Better than T2

Rating: Null/10 (9 October 1999)

Re-viewing The Terminator, I'm struck by how much tighter and more emotionally involving this film is to its successor, Terminator 2.
T2 feels bloated and too much in love with its technology in comparison with Terminator's passable FX. However, the Biehn/Hamilton romance is powerful.
Additionally, the combat scenes are much more intense than T2's. There was no real danger level in T2 -- even though Robert Patrick's T-1000 character is superior to Schwarzenegger's Terminator.
Also, Arnold's flat unemotional villian is superior to his flat, unemotional hero. Arnold's better as a villian.
The scene in which the Terminator invades the human compound in the future is perhaps the bleakest in cinematic history, complete with off-screen sobbing from a woman, who's crying perhaps embodies the hopelessness of the situation.
Cameron has worked better with smaller budgets -- shortening his film and narrowing his focus. In T2 there were many slow moments; Terminator has none.