More fun with multiple viewings

Rating: 10/10 (31 January 2009)

I've seen a lot of movies in the theater(where movies SHOULD be seen),particularly since I turned eighteen which was not quite twenty years ago,so I have probably forgotten more movie experiences than some have had. I preface this comment with that because I saw this first when it was just two days freshly released, the 5th of July 1991,and I recall it(And even some of the anticipation for the film)like--if not yesterday--it was last week or last month. I got there late and had to sit and watch this WAAAAAaaaaayyyy in the back in the single seat reserved for the wheelchair patrons(I didn't quite understand that that was what those seats were for back then.Ay!). Having said all that,this filmgoing experience was STILL very memorable and quite fun.
Flip forward over the years and,having seen this a number of times--in full and in partial--on big and small screens alike,but having not really sat and watched this in probably sixteen years,I bought this at the local movies and music secondhand store for a song and finally got around to watching it.
Not only did I enjoy seeing this again,I think I may've actually gotten MORE out of it than before.
The original HK T-800 model killing machine,so iconically fleshed out by Mr.Schwarzenegger,returns from the future to find John Connor,11(then newbie actor Edward Furlong,mixing annoying,tweener brattiness with an uncanny adult sensibility)and protect him from a new killing menace--the T-1000(Robert Patrick,then unknown and coolly menacing,counterbalancing the thunderous brute strength of Arnold's original),a liquid metal upgraded terminator with a scary efficient ability to both repair and replicate its victims and/or prey. John,despite advisement to the contrary,goes and rescues his mother,the intrepid Sarah Connor(Linda Hamilton,ripped and sexy,in a haggard,toughened way that would probably change her career image permanently). Of course,becoming more and more aware of the seemingly inescapable doom of mankind's existence in the shadow of SkyNet's advent,she moves to change the future pro-actively,with interesting and even heart-breaking outcomes.
Well before JAmes CAmeron became much more famous for winning awards for a faux romantic adventure about a large cruise ship sinking,he was much more remembered as making films like this:adrenaline-soaked blow-ups with unrelenting action and sharp(if perhaps a tad trite)dialog. This movie is probably king of them all. Sort of an expanded,more ambitious take on the original movie,it is more of a augmentation of the original's concept,taking it to levels it couldn't on the original's budget. Screenplay writer William Wisher is able to make the most out of clipped dialog,though the actors in place help it out immensely. A fantastic film-watching experience that only seems,like fine wine,get better with age and more viewings.