Terminator 2: Judgment Day

365 Films 

Entry #6

Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)

Directed by James Cameron

The raison d’être, as it were, for my formative cinephile years could be broken down to an oft-quoted prognosis of the inner workings of my mind. “Ethan will only see things with explosions in them.” “You wouldn’t have like it Ethan, there weren’t any explosions in it.” Such small-minded criteria haunted me for years, well into my teens as a matter of fact. It would be dishonest to deny these charges so I will use this as an entry to point to perhaps the most explosion-y of all action movies: Terminator 2. Being that I was only 7 when this came out, I can’t speak with 100% accuracy to the pure cultural phenomenon of the film. It’s safe to argue that this was perhaps my gateway drug to the idea of a “summer movie.” This shit was everywhere and astonishingly enough, incredibly accessible to mature young boys and girls of all ages even though it was a R-rated movie. Why? I have absolutely no idea. I chalk this up to writer/director James Cameron’s astonishingly innate ability to create pure pop culture events out of his cinematic ass. The idea of a new film by James Cameron now fills me with dread for that very reason.  Every film since T2 just irritates me more and more upon initial viewing and subsequent reflection (about which I’m sure he’s heartbroken, sleeping on a pile of money with many beautiful ladies).  There’s no denying that he’s a scarily talented craftsmen, I just feel like the entire success of the second Terminator film is due to the fact that it played incredibly well to a group of people who just wanted to see shit blow up (i.e. me). I watch T2 and I cringe at his awkward, horribly on-the-nose dialogue (something George Lucas is regularly raked over the coals for yet Cameron remains relatively unscathed).  The T2 screenplay is like an automaton trying to approximate human speech. Which, in all fairness, doesn’t really detract too much from the quality of the film. More to the point, it’s his simplistic view of human relationships and human nature that ultimately make the film a hollow experience. With all that being said, shit blows up real good in this movie and that car chase in the beginning is spectacular. The shoot out at sky-net is a terrific set piece. Linda Hamilton busts her ass to make Sarah Connor a compelling human being. And dammit, it is impossible not to be moved by the John and the Terminator’s goodbye scene. Ah fuck it, Cameron; you’ve done it again.