Review of Short Circuit 2 (1988) by Vince K — 13 Jun 2010

I really didn't realize this when I was a kid, but while Short Circuit 2 is a sweet and touching melodrama, it's also a social commentary on an outcast's struggle for equal rights. Johnny #5 explores the great city of New York with a kind of wide-eyed innocence, only to be hurt, rejected, and lied to at every turn.

And when the thugs are killing him, chopping him to pieces with an axe while he pleads "Noooo!! No disassemble! You're killing me! I don't to want to die!" - well, if that doesn't pull on your heartstrings than you must be made of stone.

He barely gets fixed up by Michael McKean just in time to catch the story's villains, in what is a great final chase scene set to the song Holding Out For A Hero by Bonnie Tyler. He catches the villain in the end, but sadly has used the last of his energy and dies, while I was choking on tears.

All Johnny #5 ever wanted was to be accepted by society, to be loved and make friends. And society chewed him up and spit him out. Fuck you, New York City, fuck you.