Terminator 2

So I finally saw Terminator 2.

Which is an odd statement to make because I've never seen Terminator 1.

Not that it's all that necessary. Linda Hamilton and guy-from-the-future run from The Terminator. They fall in love, consummate the relationship, kill The Terminator. End of story.

In general, Terminator 2 interested me more, mostly for Robert Patrick, and it is easy to see why this particular movie made him an iconic sci-fi image in his own right. For a part with very, very few lines and very, very little emoting, he manages to sustain a believably villainous robotic persona throughout the entire movie. You can SEE his gears turning over when he processes particular actions. And he gets some exceedingly dry, understated funny moments.

Unfortunately, other than Robert Patrick, Schwarzenegger more than adequately playing Schwarzenegger, two or three scenes with the marvelous Xander Berkeley (he plays the foster dad), the completely underused Joe Morton, the nice cameo of Michael Biehn as Kyle (I watched the extended version), the acting is fairly awful.

Linda Hamilton is at least cool to look at. But Edward Furlong is bad beyond belief. And, surely, there were other child actors available!? For such an important role?!

On top of which, the movie itself isn't all that good. I think my expectations were too high. But it was typical Cameron: lots of flash and glam, little underlying grit.

There's lots THERE. But it's all over the place: are we supposed to get invested in Sarah Connor's search for a father for John (one of the more interesting parts of the film)? Or in John Connor's maturing process? Or in The Terminator's humanizing process? Or in Miles Dyson's decision to give up his important and, possibly, positive research because a bunch of psychopaths tell him he'll cause Armageddon?

Geez, at least T-1000 just does his job.

The movie seems to waver all over the place, and it made me realize why Avatar would likely be a waste of my time. A good action movie should have one main objective (stop the bank robbers) with one main character arc (I can inspire my partner to step up to the plate). Terminator 2 has about 50 objectives and character arcs, but it doesn't deal with any of them on a full-time basis.

Having said all that, I HAVE come to realize why the Terminator mythology has spawned such a following. The mythology is more than a little cool. The possibilities (the questions listed above) could each take their own graphic novel or book to explore. And I can think of more--like how about reprogramming T-1000 to be good? Or having John Connor take over Cyberdyne and create a more robot/human-friendly future (a la Asimov)?

Besides, it may not be the greatest movie in the world, but at least it isn't "literary".