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One of the finest sequels
ever made, often considered even better than the original, Terminator
2: Judgment Day marks the return of the big screen’s most
prominent cyborg. Arnold Schwarzenegger, now a household name (from
this film partially, and from his political interests), returns,
this time as a more tractable and benevolent Terminator sent through
time to help save Earth. Never has so much action, excitement and
suspense been contained in a single movie. With time travel and
futuristic robot battles to boot, Judgment Day won’t quickly
be dismissed.
In the near future, Cyberdyne Corporation releases an artificial intelligence, Skynet that will gain so much control over the nation’s defense systems that it will destroy the world. The remaining rebel human forces’ successful efforts to protect Sarah Connor, the mother of their leader John, has forced the self-aware Skynet to send an advanced model Terminator (T-1000) back in time again to eliminate John as a 12-year-old boy. But the humans have captured an older model T-800 Terminator and reprogrammed it to protect John, and now the battle to end all battles is set. Once again Arnold Schwarzenegger’s screen presence is grand and assured and it seems that no one is better suited for a role that he was born to play. This time he's the protagonist however, and teamed with a young John Connor (Edward Furlong) we get to see a deeper more emotionally complex side to the hulking cyborg. With greater technology and more realistic special effects, the viewer is constantly being submerged in explosive action and titanic suspense. The introduction of the T-1000 (Robert Patrick) makes screen history, and if there was ever a perfect villain for our stalwart hero, it is the chillingly sinister liquid metal terminator. |
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Killing in defense and
killing without reason are underlying themes explored in the film
by the morals of young John who has control over the Terminator’s
actions. When the Terminator attempts to lethally dispatch a street
thug instead of simply scaring him away, Connor realizes that the
Terminator does not think about the reasoning behind choices of
compassion, and that dispensing with human life is a thoughtless
command to be executed. Challenging the viewer’s opinions
on malice and murder, he screams at the Terminator that you cannot
just go around killing people. But the inanimate computer chip that
serves as a brain for the terminator responds with a query of “why?”
Is it a question that cannot be answered? Cameron mixes in several
notable scenes of dark humor to build upon that motif, including
shooting to wound instead of to terminate, and systematically keeping
track of random human casualties.
The T-1000 does not adopt the same moral consternation. It murders mercilessly and appears to even take pleasure in the act of torture. The unreasoning inhumanity of the T-1000 splendidly contrasts the abrasive methods of Schwarzenegger’s terminator. The special effects that embellish the T-1000, during his shape-shifting transformations and when his body displays damage from gunfire are stunning even to this day. The liquid metal effect made possible by 3D computer models and mercury is a technically genius feat. Most of the methods of copying victim's physical appearance would later be used in more detail and with rapidly advancing technology in films such as The Matrix. An undeniable science-fiction classic, Terminator 2: Judgment Day is filled with so much breathtaking adventure, pulse-pounding suspense, wickedly dry humor, captivating character development and solid acting, that even those who don’t enjoy the science fiction genre and those who overanalyze tricky time travel implausibleness, can appreciate the filmmaking marvel of the terminator. - Mike Massie |
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