Sci-Fi Bulletin: Exploring the Universes of SF, Fantasy, Horror and Spy-fi!

Starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Robert Patrick, Linda Hamilton, Edward Furlong

Directed by James Cameron

Studio Canal, out now

Twenty-six years after its original theatrical release, one of the biggest blockbusters in sci-fi cinema returns with a new lick of paint and a third dimension added. Can it still stand up against the current crop of big budget masterpieces, or is this one occasion where Arnold should not have been back?

A confession – this reviewer is not quite old enough to have seen this movie at the cinema when it first released. My only experiences to date with T2 have been on the small screen, though it was always a movie that enjoyed a special place in my heart. As with Aliens before it, Cameron took a beloved, cult classic movie made on a lower budget (though this time his own) and turned everything up to eleven for a sequel that defied any and all expectations and rapidly became the standard by which all sequels would be judged.

Sci-Fi Bulletin were lucky enough to attend a screening a few weeks prior to release, and the first treat was an introduction in person by none other than the T1000 himself. Seeing Robert Patrick reminisce about a movie that’s nearly three decades old now was a genuine joy, from anecdotes about the Governator himself and how he struggled with the idea of not being able to simply throw his nemesis around the set, to the odd experience of seeing oneself as a much younger man on screen. Patrick had of course seen the 3D remaster at a special screening at Cameron’s personal movie theatre, sitting – as he related with great glee – in the director’s ‘special chair’ dead centre at the front, and he warned us that what we were about to see was completely spectacular.

He wasn’t wrong.

First of all, the 3D. I remain a sceptic about 3D, and I confess I was doubly sceptical from memory (it being a few years since I last watched the movie) that T2 was a film which would benefit from it. I was wrong. It’s not just the various shots of the T1000’s various ‘knives and stabbing weapons’ leaping out of the screen at the viewer, but the sheer kineticism of the whole film. Cameron shot a masterpiece here, devoid of the shakycam and other tired and irritating tricks of modern cinema but still conveying a constant sense of movement and action. As Patrick said, this is in essence a chase movie. Two and a half decades before George Miller wowed the world with a two hour chase movie in Fury Road, here was Cameron achieving the same effect with zero effort, and without making us even see it. From the first moment Arnie walks naked into a bar to demand some clothes, the action never relents, the chase never stops, right up until the emotional farewell at the end. Even then, the closing shot of a highway at night, complete with Linda Hamilton’s steely voiceover, conveys a sense of still running, still moving ever onward. 3D really adds to this, lending an additional depth to the film that truly shows off this remarkable achievement. It is one of the few times when I have been genuinely impressed by a 3D movie.

But even outside the 3D, what really stands out here is just how beautiful the movie is. The restoration of the film was done from the best available originals, painstakingly cleaned frame by frame, and it shows. The movie looks as though it might have been shot yesterday (dated technology aside – one can imagine younger viewers struggling with the idea of having to use a phone box to call someone), clean and crisp and razor sharp. It’s also telling of how good the combination of Stan Winston’s practical effects and the (for the time) cutting edge (but sparing) use of CGI was that they still stand up perfectly well today. Three Terminator movies and one TV series have been made since T2, all with the benefit of huge advances in CGI and filming technology – it’s telling that in this new format, T2 has them all beat hands down.

Of course, all credit for that doesn’t just go to snazzy visuals. The performances of all the actors also deserve consideration for their contribution to this perfect storm. Arnie, here in perhaps his strongest ever role, exudes power and solidity in every frame, his monotone delivery pitch perfect for the part he plays. Patrick steps up to the impossible task of being as menacing and intimidating as a character considerably bulkier than himself very well. Watching back with a critical eye, it’s really interesting to see how measured and deliberate every line and action he takes is. As he said in his introduction, he tried to put something into the performance so that although his character is this perfect infiltrator, something is always slightly off. With only a handful of lines of dialogue, much of the work is physical, and nuances like the way the character runs, the economy of motion, all add up to really nail the character.

Hamilton, of course, shines. This was her movie, and she owns every frame in which she appears. It’s sad that in the twenty-six years since, we haven’t ever really seen a female character like Sarah Connor in a big budget blockbuster. The combination of physical strength and intimidation with a clear fragility marked her out as a truly complex and interesting example of a ‘strong character’, absent the female qualifier precisely because Hamilton makes it irrelevant. Other Sarah Connors may (and indeed have) come along, but none will ever top this.

Furlong deserves a mention, precisely because he so rarely gets one that isn’t negative. It should be acknowledged that for a child in his first ever acting role, Furlong delivers a great performance which is arguably the best version of John Connor we have ever seen. Others have arguably been given little to work with (Chronicles’ Thomas Dekker arguably being the best served by the material) but Furlong makes the part his own, and the relationship between his John and Hamilton’s Linda (arguably the lynchpin plot of the entire movie) is believable and real in a way that matters.

If I’m being nitpicky, I would say that I was a little disappointed to note that this was the ‘cinematic’ version of the movie – having gone to all the trouble of the digital cleanup and 3D conversion it struck me that they may as well have added in the additional minutes of the director’s cut (like Aliens before it, arguably the best version). It meant that certain scenes felt truncated, especially the one in the garage with the chip, and felt like a missed opportunity. [See below regarding the home entertainment version – Ed.]

Verdict: Standing the test of time and then some, this is a movie that feels as fresh and relevant in its themes and visuals now as it did nearly thirty years ago. There’s a reason it consistently appears in top lists and this is undoubtedly the best version visually. Blu Ray 3D will follow later in the year but if you have a chance to see this at the cinema, take it. You’ll kick yourself otherwise. 10/10

Greg D. Smith

Blu-ray add-on: Greg’s comments above regarding the quality of the new transfer are of course equally applicable to the Blu-ray release – although in the home entertainment version, you do get all the various different versions of the film (including the Extended Special Edition). Much of the rest of the extras have been brought across from previous releases – including the great feature length commentary – but there is a brand new 55 minute documentary: you may think there’s little left to learn about this movie, but new twists continue to appear. (The documentary appears on the DVD release too.)