I just rewatched this a couple months ago. Now I want to watch it again. T2 is one of the all-time greats of cinema history. Arny is awesome in the role, the story is excellent, the directing is perfect. Edward will forever be John Connor with every other actor doing their best to fit his character, because that’s John.
It upsets me so much that the marketing of the film ruined what would have been one of the greatest twists in film history. Until the scene in the hallway when the Terminator and John meet, there’s no indication that Arnie is the good guy. The audience would have expected him to be the villain like in the previous film, and we all would have been blown away.
But the studio chose to push the “Arnie is the good guy now” stuff in the marketing and robbed us of that surprise.
Also Robert Patrick did so well in the role for the T-1000. He nailed like uncanny valley of the machine being so close to human and then completely inhuman at a moments notice, and his practice on sprinting and firing a weapon without blinking, and only breathing through his nose is something that you don’t notice because it’s what you’d expect a machine to do, and then only looking back do you realize that yeah, he’s sprinting full speed at a car with his mouth closed without blinking.
Yes! Both terminators were so weirdly inhuman without being inhuman. And it was the 1980s and they just kind of nailed that with total realism that had no reason for being as good as it was.
It was like a new chapter of sci-fi really leaning into the realistic expectations of the future instead of the fantastical versions. It’s the same reason why Bladerunner was so good and stood the test of time. No bullshit interpretation. Just, “Everyone calm down about your ideas of the future. What would actually happen? How would this thing actually be if it really happened?”
I love the story that Arnold got the part as the terminator when he sat down with the director and nerded out so hard about details about what the terminator would not do that a common human would do, so much that the director couldn’t think of a better person for the role, despite Arny traditionally doing hero roles.
As Patrick explained in the Empire interview, the first time they filmed the run at the mall, before the semi-truck sequence, he closed the gap on Furlong entirely. His own words, included in the viral clip: “That’s me. First time I did the run, I caught the kid.
James Cameron confirms, BUT, he says it happened when the bike was pulled by the camera car:
I’d say he doesn’t get the credit he deserves, but he does. He absolutely does. He put in the work to gift us the T-1000. And we should all be thankful.
I don’t see that. T2 is slower, the plot is the same just with additional bells and whistles. It was just “May I have the same dish again?”. It isn’t bad per se, just… unnecessary.
T2 we get man (and much more stoppable killing machine) vs unstoppable killing machine and have to grapple with the idea of using weapons expressly intended to wipe out the human race against the threats that will wipe out the human race.
I won’t pretend like most sequels aren’t “would you like some more of that?” but we can all agree that if you checked into a hotel and T2 was on the TV, you’d leave it running instead of channel surfing.
I really like looking at the Terminator and 12 Monkeys in relation to La Jetée. Both are very different interpretations of the original concept but somehow keep that sense of existential dread. T2 is a great movie, but it’s a straight forward action / redemption film.
I just rewatched this a couple months ago. Now I want to watch it again. T2 is one of the all-time greats of cinema history. Arny is awesome in the role, the story is excellent, the directing is perfect. Edward will forever be John Connor with every other actor doing their best to fit his character, because that’s John.
It upsets me so much that the marketing of the film ruined what would have been one of the greatest twists in film history. Until the scene in the hallway when the Terminator and John meet, there’s no indication that Arnie is the good guy. The audience would have expected him to be the villain like in the previous film, and we all would have been blown away.
But the studio chose to push the “Arnie is the good guy now” stuff in the marketing and robbed us of that surprise.
Also Robert Patrick did so well in the role for the T-1000. He nailed like uncanny valley of the machine being so close to human and then completely inhuman at a moments notice, and his practice on sprinting and firing a weapon without blinking, and only breathing through his nose is something that you don’t notice because it’s what you’d expect a machine to do, and then only looking back do you realize that yeah, he’s sprinting full speed at a car with his mouth closed without blinking.
He runs so fucking fast it’s scary in its own 😰😮
Yes! Both terminators were so weirdly inhuman without being inhuman. And it was the 1980s and they just kind of nailed that with total realism that had no reason for being as good as it was.
It was like a new chapter of sci-fi really leaning into the realistic expectations of the future instead of the fantastical versions. It’s the same reason why Bladerunner was so good and stood the test of time. No bullshit interpretation. Just, “Everyone calm down about your ideas of the future. What would actually happen? How would this thing actually be if it really happened?”
I love the story that Arnold got the part as the terminator when he sat down with the director and nerded out so hard about details about what the terminator would not do that a common human would do, so much that the director couldn’t think of a better person for the role, despite Arny traditionally doing hero roles.
James Cameron confirms, BUT, he says it happened when the bike was pulled by the camera car:
https://youtu.be/I4EVNIcGxjE?t=105
I’d say he doesn’t get the credit he deserves, but he does. He absolutely does. He put in the work to gift us the T-1000. And we should all be thankful.
I work with a John Connor and I always reference him as the saviour of the human race. He’s a pretty good sport about it.
I like T1 more and don’t even see a reason to make T2. The 1st movie had nice enough ending.
I love T1, more than T2 even, but let’s not kid ourselves. T2 is legitimately better on nearly every front
I liked T1 more than 2 for some reason. The scenes were more memorable and interesting to me
I don’t see that. T2 is slower, the plot is the same just with additional bells and whistles. It was just “May I have the same dish again?”. It isn’t bad per se, just… unnecessary.
T1 we get man vs unstoppable killing machine.
T2 we get man (and much more stoppable killing machine) vs unstoppable killing machine and have to grapple with the idea of using weapons expressly intended to wipe out the human race against the threats that will wipe out the human race.
I won’t pretend like most sequels aren’t “would you like some more of that?” but we can all agree that if you checked into a hotel and T2 was on the TV, you’d leave it running instead of channel surfing.
Guys guys guys … Lets settle this, Terminator 18 is the best movie
Are you from the future?
You are right. T1 would’ve been what T2 was if it had T2’s budget and backing. T1 was so good that is started the hype train and we got T2 for it.
They’re both excellent, but T2 got the attention the idea deserved from the beginning and they made the most of it.
Good thing the hype stopped there and they never made another movie since 😆
Hollywood makes “This is why we can’t have nice things” a reality.
Insane take
I don’t disagree
I really like looking at the Terminator and 12 Monkeys in relation to La Jetée. Both are very different interpretations of the original concept but somehow keep that sense of existential dread. T2 is a great movie, but it’s a straight forward action / redemption film.
Yeah I don’t see a reason to make T2 either. I mean there’s already T1. If they hasn’t made T2 then T1 could’ve just been T.