Archetypal "A Boy and His Dog" story except with a Terminator

Rating: 9/10 (24 March 2020)

It never occurred to me before, but T2 is really an archetypal "A Boy and His Dog" story along the lines of "Old Yeller" or "Pete's Dragon" or "ET: The Extraterrestrial." I'll assume anyone reading this has already seen the movie, so spoilers ahead. Arnold Schwarzenegger was a huge star when this sequel was made, so this time he HAD to be the hero of the film, this time becoming the protector of a young John Connor, who is being hunted by a more advanced Terminator model played to perfection by Robert Patrick with cold animal-like predatory menace. The "Boy and His Dog" story starts fairly quickly, as a young John Connor befriends the futuristic killer cyborg. Connor teaches him tricks (i.e. that car keys are often under sun visors and, of course, "Hasta la vista, baby"), the boy and his pet Terminator save each other at different points in the film, and in the end John has to give his beloved Terminator a sad farewell that's every bit as touching as when the boy in "Old Yeller" says to his mama "Listen. Old Yeller just saved your life and Elizabeth's, too. And he saved mine and Arliss'. We can't. We don't know for certain. I'll pen him up where he can't get out. A-and then we'll wait. We could not shoot up like he was nothing. Don't you understand?" Or when Elliott in "E.T." tells his pet alien "You could be happy here, I could take care of you. I wouldn't let anybody hurt you. We could grow up together, E.T." And in T2, it's every bit as touching when the Terminator tells John there is another Cyberdyne chip that must also be destroyed, to which John replies, "No, no no!! It'll be okay. Stay with us! Don't do it. Please... don't go --" with tears streaming down his face. So my point here is that you pair the durable "Boy and His Dog" story with wildly exciting and muscular action courtesy of director/co-writer James Cameron (man, do I wish he'd make a straight-up non-preachy action film again ALA "The Terminator" or "Aliens") and strong performances by Patrick as the T-1000, Edward Furlong as the young John Connor, and particularly Linda Hamilton as the fierce and buffed our tiger mom, Sarah Connor, you have a movie that's pretty irresistible. The CGI does seem fairly primitive at times, but most of it surprisingly holds up with the mix of practical and CGI when displaying the T-1000's knives and stabbing weapons. If I did have a complaint upon rewatching T2, it's that the sequel shifted too greatly in tone from the original, relying too much on one-liners and comedic elements. Admittedly, the one-liners are good and the comedy is genuinely funny, but the hard edge of the original is what makes that first film easily the best in the series. Still, sequels of this era had a penchant for radical shifts in tone and story (i.e. "Mad Max" to the "The Road Warrior" or "First Blood" to "Rambo: First Blood Part II"). Overall, although T2 takes a major shift in the direction of family-friendly with the "A Boy and His Dog" storyline, but the characters, story, and especially the action are brilliant and impossible not to enjoy.