by Brendan Foley
Two Cents
Two Cents is an original column akin to a book club for films. The Cinapse team will program films and contribute our best, most insightful, or most creative thoughts on each film using a maximum of 200 words each. Guest writers and fan comments are encouraged, as are suggestions for future entries to the column. Join us as we share our two cents on films we love, films we are curious about, and films we believe merit some discussion.
The Pick
Twenty-five years ago, on July 3, 1991, Terminator 2: Judgment Day opened wide across the United States and redefined the blockbuster game.
It’s easy to forget now, at a time when T2 is an entrenched, influential classic, what an insane proposition the film seemed at the time. James Cameron was coming off of the disastrous shoot and so-so reception to The Abyss, and the first Terminator was a grungy, low-budget sci-fi horror film, no one’s idea of a launching pad for a mass-audience directed franchise.
Cameron had an unprecedented budget and he used those resources to create something unprecedented. Playing with the structural template established by the first film, Cameron and co-writer William Wisher Jr. (who also wrote Judge Dredd [no, not the Judge Dredd movie you like]) relentlessly screwed with audiences’ expectations, and used the simple chase format to build incredibly elaborate action sequences and mind-blowing visual effects.
Linda Hamilton’s near-feral new take on Sarah Connor inspired an entire generation of sci-fi action heroines, while Robert Patrick’s T-1000 was a benchmark achievement in computer generated imagery. And at the center of this mayhem was the man the myth the legend, Arnold Schwarzenegger, operating at the peak of his movie star powers.
While the Terminator ‘brand’ would be steadily diluted by endless attempts at franchise-ization (including three separate attempts to launch a new trilogy of films, all three of which ended with varying degrees of failure) T2 remains one of the gold standards for action, sci-fi, and event cinema.
On its anniversary, we decided to look back on this landmark and see just how well it holds up. Do we root for it to come back or wish it hasta la vista ba- OK, we’ll stop just read the article to see what people think.
– Brendan
Did you get a chance to watch along with us this week? Want to recommend a great (or not so great) film for the whole gang to cover? Comment below or post on our Facebook or hit us up on Twitter!
Next Week’s Pick:
Chuck Norris vs Communism. Honestly, we know next to nothing about this one and were mostly enticed by the title. But it’s apparently about the power of film and popular culture, telling the strange story of how bootleg videos defied media censorship and dictatorial rule in Romania. It’s scoring great acclaim and is available for your streaming pleasure on Netflix!
– Austin
Would you like to be a guest in next week’s Two Cents column? Simply watch and send your under-200-word review to twocents(at)cinapse.co!
Our Guests
Nick Spacek:
It’s a rare thing to have a childhood favorite hold up so well. The way Terminator 2 ebbs and flows is something I’d never noticed until I revisited the film after a decade-long hiatus. It had always been a favorite as a kid, but as I’ve gotten older, I drifted away from the action flicks I over-indulged in from ages 11 to 15. Coming back and watching T2 in my mid-30s was a real rush. I’d gone back and listened to Brad Fiedel’s absolutely pounding score when it got a vinyl reissue earlier this year, and was struck by just how intense the music was, especially for the chase sequences. Combining that music with the ultra-intense way director James Cameron turns all of those chases into a blend of slasher movies and Grand Prix racing, I can’t believe that when I first saw this at age 12, my heart didn’t explode from all the caffeine and excitement. The breathing room Cameron gives in between the massive action sequences is 100% necessary. As a kid, I remember fidgeting while they get stitched up, hiding in the garage, but now, I appreciate it for the calm before one of several intense storms. (@nuthousepunks)
Jenn Kaminski:
Alright, y’all, it’s judgment day for Terminator 2: Judgment Day. If you’re still reading this after that horrible introduction, what you should really know is Terminator 2 is the quintessential action movie. Director James Cameron delivers a film modern day action movies wish they could be.
Arnold Schwarzenegger and Linda Hamilton reprise their roles as The Terminator and Sarah Connor, joined by an excellent performance from newcomer Edward Furlong who plays Connor’s 10-year-old son, John Connor (even at 10 he’s just as badass as his mother). Terminator 2 is a perfectly executed thrill ride complete with wonderfully shot chase scenes and battle sequences, and an agonizingly suspenseful crawl to a climactic finish. Not to mention the best one-liner since Casablanca. Yeah, I’m talking about “Hasta la vista, baby.”
Superb writing, quality performances, and CGI that still pulls its own aside, the message of this film is the real breadwinner. If the original The Terminator established an allegory to examine the relationship between man and machine, then the scintillating sequel takes it further by adding another, more indestructible, hell-bent machine, the T-1000 (Robert Patrick) — it’s machine vs. man vs. machine. Have you ever heard of anything more rad? No, you haven’t. (@JuneBearAttack)
Brendan Agnew:
Say what you will about James Cameron, but the man makes compulsively watchable movies. What was at the time the biggest (and remains arguably his most iconic) film ever made, Terminator 2: Judgment Day starts by literally blowing up the entire goddamn planet. Cameron shows you the worst-case scenario immediately, and while it’s awesome in a “Dude, did you see those dudes fighting the robots and the crazy laser planes?” way, it’s also a bit of a downer in a “Yeah, but that playground was totally ON FUCKING FIRE, dude” way.
Which is why the life or death of one jackass pre-teen seems to matter so much.
Cameron engineers everything to springboard off the assumption that the audience does not want Judgment Day to happen, and because he starts so big, embodying that future in a single person works as both the massive stakes at play while also avoiding the bloated scale that wrecked T2‘s successors. It lets the director give weight to high-speed chases, shootouts, and even hokey slang lessons (“Chill out, dickwad”) that would fall flat in the hands of most filmmakers because his buy-in is literally personified by the grinning death’s head crushing human skulls into powder.
From that buy-in, the rest is a Swiss watch of set pieces that combine ridiculous stunts and pyrotechnics, cutting edge VFX, and genuine (if admittedly broad) emotion into a buffet of kick-ass sci-fi stuff.
And peak hard-ass Linda Hamilton sure doesn’t hurt either. (@BLCAgnew)
Brooke Harlan:
Growing up I watched a lot of action movies with my dad and brother. We watched all of the 80s and 90s classics, over and over, but this is by far my favorite. I was all of maybe 10 or 11 years old when I first saw it, and it’s one of those movies I’ve seen so many times I can quote it all. The movie itself is iconic in so many ways, but for me it’s also nostalgia. It’s also what really branded me a hardcore Arnold fan — I even had his poster on my bedroom wall.
Of course, being so young when I first saw it I didn’t understand it like I do now — the premise is pretty damn depressing. The signature score heavily contributes to that feeling. However, that underlying dark and depressing story takes a backseat to the nonstop action — and it’s not just Arnold; Linda Hamilton is totally badass, Robert Patrick is an amazing villain, and I totally had a crush on Edward Furlong.
… and after all these years, the final thumbs up still gets me a little teary. (brookiellen.com)
The Team
Justin:
Some people think Terminator is the best film in the franchise. Others think it’s T2. It sure as Hell ain’t T3. It’s a certainty, however, that this is one of the most classic franchises in modern film history. The first film and the second both have their place in the top genre films of 80s and 90s, with the original being a straight up slasher film and this film moving the franchise into the sci-fi action realm, where the franchise has remained through today.
T2 took the dark and horrifying story of the first film and built upon it a big budget action film that retained the dark center of the original yet was a decidedly more action packed film with some great comedic moments that were not present in the original. In short, this is my choice in the argument of which is the better film (albeit, you really can’t go wrong with either).
The score, the action sequences, and Linda Hamilton’s pure insanity are what makes this film incredibly enjoyable, but what makes it a truly great film is its heart. The film has so much heart. Sure there is a good amount of cheese with that heart but this cheesiness is extremely earnest. For a film about robots and blowing shit up, it truly has a way of making me tear up. That, right there, is heart. And, 25 years later, the heart is still there. (@ThePaintedMan)
Austin:
It’s easy to forget now how fresh T2 was when it arrived. We’re used to seeing Arnold play the good guy now, but his role in the first sequel was a stunning reversal of his merciless antagonist in The Terminator. It’s almost impossible to appreciate the film in this way anymore, but imagine the experience of sitting in a theater in 1991 and watching the mall shootout, suddenly realizing that the police officer is the villain and the Terminator you thought you knew is the hero.
And at the time, there was a lot of emphasis on T2′s cutting-edge computer-rendered graphics, but watching it now, the opposite is true — it’s refreshing how much of the effects work is actually practical.
T2 has always long been one of my favorite films — I’m in that subset of fans you probably hate that considers it superior to the original. With incredible action beats, dazzling and thoughtful effects (that gun clinking in the gate’s steel bars — genius), and yes, some quotable dialogue and a surprising amount of emotional heft. (@VforVashaw)
Brendan:
What is there to say about T2 that the team and our many treasured guests haven’t already said? Judgment Day has one of modern cinema’s most confident filmmakers and most reliable movie stars working at their absolute peak, taking advantage of the cutting edge to dazzle audiences with sights and spectacle beyond anything ever committed to screen before. The T1000 effects remains sublime, but Cameron’s use of practical stunts and action ensures that the roller coaster remains perfectly operation even as technology improves. T2 is a magic film, as accomplished a work of populist art as we will probably ever see. Not even the escalating shittiness of the endless slog of sequels can do anything to dilute it. (@TheTrueBrendanF)
Did you all get a chance to watch along with us? Share your thoughts with us here in the comments or on Twitter or Facebook!
Get it at Amazon:
Terminator 2: Judgment Day [Blu-ray] | [DVD] | [VOD Purchase] | [VOD Rental]