Plot: What’s it about?
In 1984, a then relatively unknown director by the name of James Cameron made a film with rising star Arnold Schwarzenegger. Aptly made for a man of Arnold’s “proportions”, The Terminator became an instant hit and at the same time, a cult classic. While the dark nature of the film was intended, and even after the financial success of the film, the creative forces that be found that it would be more popular and more profitable to make Arnold a good guy (cyborg). Like the motto of the film “The Future is Not Set”, seven years later the sequel was turned out with the same cast as the original…well, most of the same cast. While Michael Biehn starred as the protagonist, Reese, in the original, the theatrical cut of the sequel found him surprisingly absent (of course, he did die in the first one, so that might have been a key). Aside from Batman and Dick Tracy, Terminator 2: Judgment Day was one of the first “must see” Summer blockbusters of the time. Well, it’s been nearly 10 years since then and a lot has changed. Though the film featured state of the art special effects at the time (and they are still considered to be some of the best around), nearly every film has similar effects now. But the groundbreaker was this second of many collaborations between Arnold and Director James Cameron.
While The Terminator has a lot of influences in the future, the movie is set in the present. Exactly seven years after the first installment ended, this one takes up. Sarah Conner has now been committed to a mental institution due to her constant predictions of “Judgment Day” that was supposed to occur on August 29, 1997 (six years in the future at the time). She has had a child from her one night with Reese by the name of John. The story centers around John, as in the future he was a great military leader responsible for the rebellion against the robots. Only a teenager, John Conner (Edward Furlong) is more at home stealing money and hanging out at the galleria. The movie opens as Arnold is beamed into the present day. What we overlook is that all the models of that terminator look like Arnold, so it’s not just a coincidence that it’s the same machine…because it is! Arriving naked as a jaybird, he strolls into a local biker bar looking for clothes. After roughing up a few of the local rednecks, he emerges with his signature Gargoyles sunglasses and hops off on his new motorcycle. At the same time, we meet the infamous T-1000 (Robert Patrick) who is a newer model of terminator, capable of changing it’s shape to match that of any being it’s shape and size.
Both of the terminators share one thing in common…one is to kill John Conner, the other to protect him from the other terminator. Being machines, they never change and they exist for a single purpose…one to kill, the other to protect. Now finding John is not hard, he all but leaves a trail of paint, and after the T-1000 (disguised as a police officer) flashes John’s picture a few times, it’s not long before the first confrontation between the two terminators is met. Barely escaping the mall alive, it’s one of the more memorable chase scenes that lead into the sewers (nice sewers, though) of Los Angeles, and it’s then that we see that this new terminator is one tough cookie. The rest of the movie is literally spent on the run. After rescuing Sarah from her mental prison, the three form some bonds, and it’s not long before Sarah accepts that Arnold is not there to kill her, but protect her and her son from the T-1000. On somewhat of a subplot, a man named Miles Dyson (Joe Morton) has founded Cyberdyne Systems based on the two items that were left from Schwarzenegger’s previous terminator. A robotic arm and a broken microchip are all that was left of the previous cyborg, but it has jumpstarted research that leads to what could become Judgment Day.
Fleeing to Mexico to get some help and arms, the group race back to Los Angeles when they find out that the microchip and robotic arm exist. By destroying Cyberdyne systems, it’s the one way to insure that the future that the terminators come from, will not exist. An ending that lasts about 45 minutes, starts in the Cyberdyne office building where they go to get the future technology to have it destroyed, this leads to a chase down the Los Angeles highway and finally into a steel mill where either one or both of the terminators will meet their fate. Sporting almost 20 minutes of deleted scenes this edition of Terminator 2: Judgment Day closes a lot of gaps over the previous version. While extra scenes with Reese and various others do make it into the film, I feel that this version should have been the standard one all along. It’s Cameron at his finest, as well as Arnold. For those of you who haven’t seen this movie, this is the definitive version to own (no telling if it will be the last, as there have been 6 different versions on Laser Disc). This, of course, gives new meaning to the phrase…”I’ll be back.”
Video: How does it look?
Artisan broke some barriers when it released this disc the first time. Terminator 2: Judgment Day was the first DVD to be a dual-layered disc. That is to have all the movie and supplements on one side of the disc, as opposed to have to flip it over. This is now an industry standard. The 2.35:1 image is anamorphically enhanced and it is nothing short of reference quality. In fact, the whole disc is reference quality, though we’ll get to the rest later on. The colors are bright and vivid, with no artifacting getting in the way. Black levels are right on, and edge enhancement is at a minimum. No shimmering…nothing. This is, quite frankly, how all DVD’s should look on screen. Top notch. Naturally, with the advancements in technology, we might expect such a high-profile film to keep pushing the envelope; and it does. The main draw with this version is the fact that it contains a 1080i High Definition version of the film only playable through Windows XP and with Windows Media Player 9 (sorry Mac users…). I was able to access this supposed HD version and it does look great, though I’ve been able to witness “true” HD and it isn’t as great as that. If you’re fortunate enough to have your computer hooked up to a plasma screen or any other sort of HDTV then you’re in luck. The rest of us, though, will have to view it on our monitors and that’s a far cry away from how big the television sets are. Rest assured, when HD-DVD is indeed a reality (right now, it’s up in the air); T2 will most likely lead the way as one of the first discs to embrace the new format. As for now, the image is clean and clear “even” at the 480 level. No worries as this looks good no matter how you view it.
Audio: How does it sound?
Dialogue is of course, clear and lacks that “muffled” effect that a lot of soundtracks have these days. Granted they’re old Dolby Surround tracks that have been re-mastered in 5.1 sound, but T2 was originally a 6-channel mix, so this is a natural progression. On somewhat of a side note, there are a few interesting things prior to the movie starting that I feel are in need of mention. This disc, among other things, is THX-certified, something that has really gone downhill since the advent of DVD. Now we have all seen (or heard, more likely) that famous “THX sound”, but this features a new one made just for T2. We see the liquid metal get shattered into tiny pieces, then sparks fly and the pieces start to slowly merge back together (if you’ve seen the movie, it will look vaguely familiar), then merging back into letters that form the “THX” logo. In addition, there is a new Dolby Digital trailer if you choose to listen to that soundtrack. Set in space, the trailer is not as movie specific, but is different. We see the “Dolby Digital” logo finally fall into place that is a true test for all of your speakers. Not really that important, but an interesting touch to say the least…hey, I like that sort of thing. To summarize, the audio rocks, literally. Additionally, there is another Dolby track on the disc as well in the form of a Dolby Headphone track. Similar to that used in the Pearl Harbor disc, this is just that. It’s the 5.1 mix, downgraded to a track that will sound great on a pair of headphones (for all of your portable DVD-lovers out there, this has your name written on it). A nice touch.
Supplements: What are the extras?
Just when you thought it was safe to archive that old “Ultimate Edition” of T2, along comes Artisan with their new “Extreme Edition”. This is, in no small part, due to the upcoming film, Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines. So why not try and milk a little more out of the second one, eh? To tell the truth, more supplements are found on the Ultimate Edition as opposed to this one. What this one has, as opposed to its predecessor, is a new screen-specific audio commentary with James Cameron and William Wisher (the first ever screen-specific audio commentary recorded by Cameron for any of his movies, by the way). This was also re-mastered from a new HD transfer, so the picture looks better (then again, I gave the previous effort a “5”; so it’s hard to top perfection). But the real crowing jewel may be the world’s first ever HD-DVD content on an existing DVD. True, you have to have Windows XP and Media Player 9 to play it (and a super-fast computer to really make it work), but for the technical merit alone; this may be the disc to have. There are only two other features on the disc, a 25 minute documentary “No Feat But What We Make” and “T2: On the Set”. Both are good, but the longer, aforementioned documentary is by far the better of the two.
There are also some interactive portions of the disc in that you can upload your own photos and morph them into the T-1000 or the T-800 (Schwarzenegger) terminator. You can also build your own fighting machine and track your progress online. While this disc is technically a step up over the previous version, I think it’s something that we can all live without. The HD-DVD portion of it is nice and if it’s a predecessor of things to come, then I’m really pumped. The transfer is just as good or better as is the kick-ass Dolby Digital track. Additionally, the commentary by Cameron and Wisher is good too, processed in stereo; each member has their own front channel to “put you in the middle of the action”! Oh, lastly, there is a text-based fact track much like that “Pop Up Video” effect that we’ve been seeing these days. Comparable to the “Infinifilm” line of DVD’s from New Line, this enables us to watch the movie in its entirety and be able to learn things about the movie and even at times click on the Cyberdyne Logo and view some video footage that corresponds to that scene. A very cool feature that I don’t think is used enough in DVD’s. Still, though, even though this is the third incarnation of the movie on DVD, where’s the Guns N’ Roses video of “You Will be Mine”? Ho hum, I guess we’ll have to wait for the next edition…
