Short Circuit 2: Difference between revisions
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The thieves, pressed for time to steal the jewels, lock Ben and Fred in the freezer of a Chinese restaurant, while Oscar persuades the overly trusting Johnny to help finish the tunnel leading to the bank. Johnny completes the tunnel, breaks into the safe, and unlocks the safe deposit box that holds the Vanderveer Collection. Johnny finally becomes aware of Oscar's true intentions but, after a brief chase through part of the city, Oscar and his thugs severely damage him. |
The thieves, pressed for time to steal the jewels, lock Ben and Fred in the freezer of a Chinese restaurant, while Oscar persuades the overly trusting Johnny to help finish the tunnel leading to the bank. Johnny completes the tunnel, breaks into the safe, and unlocks the safe deposit box that holds the Vanderveer Collection. Johnny finally becomes aware of Oscar's true intentions but, after a brief chase through part of the city, Oscar and his thugs severely damage him. |
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Although Johnny manages to get away from the thieves, he is slowly shutting down. Ben and Fred also manage to escape from the freezer thanks to Sandy who listens to the melody that Ben sends her, but when they return to the warehouse, Ben and Sandy are falsely imprisoned by the police for the robbery, while Fred escapes and attempts to find Johnny. After a long, heavy search of the city, Fred manages to find Johnny in an alleyway. Fred is startled |
Although Johnny manages to get away from the thieves, he is slowly shutting down. Ben and Fred also manage to escape from the freezer thanks to Sandy who listens to the melody that Ben sends her, but when they return to the warehouse, Ben and Sandy are falsely imprisoned by the police for the robbery, while Fred escapes and attempts to find Johnny. After a long, heavy search of the city, Fred manages to find Johnny in an alleyway. Fred is startled to find that Johnny is completely dead and use a an electrical junction box to resurrect Johnny from the dead, which is enough for Johnny to kick ass a zombie robot. That's right Liam, he was a zombie robot. |
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Despite |
Despite being undead, Johnny is determined to bring Oscar and his cronies to justice. After a brief, yet tense chase, he finds and corners them at a construction zone near the Hudson River. Oscar's gang is captured, but Oscar himself flees by stealing a boat. Johnny makes use of a crane to capture Oscar from the moving boat, who is then arrested and the diamonds are returned. The effort drains Johnny's remaining power reserves, causing Ben to frantically use a defibrillator in an effort to save Johnny. Ben succeeds, and manages to keep the robot running long enough to make full repairs. |
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The final scenes show that Johnny has become an overnight celebrity, his face (and tale with the jewel thieves) adorning the front pages of newspapers and magazines everywhere. As a result of this newfound fame, his look-alike toys have become a hot commodity, allowing Sandy, Ben, and Fred to go into business for themselves as a successful corporation known as Input, Inc. The film concludes with Ben's inauguration into U.S. citizenship, which he shares with a newly-restored and gold-plated Johnny, officially recognized as a living, thinking citizen with all the associated rights and privileges. Asked how he felt about his new status, Johnny enthusiastically jumps into the air, shouting that he feels "alive!" |
The final scenes show that Johnny has become an overnight celebrity, his face (and tale with the jewel thieves) adorning the front pages of newspapers and magazines everywhere. As a result of this newfound fame, his look-alike toys have become a hot commodity, allowing Sandy, Ben, and Fred to go into business for themselves as a successful corporation known as Input, Inc. The film concludes with Ben's inauguration into U.S. citizenship, which he shares with a newly-restored and gold-plated Johnny, officially recognized as a living, thinking citizen with all the associated rights and privileges. Asked how he felt about his new status, Johnny enthusiastically jumps into the air, shouting that he feels "alive!" |
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Revision as of 11:04, 30 July 2010
| Short Circuit 2 | |
|---|---|
 Promotional one-sheet poster. | |
| Directed by | Kenneth Johnson |
| Written by | Brent Maddock S.S. Wilson |
| Produced by | David Foster Gary Foster Lawrence Turman |
| Starring | Tim Blaney (voice) Fisher Stevens Michael McKean Cynthia Gibb Jack Weston Tim Blaney |
| Cinematography | John McPher |
| Edited by | Conrad Buff |
| Music by | Charles Fox Jim Steinman (song: "Holding Out for a Hero") |
Production company | Turman-Foster Company |
| Distributed by | TriStar Pictures |
Release date | July 6, 1988 |
Running time | 110 min |
| Language | English |
| Box office | US$21,630,088 (domestic)[1] |
Short Circuit 2 is a 1988 motion picture, the sequel to 1986's Short Circuit. It was directed by Kenneth Johnson, and starred Fisher Stevens as Ben Jahrvi,[2] (whose surname has inexplicably changed from Jabituya in the first movie), Michael McKean as Fred Ritter, Cynthia Gibb as Sandy Banatoni, and Tim Blaney as the voice of Johnny 5 (the main character – a friendly, naive, self-aware robot). Filming for this movie took place in downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Plot
Benjamin Jahrvi (Fisher Stevens) has moved to a city where he is selling toy versions of Johnny 5 (which he calls "Number Johnny 5 and it just 30 cm tall") out on the street. Struggling department store buyer Sandy Banatoni (Cynthia Gibb) sees the toys and works out an order for 1,000 units. Ben gains the help of con artist Fred Ritter (Michael McKean) for the project, and Fred borrows money from a loan shark to get equipment, temporary workers and a warehouse to build the toys.
Unfortunately, the warehouse is the base of operations for a duo of thieves hired by bank teller Oscar Baldwin (Jack Weston) to tunnel underground to his bank's vault across the street where they hope to steal a set of jewels known as the Vanderveer Collection, worth $37,862,000. The thieves attempt to scare off Ben and Fred, trashing their equipment and causing their temps to flee, making it impossible to meet their time deadline.
A large crate arrives from Ben's friends Stephanie and Newton, which contains Johnny 5, who has been sent to help Ben with his business. Johnny can build the toys rapidly, allowing Ben free time to study what he must know to become a U.S. citizen. Considering Johnny's thirst for knowledge, Ben makes Fred swear not to reveal the nature of their location to Johnny, believing (correctly) that the robot would go nuts if he knew he was living in a major metropolis filled with input.
When Fred accidentally lets it slip to Johnny that he is in the city, the robot leaves the warehouse to explore New York, and inadvertently makes friends with Oscar himself.
Fred, having learned from Ben that Johnny is worth over $11 million, tries to sell the robot to a few high-profile businessmen. When Johnny learns that Fred plans to sell him, he escapes and wanders alone through the city. Johnny soon realizes through his interaction with passers-by just how lonely he is, because of his inability to convince anyone that he is alive. Johnny is later found and retrieved by Ben from the NYPD's stolen-goods warehouse. The two have a heart-to-heart conversation, and Johnny encourages Ben to ask Sandy out on a proper date. After an awkward start, Ben and Sandy find a connection.
The thieves, pressed for time to steal the jewels, lock Ben and Fred in the freezer of a Chinese restaurant, while Oscar persuades the overly trusting Johnny to help finish the tunnel leading to the bank. Johnny completes the tunnel, breaks into the safe, and unlocks the safe deposit box that holds the Vanderveer Collection. Johnny finally becomes aware of Oscar's true intentions but, after a brief chase through part of the city, Oscar and his thugs severely damage him.
Although Johnny manages to get away from the thieves, he is slowly shutting down. Ben and Fred also manage to escape from the freezer thanks to Sandy who listens to the melody that Ben sends her, but when they return to the warehouse, Ben and Sandy are falsely imprisoned by the police for the robbery, while Fred escapes and attempts to find Johnny. After a long, heavy search of the city, Fred manages to find Johnny in an alleyway. Fred is startled to find that Johnny is completely dead and use a an electrical junction box to resurrect Johnny from the dead, which is enough for Johnny to kick ass a zombie robot. That's right Liam, he was a zombie robot.
Despite being undead, Johnny is determined to bring Oscar and his cronies to justice. After a brief, yet tense chase, he finds and corners them at a construction zone near the Hudson River. Oscar's gang is captured, but Oscar himself flees by stealing a boat. Johnny makes use of a crane to capture Oscar from the moving boat, who is then arrested and the diamonds are returned. The effort drains Johnny's remaining power reserves, causing Ben to frantically use a defibrillator in an effort to save Johnny. Ben succeeds, and manages to keep the robot running long enough to make full repairs.
The final scenes show that Johnny has become an overnight celebrity, his face (and tale with the jewel thieves) adorning the front pages of newspapers and magazines everywhere. As a result of this newfound fame, his look-alike toys have become a hot commodity, allowing Sandy, Ben, and Fred to go into business for themselves as a successful corporation known as Input, Inc. The film concludes with Ben's inauguration into U.S. citizenship, which he shares with a newly-restored and gold-plated Johnny, officially recognized as a living, thinking citizen with all the associated rights and privileges. Asked how he felt about his new status, Johnny enthusiastically jumps into the air, shouting that he feels "alive!"
Cast
- Tim Blaney as the voice of Johnny 5
- Fisher Stevens as Ben Jahrvi
- Michael McKean as Fred Ritter
- Cynthia Gibb as Sandy Banatoni
- Jack Weston as Oscar Baldwin
- David Hemblen as Jones
- Don Lake as Manic Mike
- Ally Sheedy, who played main character Stephanie Speck in Short Circuit, lends her voice to one scene (Sheedy is uncredited).
Reception
Siskel & Ebert gave the film "two thumbs up" and called the film "even better than the original."[3] In a 1988 Los Angeles Times article, the review noted that, "...Wilson and Maddock have improved considerably here....Their construction is more deft, their dialogue is better, and they make Number Five come more alive..."[3] Rita Kempley of the Washington Post scored the film 6/10 saying, "...[Director Kenneth] Johnson pulls heartstrings with the best of them—or the worst, if you hate that sort of thing... if you're a kid, or an adult with an Erector Set, you might just enjoy this summer-weight caper."[3]
DVD release
Short Circuit 2 was re-released on DVD on April 24, 2007,[3] which included a "making-of featurette" on actor Fisher Stevens. In 2009, the film was released once again with alternate cover-art.
Hot Cars, Cold Facts
Hot Cars, Cold Facts, made in 1990, is a short educational film featuring the Johnny 5 character, voiced by Russell Turner. It also starred Gina Revarra as Lisa, John Hugh as Officer Dave and Donald Bishop as Howard. The film takes place after Short Circuit 2.
References
- ^ "Short Circuit 2 (1988)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 2010-02-06.
- ^ "imdb.com page for Short Circuit 2". Retrieved 10 March 2010.Reference to character's name.
- ^ a b c d "Short Circuit 2 - DVD". Buy.com. Retrieved 2010-02-06.