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Released 1991 Directed by James Cameron Running time: 137 minutes Where to even begin with Terminator 2? I'll begin where I began. Some of you have probably seen me tell this story on here but for reference I'm including it: I first saw the movie when it came out. I was way too young to see it, but my dad took me anyway. I vividly remember being with my family at a restaurant and my dad says "Alright we should go now so we won't be late for the movie.". I was excited to just being going to a movie because no one told me we were doing this so it was a fun surprise. I was not prepared for what I was about to see. Of course you know it was Terminator 2: Judgement Day. This movie is why I love movies. Seeing it that young blew my mind. This wasn't just a movie, it was magic. Imagine being a very young child and being introduced to the world of movies like this. I'm sure I saw many others before then but this is the first I remember going to. Through my entire childhood and my teens I would go to the movies weekly, it was my church. So let's talk about the movie. The movie opens on a horrifying vision of the future. Burned out buildings and charred corpses still in their cars line the street. Then a narration tells us this is the aftermath of a nuclear war, but that's not all. Slowly the camera pans and then stops on a human skull paying in a pile of ash and bones and suddenly the eerie silence is broken when the skull is crushed by the foot of a robotic monster designed only for the purpose of killing. There are tanks, aircraft, and of course the metal skeletons. We're treated to a terrifying scene of a future where the few people left on Earth struggle to survive in a hopeless war against an unstoppable and relentless army. This intense scene of special and visual effects is more impressive than many entire movies. And it's only the first five minutes of the film. This brings us to the introduction of our villain. A new kind of Terminator which we learn makes the one from the first film look like a push over. Where the old Terminator was brute strength, this Terminator is stealth and precision. But worst of all it can be anyone and be anywhere. And it can make its body into weapons. Arnold Schwarzenegger is back as the T-800, though a different one from the first movie. He's now a protector. His entrance into the film is the opposite of his enemy's. It's loud, violent, and in no way subtle. You've seen him for only a few moments and you know everything you need to know. Sarah Connor returns, now in a mental hospital severely affected by PTSD from the events on the first film and consumed by one single objective: Escaping and finding her son. The young naive waitress is gone. She's been replaced with a woman in a constant state of vigilance. A soldier. No one believes her stories about a robotic assassin from the future bent on destroying humanity's last hope, her son John. John enters the movie. A rebellious kid living with foster parents he hates that don't appear to like him much more. He's angry about his living situation and his mother who he also thinks is insane. He has no idea what he's about to get into. One of the many special things about this movie is that the opening scene doesn't waste all the action. The movie is bombastic and full of stunt scenes and large scale action set pieces. This movie is incredibly ambitious and possibly the most ambitious film since the era of old Hollywood epics. And it totally succeeds in this. This movie was the first ever film with a production budget that passed the 100 million dollar mark. Jaws is considered to be the film that ushered in the era of summer blockbusters. Terminator 2 would be the film that kicked down the door and would forever change what a summer blockbuster is. The team who did the special and visual effects pulled out all the stops. This was due in no small part to the genius of creature designer and special effects master Stan Winston. He was as integral to the film as even the cast or the director. Simply put he made the world of the Terminator come to life. Without him we may not have anything close to what we got. He worked on Cameron's previous action sci-fi classic, Aliens, as well. Here are some examples of what he brought to the film: But this wouldn't be all that would grip people. CGI is common place now but this was the first use of CGI in the way it's used now. This new visual effect would really bring the impossible menace of the T-1000 to life in a way people never had never seen before. It blew people's minds. Nearly 30 years later and it still holds up. Aside from special and visual effects this movie has some serious stunt sequences. But the most impressive of these is when a helicopter flies under a bridge. This is no VFX trickery. A real pilot flew a helicopter under a bridge despite the production explicitly telling him not to do this because it was far too dangerous. To sum all this up, the movie is just endless bombast and in being so it became an instant classic and remains one of the best action films ever made. Previous Movies of the Month
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# ¿ Sep 10, 2020 04:30 |
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# ¿ May 14, 2024 22:16 |
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X-Ray Pecs posted:Terminator 2 whips so much rear end. I wish I could rewatch it with no knowledge because the first act plays stunningly close to The Terminator, but with the roles swapped without totally letting the audience in on it. As the OP says, it's loud and bombastic, but it's also got a lot of little details that really add a lot to the overall picture. Take, for exapmple, the T-800 promising not to kill anyone but still blowing off kneecaps, or the moment when the T-800 just runs up the hood of the semi and unloads an assault rifle into the T-1000. What other blockbuster does stuff like this? I think if there's one weak point with Terminator 2, its themes are a little all over the place and its thinking on the ideas it brings up never quite gels. There's all this stuff about standing up to an uncertain future, finding family where you can, the evils/limits of technology, the banality of creating evil things without realizing, there's a lot this movie wants you to ponder, but like I said, it never fully clicks and feels half-baked rather than ambiguous. But I can ignore all that once Arnold pulls out the minigun. I don't really have that issue with the movie, especially because I think all those themes fit together and that sort of gives us the backbone of the movie. But I do agree that the action scenes and the visuals take front seat. That's not to say the actual story doesn't matter, I find it compelling it's just that the action of the movie is totally next level poo poo. Even today. I know the practical vs CGI debate is beat to death but were this movie made today pretty much everything they did in practical back then would be CGI. In terms of a Terminator story I don't think it's as convincing to see a CGI robot instead of an actual moving animatronic made from metal. The crazy rear end opening scene is the best example of why people like practical better than CGI I can think of. They really flip over a truck, they really have explosions and things crashing to the ground, and there really are robots. I don't at all think that there's no place for CGI or that it's better or worse than practical. Both have their place and of course this movie is a perfect showcase for that very point. It's been a while since I've watched the movie but if I recall correctly, a little more than half of the stuff they do with the T-1000 is practical. If they were to do the thing with the head split open in front of the elevator today they wouldn't use a real model. But then when it forms its head back together they use CGI. Basically I think the computer stuff is best when it compliments something practical. If you look at something like the SHIELD helicarrier battle/explosion scene in the first Avengers movie there's no real tension because none of it looks real. You can just tell this is animation and the actors in front of a green screen. I'm not to harping on the who "RAAAAH MARVEL BAD!!!!" thing. I'm just using that as an example because it's a more contemporary example of a big action sequence. Despite that it's a larger scale sequence it just doesn't have the grandness of the Cyberdine sequence which is full of real explosions and plays out in detail sets and physical locations. Stuff like that literally and figuratively doesn't have the same punch. I digressed a bit here but this is just stuff I want in the discussion anyway. As for the little stuff there's so much to talk about. Like the T-1000 in general. Aside of its abilities to make its limbs into weapons and impersonate anyone it touches it has something I find a bit more unnerving. It can mimic human facial expressions and normal social interaction. The T-800 in the first movie and in the second can't really do that. It's face is not expressive and it speaks in a monotone. It looks like a man but you can tell something is off. When they go to Mexico Enrique notices this almost immediately. The T-1000 on the other hand smiles when it talks to people and speaks in a more normal fashion, but the second this is no longer required it just has a mean stare. Its way of blending in isn't just a physical appearance. This is probably one of those things people don't consciously notice but it totally digs in. That's why its such a menacing and extremely memorable villain. The villain alone could be the subject of a lot of discussion for this movie. And not such a big thing but when it's flying the helicopter and it changes the magazine in thr submachine gun it has four arms. I saw this many, many times and never noticed that until I read something that pointed it out. Once you see it you can't unsee it. The T-1000 isn't just a murder robot, it seems supernatural. At first I felt like a dumb dumb for never seeing this but it's the action in that scene is so fast paced you can easily miss it.
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# ¿ Sep 11, 2020 07:59 |
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Wild T posted:I love this movie so much. I really wish he'd have been bigger after that because he brings a lot of the things that made this movie what it is. Watching the movie there's a very obvious reason why the T-1000 is one of the most memorable villains in a film. It's not just the cool gimmick they came up with. He definitely is a character actor so I don't mean he should have been this huge A-list star like Schwarzenegger himself was, just that it's a shame he wasn't in more substantial projects. He showed up in the new Perry Mason and I was pretty hyped to see him.
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# ¿ Sep 20, 2020 18:52 |
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GoutPatrol posted:Wasn't the big issue with marketing the film is that everyone already knew this going into it? To see Arnold be the good guy was one of the main motivators that got butts in seats. Yeah, Cameron's intention was that you weren't supposed to find out right away that the T-800 is a good guy in this one. But the studio wasn't having it. And speaking of the ad campaign I meant to post this before: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D44RtkV21K8 Even the teaser trailer blows the rest away. It'd be great if they still did stuff like this. It's like its own little short film.
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# ¿ Sep 21, 2020 18:32 |
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Wild T posted:Watching the movie it really paints Robert Patrick as the more sympathetic, human character right up until he starts blasting down the mall hallway and kills the random bystander trying to kill Connor. I love when he's at the foster parent's house and they mention "some biker" and he just goes "I wouldn't worry about him." and kind of smiles. The line delivery is great.
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# ¿ Sep 21, 2020 23:13 |
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Lurdiak posted:I'm sorry to post so late in this thread, this movie rocks my face off. I just want to say that if you've never seen the director's cut, it's a big recommend from me. The pacing suffers a little bit from the longer runtime and extended scenes, but the T-800 and the T-1000 get much more complex characterization, and in a way that informs the sci fi elements of the plot and the themes of the script, too. Either version is amazing though. There's some interesting stuff in there for sure but this movie is so fast paced that I think those things are unnecessary. The one thing I wall say is that they should have left in the shot of the T-1000's feet mimicking the grate in the steel mill when he's impersonating Sarah. It's so loving creepy. I don't necessarily think people should never see that version. But I consider it more of a curio than a definitive version of the movie. I will say this: Don't ever watch the version with the alternate ending. Timby posted:There's some cruft in the extended cut (the Reese scene is pure fan service), but the extended garage scene with the chip and the added stuff in the steel mill showing the T-1000 losing control of its faculties are great additions, as is the extra scene of Dyson explaining everything to his wife. The chip scene and the steel mill stuff is probably the only stuff I would say should stay in the movie. The rest of this things are pretty unnecessary and even the chip scene isn't really necessary it's just cool and knowing the behind the scenes details of that I just feel bad for everyone involved going through that and then it just being cut. It was really, really hard to create that for several reasons, not the least of which was that Linda Hamilton's sister was on the other side of that wall and they had to sync their movements absolutely perfectly. Edward Furlong talked about how it took a really long time to get it right. The stuff with Miles Dyson isn't needed because that's covered by the cut to the group sitting at the Dyson's kitchen table. Miles saying "I think I'm gonna be sick." pretty much sums that all up without having to recap a bunch of stuff the audience already knows. david_a posted:This movie utterly blew my mind when it came out and was by far the best movie I had ever seen at that point. I think it is definitely one of the best action movies ever made. As for John if I had to guess they probably put him in there because we already see Sarah pregnant at the end of the first movie so it would be weird if the whole thing is about him but years later he's absent from the film. And beside that the movie is very much trying to be a new thing from the first film in many ways (Sarah becoming this not to be hosed with character hardened by the events of the first movie and the familiar T-800 being a protector this time most obviously) so it makes sense to add the kid. Although I can't really pretend they didn't want the movie to appeal to kids because there was a full line of toys and a mountain of other merchandising aimed at kids. It's kind of interesting how at one point there were toys and stuff for R-rated films. There are still T2 toys but now they're for 30+ year old men. CPL593H fucked around with this message at 23:13 on Sep 26, 2020 |
# ¿ Sep 26, 2020 23:11 |
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david_a posted:I think the toys came later, didn’t they? I had some of them but I feel like they were released like 4 years later. Nope. They came out right with the movie as well as tons of other poo poo like candy and trading cards. I think they might have still been making new toys for a couple years after. Mister Speaker posted:This movie fucks. I think it's my favourite action film of all time, even moreso than Aliens but that's a tough call. I went to a midnight screening of The Thing (in 35mm even!) about ten or twelve years back and the girl sitting behind us was tripping on acid. At the time it was infuriating but as a memory it's hilarious. So for your story and mine it's both.
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# ¿ Sep 27, 2020 21:58 |
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FilthyImp posted:Family took us to see this opening weekend in LA at the Cinerama Dome. Had to be my dad's idea since he was a huge action film buff. James Cameron loves blue. His movies are so blue.
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# ¿ Sep 28, 2020 05:19 |
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PeterCat posted:Terminator 2 hates the LAPD for the racist organization it is. It's not accident that the T-1000 disguises itself as a police officer. The only person the police kill in this movie is an unarmed black man that they shoot with no warning after executing a no-knock raid on his office. They just kick in the door and execute Miles Dyson because he's a black. Holy poo poo, I never made this connection. This movie came out only a few months after the Rodney King beating too. What timing that was.
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# ¿ Oct 1, 2020 10:13 |
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I'm pretty embarrassed all of this got by me. But that rules. I always thought of it in the context of him taking the appearance of a cop because it puts him in a position of trust and authority and it makes it easier for him to infiltrate. Which of course still works perfectly in this context, or even better actually.
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# ¿ Oct 1, 2020 22:13 |
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Groovelord Neato posted:According to that thread the Rodney King incident is actually captured far in the background of the film but I have no clue if that's true. I don't think it was near the set but from what I recall it was happening when they were shooting the scene where he takes the motorcycle from the bar.
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# ¿ Oct 2, 2020 01:10 |
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FilthyImp posted:Anyone ever think that T2 was his gently caress you to that whole controversy of him ripping off Harlan Ellison's Demon With A Glass Hand/Soldier? It was just Soldier and not Demon With a Glass Hand. But having read Soldier and watched the Outer Limits episode based on it I can say that Ellison was full of poo poo. Basically Solider has a guy from a future war who gets sucked back into our time. That is the only thing it shares with Terminator. If a superficial thing like that counts as plagiarism then pretty much all fiction from the last 100 years is plagiarized.
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# ¿ Oct 4, 2020 23:36 |
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# ¿ May 14, 2024 22:16 |
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Groovelord Neato posted:Yeah when I first heard about the settlement years back I figured it was a closer analogue as in one soldier is sent back in time to stop another that was previously sent back. But it's not like that at all. Yeah for anyone who didn't read it/see the Outer Limits episode it's about a solider from the future who gets sucked back in time completely unintentionally and then ends up in a mental hospital with a bunch of incredulous doctors trying to communicate with him. If anything it's got more in common with 12 Monkeys and even that's mostly a stretch. Harlan Ellison was basically an angry lunatic who thought people were constantly trying to steal his ideas and was just suing everyone left and right. He was a good writer but he was also a gigantic rear end in a top hat, but that's unsurprising considering how misanthropic and nihilistic his work was. He once had this to say: quote:"If you put your hand in my pocket, you'll drag back six inches of bloody stump". I can't recall if he ever said anything about it but Skynet is kind of like AM from I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream. CPL593H fucked around with this message at 03:00 on Oct 5, 2020 |
# ¿ Oct 5, 2020 02:57 |