TERMINATOR 2: JUDGMENT DAY (1991) A Film Review by Ted Prigge Copyright 1997 Ted Prigge
Director: James Cameron Writers: James Cameron and William Wisher Jr. Starring: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Linda Hamilton, Edward Furlong, Robert Patrick, Joe Morton, Erin Boen, Don and Dan Stanton
I moved to college on Ausust 29th, 1997, which is the same day as "Judgment Day" in "Terminator 2," which was basically the big apocalypse that killed most of the population, and, of course, launched the "Terminator" films. In a typical film version of this, the action sequences would be half-assed, and it would be as deep as a Seagal film. But under the helm of James Cameron, who's the world's biggest perfectionist, we get a film with depth and some totally ass-kicking action sequences, which he's famous for.
In the original film (also done by Cameron), a Terminator (Ah-nold) arrived from the future to assasinate the mother (Linda Hamilton) of the leader of the rebellion against the robots in the future, who ruled the earth after the big apocalypse until the humans rebelled. But another human arrived too (Michael Biehn), who not only killed the Terminator (and was also killed), but ended up being the father of the leader of the rebellion (a lovely twist).
Jump ahead about 10 years or so, the mother's now in an asylum; the son, John (Edward Furlong), is a rebellious Bart Simpson-type, living with foster parents, and riding around on a little moped with his friend; and two terminators have arrived with different missions: T-1000 (Robert Patrick), a liquid terminator, sent to kill John; and T-100 (Ah-nold) , this time sent to protect him from T-1000. They both arrive in electric lightning, totally buck naked, and on other parts of a bad city.
They both get clothes (although T-1000 has a cool thing where he can imitate anything it impales, and can do other liquid things), and they both set out to find John. They both pretty much find him first, duke it out a bit, ending in a giant Cameron-esque explosion, and soon they rescue the mother from the asylum, who has also begun to attempt an escape.
Part of Arnold's programming not only makes him protect John, but do whatever he commands. And he soon not only becomes his friend and pretty much his bitch, but soon he has become a father figure to him, and with the mother there, they form a kind of family unit.
The plot twists a bit, and we find out that a blooming company found the chip and arm from the first terminator and has taken that direction. But on August 29th, 1997 (a day I still think about), they somehow blew up the world, and all their robots took over the world, fighting the remaining humans, led by a grown-up John. Once this is found out, the mother decides to make it her business to stop it all by assasinating the head of the company (Joe Morton), who instead of being a jerk, goes ahead and helps them stop it by blowing up all the information. This leads to about 30 minutes or so of straight action sequences, right up until the end (which pissed me off when I rewatched it on NBC last night because they had to cut to commercial at several inconvenient times).
Now, is "Terminator 2" the greatest single action film ever made?
Nearly. The plot is so creepy and ominous that it's totally intriguing. The elements of depth are very well handled, causing us to care about the characters and even to question the mother's choice in killing Morton, and even think of Arnold as a near human. There are elements to humanize Arnold, and he almost becomes one, though he can feel nothing, but later on love for who he's protecting, and care for the mother, as well as a nifty way to not kill people all the time, causing this to have a surprisingly low body count for such a riveting action pic.
And Cameron is a master of action scenes. And since Arnold cannot be killed by mere bullets, he can go way, way, way over the top with his scenes. He also equips T-1000 with a bunch of cool new perks. For one, he can mutate, and everything. But also, when you shoot him, it merely makes a hole, which is covered up within seconds. A master of using an idea to its fullest limits, we not only get him shooting him with a gun to stop him for a couple seconds, but he later freezes him, uses a machine gun on him, etc. His action sequences are not just there to look cool, but to advance the plot.
This is one instance where the special effects work perfectly. They look realistic, they help with the cool action sequences, and they are, basically, jaw-dropping. Of course, James Cameron always makes the best special effects, I mean, other than Spielberg. The whole idea of T-1000 is an ingnius idea, and the film has the special effects to back his innovativeness up. There's also a cool bit at the end involving what looks like outtakes from John Carpenter's "The Thing."
There is one question of a potential flaw in the film. A big ass paradox. This involves the fact that if they stop "Judgment Day," then how was John Connor conceived, since his father came back from the future, which has been stopped by the end...unless they didn't actually stop it. I mean, the company could have had diskettes elsewhere when the plant was blown up. I dunno. But I remember discussing this with other people, and someone pointed out the theory of time lines, where there are alternate realities that come out (also used in the "Back to the Future" trilogy). But, I'm still a believer in the "12 Monkeys" theory of time: that it's linear. But oh well. Let's not try to think to hard on this one.
The film also features some actually excellent performances. Arnold is pretty much at his best here, combining zombie-like creepiness with some human depths that are meticulously added in the right places. Linda Hamilton continues on the Cameron streak of strong female leads (started with Ripley), and also proves herself a talented actress and powerful action lead (and has never looked so attractive). Eddie Furlong is good, best he ever was. Joe Morton, as always, rocks.
And Robert Patrick gives a perfectly delicious creepy performance. He has this kind of Malcolm MacDowell "Clockwork Orange" stare, equipped with greasy pushed-back hair, (big ears) and some little doses of mechanical humor - like staring as one of his victims struggles or almost being beaten, then looking up at his enemy, and mocking them pretentiously. He has never been this awesome, and I doubt he ever will (the poor guy's career never really took off, save a cool performance in "Copland," a cameo in "Wayne's World" as his T-1000 character, and he also did a grade-Z erotic thriller with Teri Hatcher where he got to touch her bare breasts - for all you horny bastards, it's called "The Cool Surface," and it sucks).
But "T2" is probably the second best action film ever made, close by to "Die Hard." It involves some of the most amazing action sequences ever executed, a story that's so engrossing that the film has become one of the ten most defining films of the past decade (from the "Premiere"), and features good acting, and a good old paradox or two. "Terminator 2" is basically how one makes a great big-budget action film.
MY RATING (out of 4): ****
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