Terminator 2: Judgment Day (15.)
Directed by James Cameron. 1991
Starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Linda Hamilton, Edward Furlong, Robert Patrick, Joe Morton and Earl Boem. Back in cinemas for one day on August 29th. 146 mins.
While contemplating the black and white version of Fury Road a few weeks back, I was struck by the idea that however many times I see it and love it, I can't agree with the huddle of opinion that has it as the Greatest Action Movie of All Time. But if it isn't, what is? After much contemplation, I can't make a case for anything beyond this. I always knew I liked this film, really really liked this film, but it wasn't till now that I realise that it might just be one of the most perfectly conceived mass audience entertainments Hollywood has ever produced.
This in-cinemas-for-one-day-only reissue marks the 20th anniversary of Judgment Day, August 29th 1997, when the world ends and the machines take over. It is also trying to fill the space Cameron has left in cinemas by devoting the best part of a decade to prepare (yes, preparing, he hasn't even starting filming them yet) the ever expanding number of Avatar sequels. (Up to four now.) The film has been given a 3D paint job, which was overseen by Cameron himself but makes almost no discernible difference whatsoever, and a 4K restoration which means the picture quality is immaculate.
The quality of the images isn't the only reason why the film looks as good today as it did 26 years ago. Terminator 2 doesn't simply pass the test of time, it aces it; puts down its pen and waltzes out of the examination room with an hour or so to spare. Every element of it – the visuals, the stunts, the performances, the humour – work perfectly to support the script. The progression of action set pieces always advance the story, rather than being shoehorned in because someone had an idea for a novel stunt. And the film has some great performances. Arnie can't do much, but he sure can do this and do it better than anyone. Morton is an actor who can do a lot of things, and in a relatively short time puts a heap of emotional resonance into his character's arc. Spoiler, the pair of them deliver two of the most moving death scenes in cinema.
T2 was an unheard endeavour, a sequel that is sixteen times the budget of the original. While Terminator was a low(ish) budget hit, the sequel was at the time reckoned to be the most expensive ever made. ($102 million seems to be the agreed amount.) But T1 And T2 are fundamentally the same film. The production values have soared but the core values remain. Everything that has been expanded and extended, has been coaxed faithfully out of the original film.
There is a built in irony about the plot for a film that was really among the first to introduce computer generated Images to audiences, resting on a new technological innovation that will destroy humanity. I don't believe CGI has been the death of cinema, but I think we can all agree it hasn't delivered all we could have hoped of it. The liquid metal of Robert Patrick's T1000 was a remarkable innovation but most of the action here is still old school, real people. (Arnie's motor bike stunt double is remarkable – he stays in character throughout the chase with the lorry.)
Terminator 2 may have helped launch the era of comic book movies but it is not a comic book movie. In comic book movies the destruction of the earth is the ultimate bobby prize, the Dusty Bin that nobody ever wins. Here though it is treated as a real thing. The film makes an effort to make you really feel it, the pain and lose, the unthinkable concepts that people can't really grasp. Even in Fury Road, with its refrain “Who killed the world,” the focus is on what has been gained rather than lost, the post apocalyptic monster truck catwalk show. It glories in the devastation, T2 glories in preservation. It's about the desperate quest to stop any Terminator sequels.
In 1991 we were cautiously tiptoeing away from the Cold War. You have to wonder if the film though has made the world a safer place. The Connor household, John and Sarah, are the cinema's first family of survivalist. Their triumphs are all about defying authority and self reliance. Buffed up and wearing shades, Linda Hamilton looks like a Guns and Ammo centrefold. A defiant strain of anti-authoritarian frontier spirit has always been woven into the American consciousness, but it sure was given a great boost by this film. The loners and militias have been heading to the hills ever since. However unintentional, the film helped foster a process that has creates a shaky, uncertain, riven climate where everything is questioned, all experience is subjective, all government is bad government and a judgment day seems alarmingly possible.
Directed by James Cameron. 1991
Starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Linda Hamilton, Edward Furlong, Robert Patrick, Joe Morton and Earl Boem. Back in cinemas for one day on August 29th. 146 mins.
While contemplating the black and white version of Fury Road a few weeks back, I was struck by the idea that however many times I see it and love it, I can't agree with the huddle of opinion that has it as the Greatest Action Movie of All Time. But if it isn't, what is? After much contemplation, I can't make a case for anything beyond this. I always knew I liked this film, really really liked this film, but it wasn't till now that I realise that it might just be one of the most perfectly conceived mass audience entertainments Hollywood has ever produced.
This in-cinemas-for-one-day-only reissue marks the 20th anniversary of Judgment Day, August 29th 1997, when the world ends and the machines take over. It is also trying to fill the space Cameron has left in cinemas by devoting the best part of a decade to prepare (yes, preparing, he hasn't even starting filming them yet) the ever expanding number of Avatar sequels. (Up to four now.) The film has been given a 3D paint job, which was overseen by Cameron himself but makes almost no discernible difference whatsoever, and a 4K restoration which means the picture quality is immaculate.
The quality of the images isn't the only reason why the film looks as good today as it did 26 years ago. Terminator 2 doesn't simply pass the test of time, it aces it; puts down its pen and waltzes out of the examination room with an hour or so to spare. Every element of it – the visuals, the stunts, the performances, the humour – work perfectly to support the script. The progression of action set pieces always advance the story, rather than being shoehorned in because someone had an idea for a novel stunt. And the film has some great performances. Arnie can't do much, but he sure can do this and do it better than anyone. Morton is an actor who can do a lot of things, and in a relatively short time puts a heap of emotional resonance into his character's arc. Spoiler, the pair of them deliver two of the most moving death scenes in cinema.
T2 was an unheard endeavour, a sequel that is sixteen times the budget of the original. While Terminator was a low(ish) budget hit, the sequel was at the time reckoned to be the most expensive ever made. ($102 million seems to be the agreed amount.) But T1 And T2 are fundamentally the same film. The production values have soared but the core values remain. Everything that has been expanded and extended, has been coaxed faithfully out of the original film.
There is a built in irony about the plot for a film that was really among the first to introduce computer generated Images to audiences, resting on a new technological innovation that will destroy humanity. I don't believe CGI has been the death of cinema, but I think we can all agree it hasn't delivered all we could have hoped of it. The liquid metal of Robert Patrick's T1000 was a remarkable innovation but most of the action here is still old school, real people. (Arnie's motor bike stunt double is remarkable – he stays in character throughout the chase with the lorry.)
Terminator 2 may have helped launch the era of comic book movies but it is not a comic book movie. In comic book movies the destruction of the earth is the ultimate bobby prize, the Dusty Bin that nobody ever wins. Here though it is treated as a real thing. The film makes an effort to make you really feel it, the pain and lose, the unthinkable concepts that people can't really grasp. Even in Fury Road, with its refrain “Who killed the world,” the focus is on what has been gained rather than lost, the post apocalyptic monster truck catwalk show. It glories in the devastation, T2 glories in preservation. It's about the desperate quest to stop any Terminator sequels.
In 1991 we were cautiously tiptoeing away from the Cold War. You have to wonder if the film though has made the world a safer place. The Connor household, John and Sarah, are the cinema's first family of survivalist. Their triumphs are all about defying authority and self reliance. Buffed up and wearing shades, Linda Hamilton looks like a Guns and Ammo centrefold. A defiant strain of anti-authoritarian frontier spirit has always been woven into the American consciousness, but it sure was given a great boost by this film. The loners and militias have been heading to the hills ever since. However unintentional, the film helped foster a process that has creates a shaky, uncertain, riven climate where everything is questioned, all experience is subjective, all government is bad government and a judgment day seems alarmingly possible.
