Terminator 2: Judgment Day

I am really excited for today because I will get the chance to review another one of my all time favorite films, “Terminator 2: Judgment Day,” released in 1991. I can’t really say which sequels could top this one, since this is one of the best, if not “the” best, candidate for the greatest sequel ever. Now, onto the review:

James Cameron and William Wisher Junior both returned. James Cameron became an even more detailed actor’s director and put a lot of attention into the set design, direction, music, special effects, puppetry, and make-up, and ILM worked on the film. They used some of the most innovative CGI that had been developed for “The Abyss” to create the T-1000. Brad Fiedel returned to do the music, Linda Hamilton and Arnold Schwarzenegger returned and the film got a 102 million dollar budget. James Cameron also got Final Cut Privilege. There is also a special edition with added character moments, effects and subtext.

This film has a strong sense of continuity with the first film. It gives more details of how the Nuclear War happens, who developed the Terminators, and what John Connors childhood was like. It also creates an even more complex story with Sarah having been committed and needing to escape. It has a great plot twist, where it shows a good Terminator was sent back to protect John, while the morphing T-1000 was sent back to kill him. The T-1000 has many creative powers, as he can take on people’s appearances, form stabbing weapons, become a floor, take weapons out of his body, and nothing can stop him. In the Special Edition, we see how he starts to weaken after being frozen, which added a nice touch. The finale did a few plot holes, like them waiting too long while the T-1000 was recovering from being frozen, they didn`t save the grenade launcher and used it while he was recovering. It was rather convenient they happened to end up at a steal factory, but it still is a brilliant story. Also, the film is very original where it shows how Sarah Connor tried to change time by killing an innocent man named Dyson, even though he also had a family. He also eventually sacrifices himself, which made for a dramatic death. It is interesting that they decide to freely change history, even there is no external time travel influence causing them to do so, and they destroy Cyberdyne. The film finally shows that time can, in fact, be changed, but it requires sacrifice. The film still has many great horror and suspense elements, although it is more of an action film, but it again blends science-fiction with film-noir. It also adds some subtle humor as well, and it really helps further the characterization, like the humor of how the T-800 doesn`t understand humanity and sees destroying life as normal. The film is very well paced, being consistently exciting, but also having it`s action further the story.

The action scenes are great. They are well directed and edited, as well as complex and exciting. The CGI still looks fantastic today, as do the practical effects. The score is more hip but still dramatic, exciting, creative and dreadful. The direction is excellent, as is again the cinematography. All of this helps tell a great story. Although it has many similarities to the first film, it keeps it fresh by making John believe the Terminator faster and by making the authorities be against them. The film conveys many deep themes, expanding on the first film, showing just how violent society is, as even Sarah and John commit violence. We see how cops are too trigger-happy as well, and we see Sarah has prepared for destruction. It also shows how after the Cold War was over, nuclear destruction was still possible and how easily we could be provoked. It also shows that anyone can learn the value of life, that it is simply something you must know in your heart and that it is better to sacrifice your life then to take one. It also shows how being too busy with technology causes us to ignore our family and get overly ambitious. We see how the value of life is based on the ability to feel empathy and that this is helped by others showing compassion to us. John treats the Terminator as his friend and this forms the basis of it developing an appreciation of human life. The commentary is excellent on the blindness of society. They just treat Sarah as crazy, cover up all evidence of the Terminator, treat foster children as criminals, when they are just upset and confused, abuse people they think are crazy, and won`t believe them when they try to act sane. Silverman seeing the T-1000 was fantastic. It again comments on fate and shows we can change it, but that it requires us to truly learn from the past, as we can`t just fix the problems of the world by killing more people.

The film again has excellent character development. Like the first film, it doesn`t have one definitive protagonist, but a group of protagonists. Sarah Connor is shown to have become violent, desperate, and emotional, depressed, yet she is still protective, though overbearing, and she treats her son as just a savior. She can be harsh, yet also sad, caring, and really spiritual. She still remembers Kyle Reese and dreams of him, is persistent, and she not only learns to regain her soft side and her bond with John, but also her hope in humanity. It was really subtle how in her dream, she saw many people being happy and oblivious to the impending destruction, including herself from the first film. She has changed a lot between the films, feeling powerless as she was committed, and became more and more obsessed with training John. Understandably, she is very uptight and can snap at certain moments since she remembers everything John told her in the first movie and is focused on setting the future right. Even though she does show progress in the asylum, she still can get furious and does eventually break through in order to prevent the war from happening. Also, what is interesting is that she at first wants to destroy the T-800 and doesn`t really want to listen to John, but she comes to be less cold to him, and more protective and nurturing. She also clearly misses him when she is in the mental hospitals. Also, they nicely explain what happened in between the film where she stored weapons, looked for many father figure substitutes for John, she went to the South and made more rough type friends there. They also show John used to trust her and had to grow up fast, is very skilled, rough and brave but is disillusioned, as he was told everything he was raised to believe was a lie. However, he is nice to his friend and does want to warn his foster parents, although he clearly doesn`t like them and is rebellious, stubborn, sneaky and rude, but it is very understandable in his case. He also does want to save his mother and does value human life, yet it is fun to see him abuse his ability to control the Terminator. What was really nice about this film is the jargon that John teaches the Terminator in order to talk more like a human and not a machine, since John is a street-smart, wise little boy. Especially since this movie introduced another one of Arnold’s famous lines, “Hasta la vista, baby.” I really liked how John and the Terminator grow close to one another and the Terminator becomes like a father to John, since John never grew up with a biological dad. This is very similar to how in “The Karate Kid,” when Daniel and Miyagi grow close as friends to one another that they become like a father and son. It`s interesting how he grows to be a real leader, more caring and more mature. Also, Myles Dyson is interesting as he really loves his family, but he just does what he is told and tries to develop the best technology he can. He truly is shocked when he hears what he would cause, and comes to slowly resent his technology more. The Terminator starts off harsh, cold and kills people only somewhat less than the T-1000. John teaches him not to kill people, to have a sense of humor and they discuss what it means to cry. We see that vulnerability is part of what makes one human. He eventually develops freewill and sacrifices himself out of compassion for humanity. The T-1000 is also really interesting. He is so unassuming, precise, small yet deadly, manipulative, stoic, ruthless and determined.

The acting is great. Arnold Schwarzenegger perfectly plays his slow transition to humanity, Linda Hamilton is emotional, and gets her more crazy side across well, Edward Furlong is really natural, funny and three-dimensional, Robert Patrick is very subtle yet creepy as the T-1000, Joe Morton is also excellent when showing the warm sides of Miles. The film really is an outstanding masterpiece. It grossed $500 million and got critical acclaim, and is by many fans considered the best. It is truly one of the best films ever made and is again an easy 10/10.

Just like how I stated last week that I couldn’t do the first Terminator movie justice, this one I seriously “cannot” do justice by reviewing it. If you have not seen this movie, then don’t read my review. You simply have to watch this movie to see for yourself how awesome of a movie it is. Once you have finished watching it, you will be left feeling so amazed and blown away at how James Cameron was able to make this masterpiece. I would also like to thank reviewreviewer1 for sending these thoughts once again, and next week will be a combination of both of our thoughts.

I can understand if anyone likes the first movie because of the dark prophecy of a storm coming, but I like how this film has a more positive outlook that if a machine can learn the value of human life, maybe humans can as well. I remember when I was hanging with some friends in the cafeteria at my old Community College, a couple of people thought the second one sucked, which really shocked me, but like I said before, I think I can understand they liked the first movie because of how dark it got.

Well, I wish I could say that it is uphill from this point, but unfortunately it’s not. I seriously think the series should have been left alone after this movie, since it ended on what could be considered the definitive cap of the movies, but they didn’t. Just wait until next week to see what they did that caused the series to start going downhill. I hope all of you are enjoying “Terminator Month.”