From: "eric walker" <eric.walker@channel1.com>
Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies
Subject: terminator ii
Date: 29 Jul 92 20:43:10 EST
Reply-To: "eric walker" <eric.walker@channel1.com>
Distribution: rec
Organization: Channel 1 Communications

MAB>Can you give a serious, well-thought, well-written critical analysis of
MAB>why you did not like T2?

     I dug up a text file I wrote on July 3, 1991, the day after I saw
     "Terminator 2."  Here it is:
     In 1984, James Cameron and Arnold Schwarzenegger exploded into the big
time with THE TERMINATOR, a grim, dark action picture that changed the style
of today's action movies.  As if you didn't know this already:  Arnold
playing the ruthless, unstoppable killing machine is probably as well known a
figure of science fiction movies as Darth Vader himself. And now we have
TERMINATOR 2: JUDGMENT DAY, the film
that's supposed to be the most expensive movie ever made.  Cameron has
pulled out all the stops in trying to top his original action
thriller.  First of all, forget about the nightmares that Carolco
Pictures is supposedly having over the costs of the movie; according
to "Time" magazine, they have already almost made back that money in
selling the distribution rights, video rights, overseas marketing, and
other stuff.  In other words, T2 stands to make a barrel of money, and
this means that the day of the mega-budget action picture has not
ended yet.
     As for the movie itself, well, I know I'm going to get lynched
for this. But here goes:
.
     In terms of shootouts and special effects, this is one of the
most amazing movies that I have ever seen.  Ye Gods, those effects!
     But as an action thriller to keep you on the edge of your seat,
the first movie was better.
.
     For starters, Arnold himself does the worst acting job of the
whole movie.  He's the Terminator, all right, but this time he has
been re-programmed and sent back to the past to serve as a guardian
and protector to John Connor, the boy destined to become the leader of
the resistance fighters in the nightmare future world.  But he simply
doesn't act like a machine!  He is endowed with feelings, and that is
a mistake.  He's certainly BIG, but he isn't the scene-stealing menace
that he used to be.  Whenever I watch the first movie, every time I
see Arnold I think "Now THAT is one tough mutha!"  He may be
indestructible (almost) in this film, but he sure doesn't act tough.
     The "tough" roles this time go to Sarah Connor and her son John,
both of whom are trying to change the future and stop the nuclear war
from happening, before it starts.  Sarah is not the meek waitress of
the first film, naturally.  She's become a lean, mean fighting machine
- but unfortunately she's been sent to a mental institution and her
son has been placed in protective custody.  That sleazy psychiatrist
from the first movie is back, too, and he still doesn't believe the
story of the Terminator.  Of course, Sarah isn't crazy. But no one
believes her except for John Connor, a little juvenile delinquent who
uses the skills Mom taught her to steal money from bank teller
machines.  I liked John; I knew kids like that when I was little.  :)
And Sarah could teach Rambo a thing or two about wilderness survival.

     But I haven't mentioned the REAL star of the film yet.  He is
everything that Schwarzenegger was in the first movie - cold, inhuman,
ruthless, and menacing.  He is also cunning, like a panther, and
utterly unstoppable.  He is the new Terminator - T-1000 - and he has
been sent here to kill John Connor. In the second place, Robert
Patrick LOOKS like an unfeeling machine, and even though he isn't
nearly as big as Arnold, he looks like he could give the old
Terminator a run for his money (and he does).  But in the FIRST place,
the T-1000 has some of the most amazing special effects that I have
ever seen in the movies.  He is made of liquid metal, and he can flow
and change his shape and disguise himself as anyone or anything he
wishes.  My jaw dropped whenever he changed his shape (which happens a
lot).  This is amazing; I don't think I've ever seen anything like it.
I honestly didn't know how he was going to be killed. Yes, he does
resemble the water tentacle used in THE ABYSS (as some people have
said), but he is a lot more advanced than that.
     All of the movie's special effects are terrific.  There are car
chases and incredible stunts and explosions and shoot-outs that dwarf
anything ever done in the movies.  And this movie could teach a thing
or two to Paul Verhoeven, who did last year's TOTAL RECALL: while
there is blood in this film, there is not a lot of excessive gore.
It's mostly clean violence, and it's more exciting that way.
Schwarzenegger does a lot of shooting, of course, as he breaks arms
and shoots off people's kneecaps (the biggest laugh in the film comes
from this).
     But despite all this action, I didn't quite have the same
thrilling feeling that I got from the first Terminator film, or from
ALIENS.  There are some amazing chase scenes, yes, but the whole movie
didn't leave me hanging the way the chase scenes did.  The first movie
rushed along at a breakneck pace, and I was left gasping for breath.
This movie lets you take a breather from time to time, and that
actually left me a little disappointed.
     Furthermore, there are a couple of silly sequences that seemed
like they were put there only for laughs, and they don't work.  Most
of these scenes come from Arnold himself; as I said, he did not act
like a machine.
     Make no mistake:  This is a good movie.  It's the best action
movie to come along since last year's DIE HARD 2, and it's well worth
the money spent.  More importantly, you won't regret spending your
money to see it.
     But I still say the first movie was better.
---
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