Category: sci-fi action
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I think categorising Terminator 2: Judgement Day merely as "the best sequel ever" doesn't do this movie justice - I personally think it's in contention for "the best film ever". Far from suffering from sequel-itis (the condition when a smash-hit original movie has a completely lousy sequel) it's not hard to conclude that Terminator 2 is better than the original Terminator movie.
Having come out in the 1990s, Terminator 2 was the talk at my high school for months on end - cool lines from the movie would get quoted, various scenes would get re-enacted, inopportune screams of "YOU COULD BE MINE!!!!" from the try-hard rock kids, and chuckles about what mischief we would get up to if we had the shape-shifting capabilities as this movie's antagonist. In short, Terminator 2 wasn't a movie - it was a social phenomenon!
In fact, when Channel 9 (the TV station with the local broadcast rights to T2) wanted to spoil ratings for a rival TV station - for example, if the rival station were broadcasting a sporting final or a season finale - Channel 9 would screen this movie as a way of denting the other station's ratings - a testament to this movie's pulling power.
And the result of that policy was that it gave me ample opportunity to record the movie on to my VHS for both myself and my friends. I watched this movie NUMEROUS times on the old CRT TV off of my VHS tape recording, and even then, the visuals were groundbreaking. The only hiccup is that on modern high-res screens and with the advance of CGI since the 1990s, some of the magic is lost in viewing in 2025.
But what made T2 so good? Let's get in to that after a run-down of the plot:
Arnold Schwarzenegger reprises his role as The Terminator from the first film which begins proper when The Terminator suddenly appears as if it's travelled back in time, appearing in a bolt of energy in a parking lot without clothes or weapons and thus duly acquires clothes, a weapon and transportation from a biker bar on the outskirts of LA (giving his character the famous look). However, not too far away is another time-travelling robot (played by Robert Patrick) that suddenly appears and gets its weapons, clothing and transportation, but this time by killing a police officer.
All the while, the adolescent John Connor (far from being the future leader of the human resistance) is preoccupied with rebelling against his foster parents and being a menace to society, blissfully unaware of what danger is about to befall him. In the meantime, Sarah Connor is in a psychiatric hospital, seemingly the result of her relentless and frenetic warnings about killer robots setting off a nuclear war in order to wipe out humanity (the Judgement Day in question).
The two Terminator robots close in on John - one using LAPD resources, and the other good old-fashioned footwork. It turns out that the first Terminator was reprogrammed and sent back in time by John Connor himself decades in the future to try stop the killer robot sent by the evil robots that the humans in the future are fighting against. Cue the awesome scene where Robert Patrick's Terminator first runs like an absolute machine after John Connor, then hijacks a truck and follows Connor on his motorbike into the waterways of LA at which point Arnie's Terminator rocks up on a Harley-Davidson with shotgun in hand, rescues John and then sets the other Terminator's truck on fire.
Here, we find out that Arnie is playing the old-style T-800, but Robert Patrick's is the T-1000 - faster, stronger and able to shape-shift and mimic anything it touches. Uh oh! After this, John and the T-800 establish that John's foster parents are dead, so the only option left is to get mum. As it happens, mum was part way through her own escape plan. But what's this? The T-1000 has snuck into the psychiatric hospital and is on a murder-and-shapeshift spree that culminates in a gunfight between the two Terminators while Sarah Connor realises that her former enemy is now on her side when she sees it protect her son.
Escape the two humans and one robot do to the desert where they meet with a Spanish-speaking family who live off the grid and conveniently happen to have a stash of weapons. It is here that we see the bond form between John Connor and the T-800 as Connor tries to teach a robot how to act human - thus making John Connor the world's first AI engineer!
After this, they all hatch a plan to destroy Cyberdine Industries with the help of Miles Dyson, though Dyson needs to be recruited into the plan and it is here that the three break into Dyson's home and we get yet another iconic scene where Arnie rips his outer skin off to show a metallic skeleton. After this, they all go to Dyson's workplace and lay enough explosives to take out a city, but not before cops arrive on the scene. Here, we see the T-800 be very careful not to actually kill anyone - what a hero!
With the original chip and inspiration for Dyson's work destroyed, the chase is on - Connor, Connor and the T-800 in a truck, while the T-1000 is now in a motherfucking chopper! They end up in a steelworks plant where the T-1000 is eventually forced to take a molten steel bath, but in order to ensure no-one can replicate either T-1000 or T-800, the T-800 also takes a molten steel bath in what is the most emotional scene in the movie.
Cue somewhat happy ending where Sarah Connor reveals she hopes she averted the upcoming nuclear war. (Spoiler alert - no, because in 2003, Terminator 3: Rise Of The Machines is released)
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Simply put, there are a LOT of reasons to like T2. Let me count the ways:
- First and foremost was that this movie had groundbreaking effects, both physical and computer-generated. This allowed James Cameron to make a superior villain that could do new things to add to the drama. One of the tropes of story-telling is that the good guys are outmatched and/or outgunned and have to find a way to overcome the odds. In the first Terminator, it was a man against a machine like nothing we had ever seen before. This time around, it's a machine up against an even better machine. The first machine could scan a situation and find a way to kill three people with one bullet - the second machine can shape-shift and mimic voices and walk through walls.
- The action sequences! They're big and dramatic and bombastic and dangerous, but they never feel ridiculous to the point of losing credibility and they never feel done for the sake of being done. For example, on paper, the idea of a killer robot commandeering a prime mover to chase after a kid on a motorbike and then another killer robot on its own bike appears to rescue said kid sounds stupid - but seeing it in action, it's gripping cinema!
- The perfect balance between continuing the lore and allowing new viewers to understand what's going on. Yes, this is a sequel, but you didn't need to have watched the first movie to catch on because there is enough exposition by Sarah Connor to both explain what happened and to add colour to what the viewer is watching.
- One other reason this movie captured the imagination was that in the 1990s, computers were becoming a big thing and so was the threat of nuclear war. This movie came out right as The Cold War ended, but still - the idea that computers could be smart enough to turn on the humans that designed them nowadays and start a war turns out to not be so far-fetched. So while the idea of time-travelling assassin robots WAS ridiculous, the idea of computers starting a nuclear war either by malfeasance or misadventure was squarely in the mind of the general public.
The other idea is that evil lies beneath those that we trust - the T-1000 being able to shapeshift and impersonate a police officer, the very profession we trust to protect us.
And let's not forget the performances:
- Robert Patrick really shone through in this role, and was glad to see his career really took off after this. One of the things that impressed me is that in the scene in the shopping centre where the T-1000 chases John Connor on foot as Connor tries to speed away in his motorbike, Robert Patrick does not open his mouth or blink as he runs - the behind-the-scenes reveals that Patrick trained to be able to sprint without breaking stride or facial expression, and he was apparently able to run so fast (even in police clothing) that they had to re-shoot the sequence with Furlong starting the bike much sooner because Patrick kept catching up to him.
- Arnold Schwarzenegger does a believable job as a robot.
- Linda Hamilton and Edward Furlong do a fantastic job as mother and son, separated by unfortunate circumstances, but reunited by heroics.
- And let's not forget one other star of the show: the story itself. It really is an impressive story!
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