Action Classic

Rating: 8/10 (11 September 2017)

the first Terminator was a weird hybrid of action, horror, and sci-fi that did none of them right. The action sequences were poorly directed and edited and fell into that "Industrial Action" category I discussed. The horror was toned down by the over-the-top violence. There was scary imagery and ideas, but it wasn't quite scary enough to be memorable for that facet. And the sci-fi was there in the scenes of the war against the machines as well as the Terminator himself, but that was extremely subdued. Taking into account both the horror element and the sci-fi element: When I ask you to think of the Terminator, what do you think of? You think of Arnie. And that right there is a problem. You're thinking of a personality rather than a creature.
T2 fixes this. It's not a horror movie and it's not trying to be. While the film is about John and Sarah Connor being pursued by an even more powerful and bizarre Terminator while being defended by the original Terminator model (played by Arnold Schwarzenegger) the T-1000 is not portrayed in a scary way. He's a terrible murderer and creepy in that regard, sure, but James Cameron does a better job of balancing the tone.
That tone allows for horror elements while not overplaying them. The real horror is the impending doom for humanity and the nightmares Sarah has. These aren't there for no reason; they build on Sarah's growing insanity and drive to save the world from SkyNet.
Thus we have the horror thrown to the side. This means that the sci-fi element is more at the forefront. In the first film the only real connection between 1984 and 2029 is Kyle and the Terminator. Because of that, the sci-fi didn't work for me. There was no immediate threat to humanity or something urgent that drew me in. The only real urgency was protecting Sarah from being killed.
In T2 the sci-fi is much more focused. While we do get a scene at the beginning of the machine wars, that's it. No resistance fighters, no reminders of the horrible future that's 45 years off. Instead we have the very real and scary possibility of nuclear holocaust in a few years and the events that will lead to it. Miles Dyson has begun work on what will eventually become SkyNet and lead to the end of humanity. Sarah can prevent this by killing him or destroying his research. It's more engaging because there are connections between Connor's present and the future that have actual foreseeable consequence. That's what the first film was missing.
And that leaves the action element. T1 had industrial action, bad editing, and there wasn't a real urgency to anything. T2 spits in the face of the industrial action title by providing lived in and organic settings for its action pieces. Car chases involve roads full of traffic and pedestrians. In the hospital scene, the staff get involved. And my favorite part is that while the film ends in an industrial setting, there are actual people working there. They run away, but at least Cameron puts them there to make the movie world feel like a real place, not a closed set.
And the action is much better directed and edited as well. The drastic difference in the competency of the production is prevalent from the earliest scenes. Heck, even the script, the acting, the effects (duh), the shot composition, the lightingeverything is ten times better than what you saw in T1.
What I really appreciated, aside from everything, was that Cameron got the characters right this time. Sarah Connor is interesting. She's a broken individual who wants to save the world from SkyNet and knows that Armageddon is coming, but nobody listens. The Terminator, this time, is not a killing machine but portrayed as a learning organism. He and John bond together, providing John a sort of father figure. It's an interesting dynamic that leads to some funny moments and ultimately makes the killing machine the most compelling character of the cast. The T-1000 serves its purpose, he doesn't necessarily need a character. And John Connor iswell, he's not interesting. He's kind of annoying. His voice cracks every other line.
It's interesting really. Almost as if Cameron himself sat down and watched his original Terminator, took notes, and looked at everything he could do to make his sequel not just a great successor but a great film by its own right, improving on what he made rather than stagnating.
T2 is one of the best sequels of all time and a great piece of cinema. It's an interesting look at the maturation of Cameron as a director, writer, and creator. While I wouldn't go so far as to say its in my top action movies, I can see why many would consider it to be one of the finest.