Terminator 2: Judgement Day 3D Re-Release Review

26 Years Later and the Sequel is Still One of the Best

Ok, well this isn’t so much of a review seeing as it’s Terminator 2: Judgement Day.  We’ve all seen it.  It’s one of the best movies of all time.  On paper T2 should never have worked.  James Cameron took arguably one of the best screen villains of all time  that he created with Arnold Schwarzenegger and made him the good guy?!?! Blasphemy?  And you know what, it worked out pretty good.  Forget that it’s also one of the best sequels of all time on top of that, T2 holds up because you love those characters.

This review is really just a memoir of my experience seeing the 3d re-release and I’m happy to say that not only does the movie and the effects hold up, but the only new thing for me to review, the 3d conversion, is done spectacularly well and not only did it not distract me, but it did actually enhance my experience seeing the film, and I’m a guy who prefers IMAX 2d over 3d any day of the week and twice on Sunday.  3d Conversions I’m completely against 99% of the time and this was great to experience

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A little context, Terminator 2 came out on July 3, 1991, and I was 4 and half years old when it was released.   My father actually took me and my older brother to the theatre to see it in the summer.  Yes, my father took me to a rated R movie when I was 4 and half, what can I say, my dad is awesome.  I never saw the first movie, all I remember is that my father and brother told me that this was a Part 2 of a movie, which I don’t think I’d heard that phrase before.  They told me that this movie starred someone named Arnold Schwarzenegger and that he was in the first movie playing a robot.  Except that in the first movie he was the bad guy, but in this movie he was somehow the good guy.  The reason I say all I remember is because all I remember is that I went to the theatre and then 5 mins into the movie I fell asleep because it was a nigh screening and next thing I knew the credits were rolling.  I don’t remember when I actually saw Terminator 2 in its entirely, but it was years later and I was probably because my parents rented it out from the library.

That being said, I (for better or worse) have seen every Terminator movie released afterwards since in the movie theatre. None of them match Terminator 1 or 2, some have their moments, but they aren’t good movies.  I am a huge fan and highly recommend the Terminator: Sarah Conner Chronicles that ran for 2 seasons on Fox.  It is the best storytelling and continuation of a post Terminator 2 story since the film has been released.

26 years later, I finally got to see Terminator 2 on the big screen and damn that is one good movie.  The 3d enhances the film very nicely and is one of the best 3d conversions I’ve seen on screen since the Top Gun re-release a few years ago.  What helps that there is only 42 actual special effects shots int he entire film.  The rest of the movies’ special effect are practical on screen effects.  Much love and kudos to Stan Lee and Dennis Muren at ILM for creating the practical and visual effects of my childhood that not only still hold up, but makes me aw in amazement in what I’m looking at on screen.  The opening future war battle sequence that features real endoskeleton models, and miniatures all layered together really play well with the 3d conversion.  You see the depth and scale done very well in 3d.  James Cameron along with DMG Entertainment and Studiocanal worked for about a year and nearly 1000 artists individually worked for 6 months frame by frame to do the conversion, and it paid off in dividends.

The best thing I can say about the conversion is that about 15 minutes into it, I forgot I was watching the movie in 3d.  I was engaged in the film and while every once in a while for some of the major action scenes I was looking for the what the 3d would do to enhance the film, for the most part I was just enjoying the movie.  I hadn’t seen the movie in a few years and I really just tried to watch it with fresh eyes.  William Wisher’s script is beautifully written.  Every scene sets up the next and there is no “fat” or “excess” scenes.  What gets setup gets paid off later on in the film.  Arnold looks great on screen in his prime and quite frankly, it was just freaking awesome to finally see Terminator 2 on the big screen, 3d or not.  It’s a great movie and should be seen in theatres whenever possible.

I’m not going to put a review score for this movie.  The movie is talked about as one of the best films of all time. We’ve all seen it.  We all remember I’ll be back and Hasta La Vista Baby, and seeing John emotionally beg and order the Terminator not to go at the end of the film still got me emotional in the theatre seeing it again.