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 sequal was turned out with the same cast as the original…well, most of the same cast. While Michael Biehn starred as the protaganist, Reese, in the original, the theatrical cut of the sequal found him suprisingly 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 prision, 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 intot 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. With all the supplmental material on this version, this is a DVD-18, or dual-layered, dual-sided disc. The DVD contains no less that three versions of the film, though only two are advertised (relax…we’ll tell you how to access the third version). 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. It should be noted that all three versions look this way, as it’s basically one long version, but depending on how you select the version you want, it’s lengthened or shortened.
Audio: How does it sound?
This is probabaly what will be talked about the most. In addition to a new Dolby Digital EX soundtrack mix, there is also a brand new DTS ES mix to boot. Now the original mix on the previous DVD was a Dolby Digital 5.1 mix and it sounded great, so to see the addition of a DTS soundtrack not only shows how far DTS has come, but it’s a much broader soundtrack. As with most DVD’s that feature dual DTS/DD soundtracks, it’s the little things that make the differnce. While the Dolby Digital will pack more of a “punch”, the DTS has the tiny little discrete effects that you hear in the background…they make you really listen. Now don’t get me wrong, the DTS has quite a “punch” of it’s own, but in addition it has a broader range of sound and it’s a lot less compressed, that allows for more sound to get through the speakers.
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 remastered in 5.1 sound, but T2 was originally a 6-channel mix, so this is a natural progression. On somewhat of a sidenote, there are a few interestig things prior to the movie starting that I feel are in need of mention. This disc, among other things, is THX-certified, something thas 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 familar), 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.
Supplements: What are the extras?
Ok…deep breath…when something is labeled as the “Ultimate Edition” it has some pretty high marks to live up to, and we’ll start at the best place, the beginning. In addition to the remastered sound and video, there are two (three really) different versions of the film on this disc.
Side One
The theatrical version of the film is presented in it’s original running time of 136 minutes, this is the version that’s been on home video, television and the previous DVD and LD versions. Also included is the “Director’s Cut”, this is the version that has the deleted scenes with Reese (Michael Biehn’s) character as part of a dream sequence. Most noteably different is the extended ending, entitled “Future Coda” ending. It features the characters in a world that is noticeably different from what we’re told. One of the longer scenes that has been added back in features the T-1000 going through John Conner’s room to look for any evidence as to where he might be. Aside from that, we also see a scene where Arnold is opened up and his chip taken out (thus rendering him useless), and a choice has to be made as to what to do with him (remember, he did try and kill Sarah only a few years earlier). Lastly, a noteable sces invovles Miles Dyson at home. The point of the scene is to show that he has good intentions for the new technology that he has discovered, and shows how obsessed he is about his work. Aside from these versions, there is also an “Extended Special Version” that you can access by following these directions:
On side one, go to “Special Edition” and select it…
If all is right, the Terminator’s left eye should be red, then you highlight the words “Play Special Edition” but don’t hit enter or whatever it is you do to actually select it.
With your number keys, enter in the numbers 82997 (Judgment Day from the movie). You may have to enter one number at a time, but you’ll know it’s working when you see the jibberish on the right of the screen turn into the words “The Future is Not Set”. If you’re entering them one at a time, the words will appear one at a time.
When you get that, you’ll know you got it right, as the other eye will light up and it will say “Play Expanded Special Edition”. Click it (or whatever it is you do) and that’s that…If you didn’t get it, fear not, just go to “Title 3” on your DVD menu and it will do the same thing.
In addition to the many versions of the film, there is also an audio commentary featuring about 25 members of the crew. A nice touch, but there’s just too many people on this one, I think there should be a limit set.
Side Two
Side two is all the supplemetal materials, though side one itself would have been more than enough. Included on this side are trailers, teasers (even five Japaneese trailers) for the movie, production notes, cast bios and posters for the movie. The main feature for this side are the three featurette/documentaries. One specifically concentrates on the special edition material, one on the movie itself and one on the little known follow up to this movie, the Terminator 3-D. This was an attraction at a theme park, and not really made into a theatrical movie.
Add to that, storyboards that have about 800 stills, the entire script that you can read (and you don’t need a DVD-ROM) and a lot of little other stuff that I just don’t have the energy to write about. I must nitpick a bit though, with all of this stuff on here, the one thing that I would have liked to see is the Guns and Roses video “You will be mine”. The video has Arnold in it and went along with the whole theme for the movie, though I heard this song thousands of times back in 1991, it would still be a nice touch. Licensing I guess…well, bummer, but with this movie’s track record, it will most likely be out in another version sometime soon. While the title is pricey (retailing at $40), the audio/video and extras are more than worth it. Consider that the LD cost aroud three times that much, and you’re left with no real reason not to have this disc. Enjoy.
