The Myers–Carvey relationship remains intriguing, and Farley’s first-film cameo makes even listing cities funny. — Bill Simmons
The No Stairway gag endured despite home-video replacement notes; rights costs reportedly caused the substitution, later restored for Blu-ray and streaming. — Bill Simmons
Carrere’s singing, comedic timing and subtitle scene are praised; her later career seemed smaller than her talent deserved. — Bill Simmons
Carrere also keeps the cast from being entirely white; the newer viewer finds her far more distinctive here than in True Lies.
The soundtrack bridges hair metal and emerging grunge, including Temple of the Dog, and makes the film more enjoyable than Singles for one viewer. — Kyle Brandt
Older Queen, Sabbath, Clapton and Hendrix coexist with newer music and Carrere’s covers; Crucial Taunt is a convincing club band. — Bill Simmons
Dutch door action remains funny, with uncertainty whether Myers invented the phrase; Lowe’s literally anticipates Parks and Recreation. — Bill Simmons
Alice Cooper’s scholarly Milwaukee explanation is admired, with a report that his dialogue was unexpectedly added on set. — Bill Simmons
Holding a backstage pass conspicuously is remembered as an enduring behavior from the movie. — Kyle Brandt
Hi, I’m in Delaware remains a lasting joke, and the branded-content sequence still works. — Kyle Brandt
Street hockey adds the game-on/car refrain, Blackhawks jerseys and Stacey’s collision; the Bee Gees line remains apt. — Bill Simmons
Carvey’s actual drumming is admired. — Bill Simmons
Claudia Schiffer remains attractive, with a debate about younger viewers recognizing her through Love Actually. — Bill Simmons
Carrere’s band is passionate and entertaining even on its weaker ballad, compared with Lita Ford and Hole. — Kyle Brandt
No way/way, That’s what she said and the hand-job line still work. — Bill Simmons
Robert Patrick’s Terminator 2 cameo remains effective because the original film is iconic. — Bill Simmons
The Oscar clip, extreme close-up, water on the face and gratuitous-sex-scene jokes remain funny. — Bill Simmons
Baggage-area fight; first McClane-Lorenzo meeting; painters shootout and ramp standoff; ejection and parachute escape; runway fight and fuel-trail landing
First listed: McClane fighting two men in a restricted baggage area, with Vondie Curtis Hall; the cluttered, climbable set is praised and the airport raised as a possible Apex Mountain for airport movies, though it was not actually shot at Dulles. — Bill Simmons
The first McClane-Lorenzo meeting is quoted, with both actors bringing it; it sets up the trope of an official who is unimpressed by a proven hero, riffed on through an imagined Sully Sullenberger being brushed off.
The metal-detector insult to Carmine is noted as a likely ad-lib whose joke nobody fully understands. — Bill Simmons
The paintball-style shootout, with sinister painters (including Robert Patrick) ignored by the airport SWAT team, and the suspenseful moving-ramp standoff are nominated. — Bill Simmons
The plane crash is called the craziest and most horrifying scene in action-movie history; with some 220 deaths quickly moved past, it is judged memorable rather than rewatchable. — Bill Simmons
After 9/11 such a scene would never be made; the movie is one of the most violent mainstream films, mixing sight gags with a British plane crash that kills about 200 people, after which everyone at Dulles keeps drinking and waiting, and making the passengers unlikable British travelers is called a weird choice.
McClane pushing the crate, taking on Esperanza on the transport plane and ejecting leads to a shot of him parachuting at the camera, called one of the better action-movie shots, though the villains oddly fail to finish him. — Bill Simmons
The final fight with John Amos and Stuart ends with the plane blown up on an improbably long runway and controllers using the fire trail to guide landing planes. — Bill Simmons
Station scenes are loved: the cops betting and the bet called off over the station wagon, and the rubbers gag. — Bill Simmons
The straitjacket shoulder-dislocation bet is a terrible example for impressionable teens, shows his athleticism and pain tolerance, and is Chekhov's shoulder dislocation because it returns when he is almost drowned.
The psychiatrist popping up is like Jimmy Cricket; if Riggs endures that pain for a bet, imagine what he will endure for something righteous. — Van Lathan
The chili scene is not the most rewatchable but is really important for the Riggs character and why the movie is special. — Bill Simmons
Pesci arrives, followed by an evil 80s room-service guy with a mullet who is obviously a South African villain. — Bill Simmons
The pool drop is a great 80s stunt that ups the ante on the first movie's pool shootout. — Bill Simmons
The house-bust car chase and surfboard are among about four scenes with a beginning, middle, end and money shot. — Bill Simmons
The original trailer was just the toilet scene, and it worked. — Bill Simmons
The toilet bomb is one of the great action premises; he sat 12 to 18 hours, the smell is never addressed, and he noticed the bomb when reaching for toilet paper. — Bill Simmons
A complaint follows that this was going to be the speaker's most rewatchable scene and the romance is being taken out of it.
'Guys like you don't die on toilets' is called one of the better lines, and Riggs refuses to leave. — Chris Ryan
The unspoken 'I love you' between the partners, said with the eyes, reminds a host of his dad; Shane Black 'just got it' and the leads play like a symphony. — Van Lathan
The escape is ludicrous but set up so it seems possible; in reality they would have concussions and hearing issues, which was flagged as a nitpick. — Bill Simmons
Gibson breaking into the office ('it's the master race'), shooting the fish tank and 'pick them up with your hands' are loved. — Bill Simmons
Gibson's trailer getting shot up is a great action scene, and during the escape he asks what she is doing Saturday. — Bill Simmons
The underwater image of the dead girlfriend sticks in the brain like the head in Jaws. — Bill Simmons
Riggs yanks the stilt house down, a great pickup-truck ad; per a Premiere November 1989 breakdown it cost $500,000 and used a replica house. — Bill Simmons
The Gibson versus 'Adolf' fight and Glover's diplomatic immunity revocation close it out; one host has about 12 scenes. — Bill Simmons
The Christmas-tree drug bust opens the list, with the 'this is a real fucking gun' badge exchange called amazing.
Two scenes establish Riggs, whose introduction has him swallowing cocaine off a switchblade; the Christmas element is called bigger here than in Die Hard. — Chris Ryan
Riggs's Three Stooges bit and cocaine use flip the usual cop-movie arc; his 'shoot him' standoff before turning it on the dealer is called brilliant. — Chris Ryan
The handcuff jump with the jumper is next: it has no plot need but proves how crazy Riggs is and poses whether he is chasing a psycho pension or truly suicidal. — Bill Simmons
Viewers forget the jump is coming, jumps onto the big inflatable cushion are always great, and the cushion is never shown being set up. — Chris Ryan
The jumper is wished to have been a known actor, like Ellis from Die Hard. — Bill Simmons
The post-dinner talk in a boat parked in the driveway is the chemistry scene that shows why the movie works. — Bill Simmons
The desert exchange feels Joel Silver-ish; its location (White Sands or the Mojave) is a drive of hours from downtown L.A., and one host had it in nitpicks; Riggs's sniper work there is enjoyed despite 1987 communication limits. — Bill Simmons
Riggs's escape through the strip-joint and 101 freeway shootout is called 11 incredible nonstop minutes; the torture scene with Busey is 'all of the 80s in one room'. — Bill Simmons
The strip-club shooting reflects a rough decade for pedestrians in action movies, and the 101 shootout is underrated; taking over that stretch of freeway is marvelled at. — Bill Simmons
Riggs is judged faster than 1986 Cruise in a sprint and barefoot for the last half hour without the problems of Die Hard's hero; Robert Patrick in Terminator 2 tops the running hierarchy. — Bill Simmons
The front-yard fight ('would you like a shot at the title?') is a favorite despite the many implied violations; research says four more minutes of the fight were cut. — Bill Simmons
It ends with the 80s trope of the villain getting up to be shot one last time; Joshua winning then would have topped the 2004 Red Sox comeback. — Bill Simmons
Final pick: everything from Riggs's escape through the 101 shootout. — Bill Simmons
The other pick is Hunsaker's killing and the helicopter shootout, with Riggs emptying two clips toward the ocean; Shane Black redid it in Iron Man 3, and Hunsaker is shot through the eggnog. — Chris Ryan
The cliffside helicopter pullback is praised; Palos Verdes is the location guess, and a mid-80s run of helicopter stunts (Airwolf, Blue Thunder) is recalled. — Bill Simmons
Arnold Schwarzenegger is a yes, with agreement: after four straight hits and this, he could have been believed in anything, even as governor. — Bill Simmons
A son remarked while watching that Schwarzenegger was the best bodybuilder, a big movie star and then governor. — Bill Simmons
James Cameron is a no because his peak is still Titanic; Avatar is offered only to be contrary. — Bill Simmons
1991 is an insane-asylum year with this and Silence of the Lambs, taking the title from One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. — Bill Simmons
Chin-ups are raised with Cape Fear from the same year; the answer is ambiguous. — Bill Simmons
No actor has sprinted better; Cruise runs in every movie but never did it like this. — Bill Simmons
Pre-CGI sci-fi is a no, with Aliens and Star Wars ahead. — Bill Simmons
Arcades may peak here after Tron and The Last Starfighter, the last time one worked in a movie, offered with 'I guess'.
One-liners get a maybe, with The Matrix's 'I know Kung Fu' as a rival. — Van Lathan
This is Apex Mountain for summer blockbusters as an event; Speed as the first intentional summer blockbuster and Jaws as the unintentional first are debated, and T2 with Jurassic Park is the first movie onslaught of film plus prepackaged promotion. — Bill Simmons
T2 is also Apex Mountain for the Terminator franchise, since later time-travel sequels got convoluted and reboots never got back there.
Morton moves from vulnerability to part of the tactical team, and bringing 'friends from out of town' into Cyberdyne at night is a highlight. — Bill Simmons
Liquid-metal T-1000; hidden good-guy twist; Robert Patrick; cutting the Cyberdyne plot from Terminator 1; catchphrases; "It's in your nature to destroy yourself"; rat-boy John Connor; police as villains
Patrick's later career (Cop Land, a key Sopranos role, action films) looked like an effort to escape the Terminator image; he reprised the role for one scene in Last Action Hero. — Bill Simmons
Teaching Arnold slang ('no problemo', 'hasta la vista, baby', 'chill out, dickwad') is a borderline rewatchable scene that shouldn't work but does. — Bill Simmons
This is one of the only movies helped by narration; narration usually signals script trouble, but her voice works here. — Bill Simmons
The narration is great and ties to the alternate ending. — Bill Simmons
Narration usually sucks but works when sparse, as in Stand by Me, Shawshank and Goodfellas. — Van Lathan
Destroying Cyberdyne was an idea cut from the first Terminator and left in its deleted scenes; Cameron banked it as the nucleus of T2, making that cut an aged-best decision. — Bill Simmons
'Hasta la vista, baby' and 'I'll be back' became iconic pop-culture lines repeated even by a mother at the shopping cart.
The last aged-best pick is the Terminator coldly telling John 'it's in your nature to destroy yourself'. — Van Lathan
The line hit close to home and made the movie a tough watch for a self-described neurotic, anxious Van; his father would side with the Terminator ('nah, he right'). — Van Lathan
Rat-boy John Connor, with the Public Enemy shirt, motocross bike, arcade scams and foster-parent friction, is a great conception of the future resistance leader; finding Furlong outside the Pasadena boys club was one in a million. — Bill Simmons
The police as the bad guys aged best: the film has a healthy skepticism about the police, and it flipped the heroic-cop mentality of Colors from two years earlier.
The opening fishing-boat rescue throws the audience directly into the mystery, with bullets and a bank-account projector removed from Bourne's body. — Bill Simmons
Bourne opening the Swiss security-deposit box works because its passports, money, and weapon reveal a past he cannot remember. — Bill Simmons
The embassy escape is separated as its own scene because Bourne's training emerges through purposeful movement and improvised problem solving. — Chris Ryan
Matt Damon reportedly performed the embassy wall climb himself without a stunt double. — Chris Ryan
The diner scene communicates Bourne's skills through the exits, license plates, left-handed waitress, dangerous customer, and possible gun location.
Marie and Bourne develop a connection without a conventional exchange of personal backstory. — Chris Ryan
The apartment attack has a strong jump scare when Castel enters through the window. — Chris Ryan
The Paris car chase uses the small car, narrow streets, breaking glass, and a motorcycle jump to hit classic chase beats. — Chris Ryan
The field confrontation with Clive Owen is one participant's favorite because the waist-high camera and sparse dialogue create intimacy and tension. — Chris Ryan
The bloody dog never missing breakfast tells Bourne something is wrong, so he orders everyone into the basement.
The scene carries an emotional beat before the action when Bourne orders the family into the basement. — Bill Simmons
Instead of a long final-boss fight, Bourne outmaneuvers and quickly defeats the other assassin with a farmhouse shotgun. — Chris Ryan
Clive Owen's brief dying exchange reveals the cost of the assassins' conditioning.
Bourne's confrontation with Conklin is praised for declaring Jason Bourne dead and threatening an immediate response if pursued.
The stairwell escape ends with Bourne shooting downward while falling on another body, a heightened moment the panel still enjoys. — Chris Ryan
The farmhouse sequence is the final stated choice because it is offbeat, practical, and central to Bourne and Marie's relationship. — Chris Ryan
