Overrated

Rating: 8/10 (19 May 2005)

Terminator 2 is a very clear example of the hype becoming more important than the product. That's not to say the product isn't good, for it is certainly a better film than anything Dolph Lundgren or Jean-Claude Van Damme had been headlining at the time. The problem is that when one reads the commentaries after the fact, they expect to see a film that is as exciting to sit through as a ride in a Lamborghini down an autobahn. The reality is that for a substantial portion of its running time, Terminator 2 is anything but. Honor where honor is due - James Cameron managed to convince a film studio to give him a nine-figure budget to make a film, and it turned a not-insubstantial profit. That feat alone takes excellent film-making skills along with a good understanding of one's market. Combining this with the fact that Carolco Pictures was about to go bankrupt anyway, and the idea of publicising a film online was well over the horizon, makes the film's success even more extraordinary.
The film slightly revises the story told in the original, but since this was necessary to make the new story work, we'll let Cameron off the hook for that. Not to mention that unlike the dire Terminator 3, the story still makes sense on its own terms. In essence, Cameron decides to put the machine created in his groundbreaking original against something so radically advanced that not even a machine designed to be invincible is assured of success in stopping it. Realising this new enemy was accomplished through a series of robotic, makeup, prosthetic, and computer effects. This is supposedly where most of the extraordinary budget went, and it shows. Sure, the scene in which we scene a Terminator with much of his skin missing telling a truckie to get out of his own vehicle was amazing, but Cameron really tops it here. When the "get out" line is repeated, we totally believe that it scares the helicopter pilot enough to make him leap sixty feet to the ground.
The battle sequences in the film are exceptional, too. From the opening combat in the future to the small-scale duels that run through the rest of the film, the battles are exceptionally choreographed and executed. The absence of camera-shaking or, for the most part, far-too-close shots makes this one of the best films for battle sequences. The escape from the hospital and the siege at the computer manufacturer's offices are far-fetched at the best of times, but they set a cracking pace that leaves the viewer with next to no time to consider this. It is also good to see people spraying blood all over the place when they get shot, in spite of young Connor's ludicrous "don't kill anyone" directive. They could not have chosen a better actor for the new Terminator, either. Robert Patrick really gets the mannerisms shown in the original film down pat, and takes them to a new level. Although he is somewhat small compared to Ah-nuld, he has sufficient presence to not be totally overwhelmed by his massive co-star.
Unfortunately, and this is what I have been saying all along, Terminator 2 is let down by a very tedious middle section. One could almost divide the film in two. On one hand, we have an exciting series of battle sequences that, while bridged by some dialogues, rocket the viewer along with a kind of glee. On the other, we have a film where Cameron wears his philosophical waxing on his sleeve, where the characters seem to do nothing but talk and talk. Not only that, but they often state the obvious in a manner that could be considered patronising. I am told that the segue in the desert only takes up about half an hour of screen time, but it feels like ninety minutes. This, and a daft, unnecessary, amount of effort to negate a future that seems already carved in stone by talking a computer scientist into abandoning his research, well, it works in the story, but one cannot help feeling that this film could have been pared down to ninety minutes without any real loss.
In the end, The Terminator series should have stopped at one episode. This sequel is very good, but I just cannot help feeling the whole thing is redundant. One cannot blame Ah-nuld for wanting to return to the franchise that made him a household name, especially in light of the failures he had around this time, but one expects a bit more creativity from James Cameron. Still, Terminator 2 is worth watching once, which is more than I can say for a lot of other films I have seen in recent years.