Eye For Film >> Movies >> Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) DVD Review
Terminator 2: Judgment Day
Reviewed by: Angus Wolfe Murray
Read Scott Macdonald's film review of Terminator 2: Judgment DayYou are spoilt for choice. There is too much. The access design is annoyingly arty and it's easy to get lost. Also, when they say "audio commentary", it's not really. There are snatches of interviews with interesting people, such as the effects guys, that are cut off in mid sentence. You want to learn more, but are never allowed to. It's a bit of a tease.
Inevitably there is duplication, like quotes or scenes repeating, and you begin to feel part of a Terminator marketing show. The best of the 25mins docs is the one about creating the T2 3D attraction at Universal Studios theme park. This is an extraordinary feat of creative imagination, involving live stunt men interacting with a new movie on a vast screen. All the main actors are here and James Cameron, as usual, is totally hands on. After watching these Making Of extras, your admiration for him increases immeasurably. He may be a control freak and perfectionist, but he is constantly thinking of ways to improve the experience.
Everything to do with the effects is fascinating. When one of the team says, "We were pushing the limits on everything," you know it's true. He took eight weeks to complete an action that lasts five seconds screen time.
The dedication and team work is impressive. There were three editors, for example, editing each other, and one of the sound men worked 20 hours a day for the last three weeks without a break. Linda Hamilton virtually lived in the gym for months when she wasn't enduring intense weapon training at the range. During the night shoots, Schwarzenegger spent five hours in make up, started work at 3am, ended at 8am and then had to wait another hour while they put his face back together.
Cameron says, "The more fantastic the subject the more realistic it has to be." He is a man who relishes detail. He wants to know everything about his characters and even more about how the effects will integrate with the script.
Reviewed on: 25 Oct 2001