T2 (1991) is the MacBeth of action movies and the unquestioned high-water mark within the genre for its spellbinding story, pitch-perfect casting, phenomenal acting, groundbreaking visual effects and creatively staged set pieces. It is the film by which action movies with aspirations of transcending genre trappings are judged. Rightfully so. It wouldn't be hyperbolic to call it the best action movie ever. That it is still in the conversation 30 years later is as much a ringing endorsement of director/writer James Cameron as a filmmaker as it is an indictment of the state of the Action Film. There have been four sequels and few consider any to be in the same quality orbit as T2. It's unlikely any film inside the franchise or out will ever match it. T2 is singular in its crystal-clear delivery of a cautionary tale that becomes more plausible with time rather than the other way around. Cameron's timeless direction provides the perfect canvas for complete and painfully believable performances by the iconic cast as well as a central conflict that creates action in perfect sync with the Cameron penned story. Nothing here is by chance or shoehorned in to justify the movie’s existence within the action genre. Each stab, haymaker, bullet, rocket and grenade hits with the same synapse-shattering thwack we are accustomed to experiencing in high drama even though T2 is plot-wise fairly standard robot apocalypse fare. Many films and TV shows tell this story. T2 stands way out because it presents the humans and the doomed path by which they hand power over to the machines as equally interesting to any physical conflict. Terminators are supremely cool and visually interesting but showcasing a new model while telling the same story is not enough. This is what the sequels after T2 miss. Movie-making is a business and it's easily understood why producers keep going back to the well. They are correct in concluding that most fans of the franchise won't dare skip a Terminator film even if the franchise arguably jumped the shark with Terminator Genisys. The story of Skynet and human's quest to avert Judgment Day was fully told in T2. The Terminator franchise should’ve ended, poignantly, along with the T-800 and that heart-wrenching thumbs-up.
10/10
The Quick Critic
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