My Classic Summer: The Terminator/Terminator 2: Judgment Day

Though summer is long done, I'm still persevering in my quest to catch up on all the classic movies I've never seem, a group of movies I like to refer to as my List of Shame.  Terming the posts that chronicle my quest to right these cinematic wrongs as "My Classic Summer" entries, even as autumn is finally upon us, seems appropriate, and not just for the sake of easy organization via the labels at the bottom of this post (click on My Classic Summer to read about the other movies I've watched as part of this series).  No, the designation also rings true because, losing oneself in a classic movie is a reprieve, a break from the mundanity or stresses of everyday life.  I treasure this celluloid escapism, especially as I'm in the midst of applying for grad school and figuring out what my future holds.

When I first started this project, two of the movies on my list were James Cameron's entries in the Terminator franchise.  I saw Terminator Salvation in theaters when it came out, and enjoyed it pretty well, though now I wonder how I'd feel after seeing how the franchise got its start.

Cameron's fascination with special effects technology and employing it to create spectacles is on full display in these films, for better or for worse.  For better in the case of Terminator 2, which still looks remarkably good two decades later.  For the first film, the effects mostly work, especially when the Terminator is dismembering himself in that deeply disturbing eye-removal scene.  Later, though, when the oil rig explodes and the mechanical skeleton within emerges from the flames, the janky stop-motion effects are quaint and, frankly, goofy.  Thankfully, though the effects show their age, the film itself does not.

The Terminator satisfies in its generic hybrid that, when taken in conjunction with its sequel, calls to mind the progression from Alien to Aliens.  Just as that franchise started as sci-fi horror and moved to sci-fi action, so it is here.  The Terminator plays like a cyberpunk slasher film, with the Terminator hunting down Sarah Connor after Sarah Connor with brutal effectiveness.  Arnold Schwarzenegger is perfectly cast, as he barely looks human himself.  In his godly physique and with his strange-sounding accent, there's something decidedly non-human about him as a human, making the casting a perfectly uncanny choice for the humanoid cyborg on the hunt.

Terminator 2: Judgment Day is an even more satisfying film, even if it calls into sharper focus some of the issues with the franchise's time-travel conceit.  Flashbacks for one character are flashforwards for the world of the film, and despite assertions that the future isn't set, it seemingly needs to be for the time loop to unfold in such a way as to have these characters positioned exactly as they are.  It's the sort of screwy logic that often accompanies time travel stories, and as such, T2 is best enjoyed with the more scientific part of the brain switched firmly off.

If you do, it's a thrill ride that stands as one of the best action blockbusters I've ever seen.  Schwarzenegger gets a more interesting role (that isn't immediately obvious to the uninitiated; I was fortunate enough not to know the "twist," so to speak, and the reveal inspired a slew of profanities) that brings levity to a world that, in the first film, was almost dreadful in its seriousness.  The T-1000 is a great adversary that also serves to show off Cameron's latest SFX tricks.  And as plucky young John Connor, Edward Furlong manages the difficult task of not being an obnoxious, cloying child actor, though he sometimes comes dangerously close.  The cute, sometimes sappy interactions between John and the T-800 are some of the highlights of the film, and also mark what a marked departure from the original the sequel really is.  (Of course, the films are still very much connected - aside from plot, characters, etc. - by the recreation of shots and repetition of lines from film to film.)

Together, Cameron's entries in the Terminator universe are an exciting, vibrant, and well-formulated entry in the science-fiction genre that make up for potential plot holes with memorable characters, great action, and gorgeous visuals.  I'm not sure I'm going to venture into the ambivalence-inspiring third entry (or revisit Salvation, for that matter), but I know I'll at least get much more mileage out of the first two films in the franchise in the years to come.