., Naked Lunch, M. Butterfly and Crash). It wasapromising plotline and was very entertaining. It has also become a cultclassic. So when I saw this sequel when it first came out, I didn't thinkit would be as good as it is.I'll spare you the plotline since you've undoubtably have read the otherreviews, but I will comment on the films structure. It works surprisinglywell considering the original didn't leave much for a sequel like thisone.If one were to truly look at the first film for a sequel, the likely routewould have been to have the main characters be on the run from the secretcorporate organizations (a plotline used in Firestarter) which could leadtoa very boring and predictable outcome. But this film was made ten yearslater and the plotline ideas can have new twists and it is this factorthatmakes this film a success.The opening ropes you in by the way it mimics the opening to theoriginal--homeless, drifting Scanner losses mind in public and getscorralled by the guys in shades and trenchcoats. But its different fromtheoriginal opening in that Scanners 2 opens with the vagabond Scannerscreaming at the city in agony as the mental voices of the populationinvadehis extrasensory mind and drive him crazy. It would be like an itch youcan't scratch. I liked this aspect of the opening and it made me realizethe filmmaker was a huge fan of the first film. It proved he wanted to betrue to the first film and not just make another sequel in name only. Theplot device of making the Scanners junkies to mind suppressing drugs wasanother excellent addition. It further proves the filmmaker's desire tomake a good sequel.If you loved the first film, you have to give this one a try. It is veryentertaining, great character development and delivers in the gore factordepartment.

Prolox 2012-05-22 06:28:38

Definitely a worthy sequel to the original!

SCANNERS 2 is not really a sequel to the original SCANNERS, since ithas none of the returning characters from the first movie, it justcarries the name & the whole telekinesis storyline, but that does notmean it's a bad film, in fact, SCANNERS 2 is pretty decent for a lowbudget science fiction/horror film, once again we get great characterdevelopments, good but gory special effects, great acting & directingas well as an interesting story that has plenty to offer & keeps youentertained from beginning to end, which is more than what I can sayabout films being released these days. This time a good guy scannernamed David, sets out to destroy an evil man running for government ormayor or something, I can't really remember which & who uses David tohelp him get in, but when he discovers that David has rebelled againsthim, he sets out to acquire a new team of scanners that will do hisbidding, leading to several violent showdowns between David & the evilscanners. Highly recommended for fans of the original, it's not quietas a good as the first, but it's definitely not far from being soeither! Followed by SCANNERS III: THE TAKE OVER ***1/2 stars

2012-05-21 21:07:20

Christian Duguay's Scanners 2: The New Order

The dynamic duo from the first film apparently got together and had children. Those children have grown up to become super scanners in this unnecessary followup.This time, the evil corporation has been replaced by an evil civil servant moonlighting at an evil corporation. A young man meets with him, solves a lovely subplot crime involving poisoned children's milk, finds out his new boss is not nice, and turns against him. The evil civil servant wants to start a "new order," where there would be no crime because the scanners would run everything. The evil corporation does have a bunch of scanners in their basement, hopelessly addicted to a new version of what turned them into scanners in the first place.This film has the adult children of the original's scanner couple, although the films were only ten years apart. David Cronenberg had nothing to do with the series of sequels his film spawned. Deborah Raffin, second billed, does not show up until an hour and ten minutes into this, her character is explained in such a way that it must have been written in on set.We are treated to more violence, more gore, more good scanners, and more bad scanners. Obviously, the good scanners win in the end, and yet this was followed by a few more sequels. This is just a retread of the first film, which was no classic to begin with, and I felt the same way here as I did with the original: no recommendation.This is rated (R) for strong physical violence, strong gun violence, strong gore, and some profanity.

Rautus 2012-05-21 11:14:58

Great sequel to Cronenberg's sci-fi classic

Scanners II: The New Order is just as good as David Cronenberg'sclassic Scanners, Scanners was made in 1980 and Scanners II in 1991 sotheir's an eleven year gap between the two movies. The film capturesthe style of Scanners which is a good thing, it wouldn't be Scannerswithout a head explosion so Scanners II has a head explosion scenethat's just has gruesome as the first. Scanners II: The New Order hassome other imaginative gory scenes that are done well. The plot toScanners II: The New Order is a new take on the series since it has theScanners being used as a vigilante force for a police chief and a groupof scientists until a young Scanner named David Kellum discovers he'sbeing used and decides to get revenge.Scanners II: The New Order is a great sequel to David Cronenberg'ssci-fi classic Scanners and should be seen. Check this out. 10/10

disdressed12 2012-05-21 04:42:49

forgettable sequel,although it is louder

the first Scanners may not have been a great movie,but at least it wasoriginal.there is no such novelty to this one.the acting is worse,in myopinion,and the story is slower and nothing special.i also didn't likethe dialogue.and the special effects are no better than in theoriginal.this is movie is inferior to the first one in all ways.theonly thing different about it,is that it is loud and chaotic attimes.but that doesn't make a good movie.if they had done somethingbetter with the story and made it interesting,this could have been adecent movie.i actually couldn't get through it all without fastforwarding through it.to me,this is a forgettable movie,and not muchmore.despite all that,there are worse movies.being in a generousmood,i'll give Scanners 2 a 4/10.

Wizard-8 2012-05-19 16:04:20

Not bad as sequels go

Although the first sequel does not have an intriguing and thought-provokingscript like the original, it does improve in other areas. The movie isslickly made on a low budget, making it look better than the first. It'sfast-paced, and the "scanner" sequences are well-staged and deliver a goodamount of blood and guts.

scanner-7 2012-05-19 09:47:53

Loved it! Should become a cult classic, in time.

As B movies go, it was well above average (I warn the reader now that I mayreveal certain key elements of the plot or other parts of the movie,although I am trying to minimise any such tendency). As sequels usually go,it was utterly fantastic(despite a "cookie cutter" approach to trying tocopy certain elements from the original movie verbatum. Despite thissometimes tedious tendency, it seemed to work in this particular film, solong as the viewer could divorce his attention from comparisons to theoriginal "Scanners").The movie was similar in ways to the "Superman" series, in terms of the maincharacter's description of his early childhood and relationship with hisparents (who seemed modelled along the same lines as the Kents in the"Superman" stories) and the theme of a morally pure hero possessed ofextraordinary powers from an early age, etc. The depiction of profoundfeelings of alienation of prodigious or otherwise non-conforming children,adolescents and/or adults was a theme which reminded me of films such as"Real Genius", and (to a more superficial degree) "Doctor Mordrid" andstruck a particularly strong chord.The film had a positive message, and was fun to watch. I found some of theinsights and accuracy (in terms of depiction of certain aspects ofparanormal experiences) fascinating, and even profoundly touching at times.These momentsoccasionally appeared from among all of the great formula-driven schlock andgratuitous sex(uality, in this case, as the sexual elements were tastefullydone) and violence that makes B movies (or Shakespearian plays, for thatmatter!) so much fun to watch!This is a must watch for all comic book, Sci-fi, "remote viewing"enthusiasts, and horror fans! With the right exposure in the right circles,the film could develop quite a cult following, along with the original"Scanners".

atinder 2012-05-18 07:09:08

This is what you call a really good sequel

David Kellum is talking date to shop and when they attack by robbersand David duck out the way, then they start shooting at killing theshopkeep and they holding his date hostage until David Scanner abilitycome to action at killed the robbers.John Forrester see the store's security tape and then goes to see Davidas an employee. He tells David he is a Scanner, and that there areothers like him around the world. He asks David to help him track downcriminals who have been unable to arrest, to which David agrees.This is great follow up on first movie, it not as GREAT as first butreally good sequel.I find the whole movie really entertaining, it didn't take long for themovie to grab you in, there were some really great gory and nastyscenes, The deaths scenes were really good, I love deaths scenes inthis movie. The performance from the whole cast was really good I goingthis movie 8 out of 10

t_atzmueller 2012-05-17 15:35:12

„Scanners" – if David Cronenberg was a comic-book fan

David Cronenbergs original, „Scanners", was a one of a kind film: itwas science fiction, it was horror, an action film, yet, it felt morelike a drama, the characters firmly in the centre of attention. We wereable to relate to the Scanners, seeing them as normal human beings, whohad super-powers that were at the same time a disease.The sequel takes a slightly different turn: the action- and sciencefiction elements churned up, it feels more like a "RoboCop"- then a"Scanners"-sequel and the amped-up colour, sound and special-effectsgive the film a comic book-feel. A good example is the use of the drug'Ephemerol': in the original, it's a medicine that has no effect on'normal' people but temporarily cures the Scanners from theside-effects of their powers; in "Scanners 2" it's a drug that turnsScanners and non-Scanners alike into bald-headed addicts, eventuallykilling them.In the original film, there's a 'sound' of what the Scanners hear intheir heads, permeating almost every scene, fractions of sentences andwords, voices and noise; the viewer can relate why the Scanners live atortured existence. Here, the 'Scanner-sound' is reduced to a light,vibrating noise that sets in ever time a Scanner uses his powers.Christian Duguay clearly is no David Cronenberg; the director is moreat home at the straight-to-video horror and science fiction genre. Notto say that the director is doing a bad job; within the limits of abovementioned genre it's a very neat movie but, to give you a reference,imagine Wim Wenders "Wings of Desire" being remade by Brad Silverling.As for the acting, most of the performances are B-movie at best, butadequate for a sequel like "Scanners II". Especially the villains, TomButler, Yvan Ponton, Vlasta Vrana and Michael Rudder, seemed to haveclimbed straight from a comic book. Special mention should go to RaoulTrujillo (decades before he'd play 'Zero Wolf', the monstrous Mayanbounty hunter in "Apocalypto"), who fantastically hams it up aspsychopathic Scanner Peter Drak.The gore-factor, one of the trademarks of the "Scanners"-franchise, hasbeen hyped up a notch or two, never reaching the level'splatter-movie', but often coming close. However, especially youngerviewers should be warned, that this movie comes from a pre-CGI era,relying entirely on special effects, not computer animation, hence, mayseem a little rough on eyes used to contemporary CGI.All in all it's an enjoyable little romp but suffers the fate of mostremakes: it just doesn't stand the comparison to the original. If youcame for action, exploding heads and the archetypical"Scanner-grimacing", you cannot go wrong with "Scanners 2" – but if youconsider the original film a piece of art and hope for a similarlyinspired film, you might leave disappointed.8 points for being a 90's video-cheapo of it's own right, 5 as a sequelto an art-film like "Scanners", so I settle for 7 points out of 10.