It’s agreed almost unanimously that Terminator 2: Judgment Day is one of the wonders of action cinema, and science fiction in general. James Cameron ushered a new era of special effects in narrative storytelling, giving pop culture one of its durable icons in Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Terminator.
For a film deeply entrenched in common consciousness, it’s almost redundant repeating the crux of its plot. The film is back in theatres after more than 25 years with a restored finesse and 3D glasses. Does it hold up?
Well, the 3D conversion like Cameron’s recent rerelease of Titanic poses another attempt at cash grab, but if you let that pass, this is a film that still packs a massive punch.
For someone growing up in the far-flung corner of Northeast like yours truly, Hollywood wasn’t really a staple diet of entertainment. But out of whatever trickled in through VHS and cable TV, T2 remains one of the primordial memories. The various weapons that T-1000 (Robert Patrick) could make out of his hands, the drops of molten steel gathering together, and the almost invincible villain made the little boy version of me doff all the invisible hats of the world to the shotgun of Mr Schwarzenegger, and to Mr Cameron.
Revisiting Terminator 2 is almost like tickling the jellybean of your memory hive, offering a chance to retreat to a growing-up beloved on a big screen.
Nostalgia sometimes cloud our judgement, but Cameron’s work is so incredibly astounding that you won’t need nostalgia’s crutches to love, admire and be entertained by it. The visual effects still have the convincing charm, and the action scenes still very, very potent.
In an age of comic book heroes and relentless CGI blockbusters bombarding us, Cameron shows why he was ahead of the curve. The set pieces use physicality of its characters to the maximum, and a dexterity in adding special effects to make the whole thing cohesive, clear thrills and not jam your eyes with Bayhem. When the first set piece of T-1000’s truck chasing 10-year-old son John (Edward Furlong) on a moped begins, you heart beats as fast as Schwarzenegger’s bike. You fear the worst whenever T-1000’s hands become shapely weapons, and you break into a wide grin when the frozen villain breaks into a million little pieces with a single shot.
Cameron’s anxiety of a nuclear apocalypse might have induced chuckle among non-believers in the 90s, but with madmen at the helm of political powers in 2017 make Terminator 2 strangely relevant today.
The director has been a visionary in delivering big screen spectacles with special effects that result in box office behemoths. But what really makes him tick? For me, his spectacles find larger acceptance because he invests in characters, with however operative dialogues. Titanic made everyone gape once, but it’s the chemistry between Jack and Rose that made people care and comeback again. In Avatar, however derivative, there was a throbbing heart, which is why the climatic Pandoran animal attack offered you goosebumps. And for the same reason, Furlong’s John teaching Schwarzenegger’s Terminator to find car keys instead of smashing it, and saying “Hasta la vista, baby” when delighted induces a feeling of homecoming. The chemistry is what makes all the physics of his displays work.
Cameron is still polishing his many sequels of Avatar, and perhaps to prove his assiduous skeptics wrong again. And the wait seems to be never ending. So, for the moment, relish the restoration of the skirmish between T-800 and T-1000. It is still the granddaddy of actioners.
(The writer is a journalist, a screenwriter, and a content developer who believes in the insanity of words, in print or otherwise. He tweets @RanjibMazumder)
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