Tuesday, August 31, 2010

A Pointed Synopsis Of Terminator 2: Judgment Day

By Naomi Gilliam

Terminator 2 - Judgment Day is one of the best action/sci-fi movies that has ever been put to screen. Though it may not seem like it has much to say about the human condition, it actually has a few things to say. Add to that a little bit of campy dialog and action and some wonderful cinematography and you are left with a very charming movie.

This movie pits the ragtag group of John Conner, Sarah Conner, and the Terminator against a much more futuristic Terminator known as the T-1000. The T-1000 is a nearly indestructible robot from further into the future than the original Terminator.

The heroes of the story are trying to stop the global Armageddon that lead to the rise in the machines. They believe that if they can change a few things in the present, then the robots will never be able to rise up against the humans. By the end of the movie they think that they have succeeded. We find out later, in the next movie, that they only moved back the date of the robots taking over.

There are many aspects of fate to consider in this movie. Sarah was fated to be the mother of the savior of the human race. John was meant to be that savior. They never were given a choice in this. Sarah wasn't even pregnant yet when the first Terminator showed up, so she clearly had no idea what was in store for her.

One thing that gets overlooked in this movie is part of what it is saying about the mental health system in the United States. The audience knows that she isn't crazy, but no one in the movie seems to agree with that statement. As far as they are concerned she is completely gone.

Everyone in the movie treats her like she is insane, at least in the beginning of the movie. This might be saying something about the state of mental health care systems. Even though her story is true, everyone treats her like she has a mental illness. She knows that she is a sitting duck in that hospital, as well, so she has some violent tendencies and wants to escape to help her son. This only furthers their theory that she is simply insane and not someone who is, in reality, trying to train the savior of the human race for what is going to be coming his way when he grows up.

There are issues of fate surrounding John so much it seems to stick to him. He doesn't really believe everything that his mom has told him. A part of him does, it seems, but he doesn't really know that she isn't just crazy. It takes the arrival of the robots from the future in order for him to see that he is not actually being raised by a crazy woman.

Strangely, without those robots showing up in Terminator 2 - Judgment day, there would be a very different story. Instead of a story rife with adventure and excitement, it would be a story of a boy being raised by a crazy woman who is teaching him to be a militant. There would be a lot of issues that could follow this, but with the Terminators showing up it ends up being a story that is more action than a sad story of modern day life for a broken family. - 40730

About the Author:

No comments:

Post a Comment