"T2" review

Rating: 10/10 (14 January 2008)

In director James Cameron's first "Terminator" film, the story held that in the post-apocalyptic future of Los Angeles 2029 after a rogue super-computer called Skynet became self-aware and initiated a worldwide nuclear strike and waged a subsequent genocidal war on mankind, humans are on the verge of being wiped out by the machines that have taken over the world. However, a revolutionary leader named John Connor will rise to power and lead the human resistance to eradicate the machines. Since Skynet is on the verge of losing, however, it sends a cyborg assassin, called a Terminator (Arnold Schwarzenegger), back in time to 1984 to eliminate the man's mother Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton).
It failed.
A few years later in Cameron's high-powered, special effects-laden "Terminator 2: Judgment Day," John Connor (newcomer Edward Furlong) is still a teenager, a wily and rebellious teenager, with the full weight of the future on his adolescent shoulders. Skynet, however, has one more card left up its sleeve: it sends another Terminator, an advanced prototype, the shape-changing T-1000 (Robert Patrick), to strike at Connor once again. The human Resistance reprograms another Terminator as a protector for John. It's only a question of which one will reach him first. So both Sarah and John are forced to team up with their cyborg protector if they are to avoid the T-1000 and the horrific future from which it came.
Just to get this out of the way, "Terminator 2: Judgment Day" is in many ways superior to "The Terminator." Made on a significantly higher budget (at least 10x that of "The Terminator"), Cameron employed many different ideas and special effects tricks that he couldn't do because of the budget limitations he faced on the first film. While I still hold that Cameron's original 1984 "The Terminator" is the greatest sci-fi movie ever - an unrivaled triumph of one ambitious filmmaker's fever-induced dream - "Terminator 2: Judgment Day" is a triumph of its own. Although for me problems arise with the setup and the repeating of plot devices from the first film, "Terminator 2: Judgment Day" shows just the length of Cameron's vision as a filmmaker. His writing here, with William Wisher, is not as strong or as sophisticated as it was in the first film, but the ideas remain powerful enough to get his vision across.
The film is still a technical marvel, though, with crystal-clear cinematography by Adam Greenberg and some pretty strong and convincing performances. Schwarzenegger, doing his best turn as a "kinder, gentler Terminator" (and surrogate father), does what could be considered his best performance as a machine, but for me, his best performance is that of the relentless Terminator from the first movie. Like the first film, you "believe" that he's a machine in human form. But here he's given a chance to learn as a Terminator, and not be such a machine all the time, which does allow for some touching and humorous interactions with the young John Connor. (I cannot believe I just wrote that about Arnold.) Hamilton continues the trend established in Cameron's earlier "Aliens" (1986) with strong female characters. Quite simply, this is her best and most memorable performance as well. She's one tough, beautiful, and formidable presence on the screen under Cameron's guidance. Like Sigourney Weaver, she helped to usher in a new generation of beautiful a**-kicking females. Most surprising here, though, is the newcomer child actor Edward Furlong. This is one of the most impressive debuts of any child actor ever, especially from one of absolutely zero acting experience beforehand. He finds the core of his character and truly brings the role of an adolescent John Connor to life brilliantly, and we're allowed to see shades of the brave future leader he is to eventually become.
More to the point of why I love "The Terminator" and its following, is Cameron's vocal decrying of nuclear holocaust and the ascension of man-made over made-men. The first "Terminator" is a hot-bed of vocal opposition to nuclear armament with a strong anti-Cold War sentiment and the rising of technology in our society as we become more and more mechanical at an alarming rate. That to me, is what makes "The Terminator" such socially relevant science fiction. Unfortunately, though, this vocalization is much stronger in the first film than it is in the second one, which is more action-oriented (even though the film has received positive accolades for its horrific depiction in nightmare sequences of nuclear holocaust).
"Terminator 2: Judgment Day" is a much more brilliant and more technical film than its predecessor, and for that I'm thankful Cameron was able to bring his vision to life with a capable cast of talent and special effects artists. The original "The Terminator" is still my favorite sci-fi movie ever and Cameron's true work of genius. "Terminator 2: Judgment Day" is still a brilliant exercise in high-charged sci-fi entertainment and nothing more.
10/10