Cinema Terminator 2: Judgement Day (1991) - No Fate but What We Make

[Arnox]

Rating

5.00 star(s)

Got a hankering to watch this again as I was, uh... Reminded of it earlier.

T2 is one of my favorite movies of all time. It's just a damn well executed movie in general. Linda Hamilton, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Robert Patrick, and even Edward Furlong are delivering great performances here with the star definitely being Linda. She, along with Sigourney Weaver are among the absolutely iconic badass women in cinema history. The special effects also still hold up incredibly well, and the CGI, though clearly from the 1990s, is still rather fitting to the movie. And finally, there aren't really any plotholes to speak of here. It's all nicely and intelligently written...

Ok, fine, I'm sure if you want to be pedantic as hell, you can probably find a plothole, but whatever. It doesn't affect the overall quality of the movie.

This movie seems like just a typical action flick on the surface, but it's so much more than that, although there is indeed lots of amazing action in it. T2 goes into the dangers of technology, and also the dangers of letting the horrors of war and conflict get to you too much. Of making you just as cold and heartless as the enemies you are trying to fight. But it's not an anti-tech movie nor is it a movie completely against ANY destruction. Technology may have fucked the human race, but it was also technology that enabled humanity (in this case, Sarah and John Connor) to triumph as well and become better. Sure, Sarah may have almost used her skills to commit murder, but she also used them and her resources to bring victory to what would have been a fight with the odds majorly stacked against them, even with the T-800 in tow.

It's all about one's choices. Because there is no fate but what we make.

Also, fuck AI.

 

[Aoi]

Definitely like this movie.

Now, I don't like it as much as T1 because of that gritty very isolated situations.

Like sure, it's scary having to go to Mexico and dig into mums prepper stash and try and destroy liquid Pepsiman, but it's also scary sleeping in a motel making pipe bombs in the meantime because every other logical goto has been shot up.


It had a lean on I guess being a thriller than a complete action flick.


I wouldn't have T2 any other way though, as it's an awesome change of pace.

It's just it's hard making a follow up when Cameron wants to make bigger badder action sequel, instead of leaning maybe back into the more hopeless and hell within your own backyard and job situation T1 was.


Fuck the AI though yes. I can't stand those upscales. Alien is just as bad with that.

It can look good in short bursts but watching it through for me is just sickening. Loses that film charm.

 

[Arnox]

Now, I don't like it as much as T1 because of that gritty very isolated situations.

T1's very good for that indeed. And in fact, if it wasn't for Linda Hamilton's character and story in T2 being so damn good and even somewhat relatable, I might have agreed with you that T1 is probably superior. But... T1 doesn't have the Sarah Connor we got with T2 at all. And that's totally fine. It is what it is. Sarah needed to be who she was and go through what she did in T1 before she could be the person that she was in T2. But the fact remains.

 

[Battousai]

T1's very good for that indeed. And in fact, if it wasn't for Linda Hamilton's character and story in T2 being so damn good and even somewhat relatable, I might have agreed with you that T1 is probably superior. But... T1 doesn't have the Sarah Connor we got with T2 at all. And that's totally fine. It is what it is. Sarah needed to be who she was and go through what she did in T1 before she could be the person that she was in T2. But the fact remains.

It was one of her finest roles, look at her expressions of pain.

 

[Aoi]

T1's very good for that indeed. And in fact, if it wasn't for Linda Hamilton's character and story in T2 being so damn good and even somewhat relatable, I might have agreed with you that T1 is probably superior. But... T1 doesn't have the Sarah Connor we got with T2 at all. And that's totally fine. It is what it is. Sarah needed to be who she was and go through what she did in T1 before she could be the person that she was in T2. But the fact remains.

I can absolutely excuse that character evolution because it makes complete sense to the story. I wouldn't have T2 any other way. I wish T3 was more like it in that regard.

T1 completely broke any semblance of sensitivity with her since between the fact she opened her legs to Kyle, and the fact he knew more than her or anyone would until it was too late, and he wasn't able to truly protect her outside of herself.

While no doubt he had a large part to play, normally anyone would expect Sarah to realistically be killed first.