TERMINATOR 2: JUDGMENT DAY
[Spoilers]
A film review by Frank Maloney
Copyright 1991 Frank Maloney
(POSSIBLE SPOILER ALERT:
If you have completely insulated yourself from the trailers and the press in re TERMINATOR 2, you may discover a spoiler or two in the following notice. If you have picked up some clues already as to the basic story, carry on; I reveal nothing you don't already know.)
TERMINATOR 2 is a film by James Cameron, written by Cameron and William Wisher. It stars Arnold Schwarzenegger, Linda Hamilton, Edward Furlong, Robert Patrick, and Joe Morton.
I have never seen the 1984 film TERMINATOR, so this review will not be discussing the sequel in terms of the original, except to note that the budget for original is said to be $6.5 million and for the sequel $88 million. Amazing inflation. I think I can say that almost every dollar of that 88 million is visible on the screen. This is first, and foremost, a F/X hit of major intensity. The evolution from the friendly tentacle of "polymerized water" in THE ABYSS to the demonic power of the polymorphic, liquid-metal T-1000 is the evolution from a single pictograph to a sophisticated vocabulary. The T-1000, played with cool, boy-next-door menace by Robert Patrick (who looks like a psycho escapee from CHIPS with his lean, white-bread, bland good looks), is more living metal than merely liquid metal; after all, mercury is a liquid metal and although it used to be called quicksilver (as in "the quick and the dead") it is nowheres near as determined to live and destroy as the T-1000.
Of course, it is the inevitable fate of super-villain-turned- superhero T-800 (played by Arnold Schwarzenegger) that it must confront a villain at least it's equal, just as Robocop came back to wrangle with a better, evil version of itself. Arnie, I understand, became the enormously successful multi-national industry that he is today as a direct result of TERMINATOR. One need hardly say that he is perfect for the part, which is custom tailored to both his physique and his dramatic skills. It is great fun having a hero who is every bit as villainous in his demeanor and appearance as the real villain. And for those of you who know the original, it must be something of a mind-f*k to have the T-800 reprogrammed to do good.
It certainly is a shame that this detail is so well publicized in advance by the trailers. This has been discussed already, so I need not rehash it here, except to agree with the poster who commented on the terrific efforts the movie goes to set you up for a revelation that the trailer gave away two months ago.
But back to Arnie. I like to have a certain amount of fun at Arnie's expense; I don't get the impression that he thinks he's any great shakes as a thespianic artiste. But I do think that he does have a flare for comedy, even if he can't read lines for anything. A lot of his comedy comes from the context of his usual screen persona: the hulking monosyllabic muscle that walks like a man. When this Hulk smiles (half-smiles, actually) it's more exciting, and a lot funnier, than when Garbo laughed. Of course, he has his schticks which we love, which we eagerly await: the lines, the shades. It's obvious that people love Arnie, and someone ought to seriously examine why. I mean, if we could bottle it, we'd all have $16 million airplanes, wouldn't we?
And then there's Linda Hamilton as Sarah Connor. She struck me very as Sigourney Weaver did in ALIEN and even more so in ALIENS. She's physically powerful, she's brave, she's seen the future, the enemy, and it's left her more than a little obsessed. I don't think Hamilton is as drop-dead beautiful as Weaver, but she's impressive in her own way. The Connor character is fairly interesting in its own right. She is a crazy-person, desperate, driven, a monomaniac (to use an old-fashioned word; as her son John (played by Edward Furlong) says, "One thing about Mom, she believes in planning ahead." (Quoted from memory.) The only thing she leaves out of the plan is her son's need to be loved. Connor has a recurring nightmare of a playground being nuked; it is the most emotional, human moment and the most humane F/X, in what is largely a very cold, mechanical movie.
Edward Furlong as John Connor, future savior of mankind, is pretty good; I liked him least when he was teaching the T-800 How to be a Human. He has a moral vision that balances and overrides the monomanias of Mom and the Cyborg. He is the krypton in some ways, the limitation on the behavior of two rather determined killers. Unfortunately, he is little too glib in analyzing his problems to be the perfect valley brat, but then he is a savior-in-training so I guess we can expect a little extra horsepower in analysis department, too.
Robert Patrick has the enviable role of being the vehicle for the real star of TERMINATOR 2, the special effects and especially the shape-shifting effects that make the T-1000 an ultimate demon. Arnie lays down the few rules that limit the shape-shifting early on, but within those rules, watch out. Patrick never sweats, but as a shape-shifter he can imitate a smile. The best stuff in TERMINATOR 2 is reserved for Patrick's long-suffering but resilient screen body. O lucky man!
TERMINATOR 2 is a rowser of an action movie. Absolutely nonstop, sustained, one-long chase-cum-fight, with plenty of mind boggling visuals along the way. The Industrial Light and Magic people created almost completely seamless effects; once or twice, I saw past the illusion, but only for an instant. The story is negligible, very standard-issue, a rehash-cum-spin, as I understand it, of the original TERMINATOR. And, of course, the Message and the Medium are totally at loggerheads. The movies says "value human life", but the level of violence is pretty intense and survivable only because in a comic-book context. I read that Cameron in the press kit admits this is "a violent movie about peace." Like f*king for virginity?
But be that as it may, I enjoyed TERMINATOR 2. The chances you will, too, even at full ticket price.
-- Frank Richard Aloysius Jude Maloney
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