Detailed review of Terminator 2

For me, the Terminator series is a totem. Maybe many movie fans have the same feeling as me. No matter how much Arnold's performance in other films disappoints us fans, there's one reason why we support him over and over again: Terminator, Terminator, Terminator! ! ! Just because he is one of the creators of The Terminator, we regard him as the eternal king of action movies - quoting a sentence from "Watching Movies" (this sentence simply speaks to my heart): "The Terminator is immortal." So Arnold is immortal.

I remember that when I was very young, I didn’t really like watching movies. I would only watch and laugh at funny Hong Kong movies. But one day, I was completely shocked by the existence of a robot. THE TERMINATOR, the genius mind of Cameron in 1984, made me see such a perfect robot setting for the first time, witness such realistic killing for the first time, feel such a real sense of oppression for the first time, and know each other for the first time. to the despair of the future of mankind. When I thought the Terminator had been hit by a truck, destroyed by fire, and terminated by bombs, the Terminator got up again and again, and only then did I truly appreciate what Carl Reese said to Sarah in the car. What Connor said: "You can't make peace with him. He has no emotions and no fear. His existence has only one purpose - to kill you, kill you, until the end of his life!" At this time! , looking at the Terminator T-800 with only half of its body left and crawling towards Sarah without hesitation, besides fear, I only have respect. This is a kind of heartfelt respect. In this perfect metal skeleton, What I saw was what human beings lack most: persistence! Even if the value of existence lies only in destruction, I still have to pay him the highest respect.

Then I watched "Terminator 2: Judgment Day". There is no need to say anything more about this movie, it embodies all the virtues that a movie should embody. Every time I rewatch this movie (no less than 30 times, I am indeed crazy), I firmly believe that this is a masterpiece that cannot be surpassed by any entertainment film. Even now, after seeing the action and chase in "MATRIX: RELOADED" Scenes, I dare say that except for the addition of Chinese Kung Fu, most of the action scenes can almost find shadows from T2 - the greatness and really exciting thing about T2 is that, even if you watch it 12 years later, it Still perfect. There are two robots here, and the fight between them is an "inhuman" fight. The Terminators can do anything that is impossible for anyone to do, which provides a broad space for the imagination of the film and the creation of momentum. The great thing about T2 is that there is nothing unsatisfactory: from music to lighting, from photography to editing, from script to performance, from action to stunts, from structure to connotation... In other words, the comprehensiveness of these aspects Perfection is rare. Even the subsequent classic action movies such as "THE ROCK", "FACE OFF", "AIR FORCE ONE", etc., if judged from a comprehensive perspective, there is still a big gap between them and T2. It is said that Cameron has been unable to surpass himself since TITANIC. In fact, he has not been able to surpass the peak he created since T2 in 1991.

This is the dilemma of "Terminator 3": everyone knows that no matter how good T3 is, it will always fail. T-800 already said before self-destruction 12 years ago: "Everything must end here." Yes, everything is over, there is no need for T3 to exist at all. Unless there is another genius who can explain everything perfectly. But no matter how talented he is, who would dare to show his ambition in front of Cameron’s crazy admirers (like me, haha)? I dare say that Spielberg can't do it, and neither can George Lucas. This is Cameron's territory!

However, even if T3 is no longer a card, there is still no way to resist the temptation of T3. After all, it exists, after all, it comes to you under the banner of being an eternal classic in your heart. Therefore, when I saw the T3 DVD, even though I knew that the theater version would definitely be inferior, I still made a quick decision and bought it immediately.

My thoughts after reading this are: I don’t have any thoughts. Yes, I was excited, but not the same excitement I had when I watched T1 and T2. Maybe it's because I grew up and lost my curiosity and childlike innocence; however, for me, the Terminator is a symbol of an old youth dream, but now I'm afraid I have to add some other emotions, just like seeing my beloved child fail the college entrance examination. Although he did well in the exam, he still claimed that it was because the child was in poor health.

The following are some opinions on T3, I am sorry to say:

1. Title. Everyone must remember the word TERMINATOR reflecting the blue metallic luster in T1. You must also remember the panoramic review of Judgment Day and the burning children's playground in T2, as well as the two steel plates that were put together in the fire: " TERMINATOR 2: JUDGMENT DAY", the technique is actually quite sensational, but the effect at that time can only be described as "shocking". In T3, TITLE appeared so quickly and so clearly that I was stunned.

The simple white text on a black background and the simple "TERMINATOR 3: RISE OF THE MACHINES" appear without any foreshadowing, which is quite anti-traditional (although this is called a traditional title, Cameron does like to be fancy). Then, what came directly into view was a nuclear bomb hitting a certain city, and John led mankind to the final victory. Of course, these are just fantasies. In reality, John became a construction worker who escaped from the world. This kind of opening suddenly abandoned the Terminator series' tradition of "taking the lead". It gave me the feeling that Jonathan Mostow was indeed not as good at pleasing movie fans as Cameron. This seems to indicate various features and problems that will appear in T3 in the future.

2. Richness of detail. As action movies, T1 and T2 leave a very deep impression on people because of the details that abound in them. These are two action movies made of details. In T1, during the T-800's self-dissection and repair, Cameron used a completely realistic and line drawing technique to give close-ups of the blood-stained scalpel and the blood dripping into the pool and slowly dissolving. , not only effectively controls the relaxed rhythm of the entire film, but also depicts the character of T-800 from another side - that is, when an eyeball is no longer useful, he will dispose of it without hesitation. In T2, the richness of similar detailed descriptions is simply overwhelming. I will never forget those classic shots: the T-800 takes out the shotgun from the rose box; the rose is stepped on by the T-800; a burning tire rolls out of the raging fire; the T-1000's pistol is stuck in the door grille; T-1000 crushed T-800's sunglasses; T-1000's feet melted into the hot floor; and T-800's famous half metal face. I can even confidently say that T2 is a movie that can even find its home for the bullets worn on the body. This relies on the aura and courage of director Cameron. However, T3 is different. It's not that there are no details, but that there is no feeling in these details, the feeling unique to The Terminator. T-X's breast augmentation does not show that he is cunning or smart; the toy sunglasses that T-850 puts on for the first time are not up to par except for being funny. No pain or itch - T3 first lost to its predecessor in details.

3． Lines. I don’t know why, but I have to praise Cameron again. First of all, we have to admit that as a director who only shoots scripts he writes, he is a master of lines - although there are no particularly witty and humorous words in his scripts, he has the power to "turn decay into magic". Some lines that are originally secular slang, as long as they come from the mouth of the characters he created, as long as they are said under the timing and situations he arranged, they seem to have gained life, exuding dazzling brilliance. "I'LL BE BACK", this common and even somewhat convoluted sentence, was born after the T-800 was friendly rejected by the police in T1 in 1984. It has also appeared frequently in similar "Top 10 Classic Lines in Film History" in the past 19 years. . "HASLATAVESTA BABY", "FUCK YOU ASS HOLE", "I AM THE KING OF THE WORLD", "GET AWAY FROM HER YOU BITCH", among these four famous lines, half are curse words and a quarter are curse words. One is vulgar slang, and the other quarter is arrogant words that don’t know the heights of heaven and earth. They can linger in our ears for a long time. We have to admire Master Ka’s unique intuition and genius in this aspect. Closer to home, back to T3. Arnold indeed has quite outstanding sentences in T3: "TALK TO THE HAND (Although I don't know the meaning, but my intuition tells me that this will be the most popular line in T3)", "I'LL DRIVE", "I LIED" , "SHE'LL BE BACK"...those lines are quite a delight. Unfortunately, T-850 said too much besides that. No wonder, information from the future can only be mentioned from T-850, which cannot help but dilute the impression left by those wonderful lines on the audience. The worse thing is T-X's lines: the first two lines are "I LIKE THE CAR" and "I LIKE YOUR GUN". As the traditional part of adding clothes and weapons in the Terminator series, these two sentences are really unsatisfactory - look at how the Terminators behave in T1 and T2: In T1, T-800: "YES , NICE NIGHT FOR WALK", "YOUR CLOTHS, GIVE THEM TO ME", "WRONG"; in T2, the bar hooligan: "YOU FORGOT TO SAY PLEASE", T-1000: "SAY, THAT'S A NICE BIKE". In comparison, T-X's IQ and sense of humor seem to have deteriorated, which makes me suspect that the value range of the unknown number X is (0, 1000), no, maybe (0, 800). Not to mention the first sentence that T-X asked John's future wife in T3: "JOHN CONNER WAS HERE, WHERE DID HE GO?" Such a tasteless line.

Look at how the T-1000 behaves in T2: piercing Sarah's shoulder blade directly and saying "CALL TO JOHN. I KNOW THIS HURTS. CALL TO JOHN NOW". And Sarah's reaction was really happy: "FUCK YOU". It's a pity that without Cameron, we can't see such hearty dialogue in T3. The boss of T3 may also be aware of this, but obviously he should fire the screenwriter who wrote the lines for T-X.

4. About T-X. To be honest, I like this T-X. Except for the lines, T-X's performance is relatively perfect. I mean performances, and only performances. Christina Rogan certainly doesn't make us realize she's a woman. From T-X, we see the shadow of the long-lost T-1000. It is cold and stunning. Every step it takes is an elegant standard cat walk. Every time it turns, it is charming. It really gives people a quite wonderful feeling (T-X and T -1000 No matter in personality, appearance or height, they are a perfect match). I saw its injured right hand sticking out of the ruins, gently tapping in the direction of John Connor's escape; I saw it being fixed on the accelerator, its eyes still staring at John in the distance; I saw it and T- After the 850 battle, I still didn't forget to glance at my beautiful self in the mirror; I saw a faint sneer on the corner of its mouth after it used a crane to hit the T-850 into a fire truck - at this point, I have absolute reason to believe it , Christina's performance is successful. Although she is not as shocked as Robert Patrick back then, it feels absolutely right - after all, the so-called "shock" is inseparable from the stunts. The actors' performances are further away. But here's the key: We haven't figured out the makeup of the T-X yet - the entire T3's performance display of the T-X is just like going through the motions, which makes people a little confused. In theory, the T-X is more advanced than the T-1000. The so-called advanced should be: everything that the T-1000 can do, the T-X can do; and the T-X can also do what the T-1000 cannot do. But my feeling is that if SKY NET still sends a T-1000 this time, it will be easier to succeed (especially in the ending, the T-850 actually grabbed the fragments of the T-X to die together, which in the view of the T-1000 It's simply impossible). Through research on all the T-X lenses, I sorted out the following properties: (1), T-X, like the T-800, has a hard metal frame inside; (2), the appearance of the T-X is similar to the T-1000 Covered with liquid metal; (3), T-X's hands can become more complex machines, including laser generators, chainsaws, and flamethrowers; (4), T-X can use wireless networks such as mobile phones to access information online, or wirelessly control vehicles ; (5), T-X can easily modify other Terminator programs; (6), T-X can lick blood for identification (there is a BUG: since T-X even has the DNA data of John and his future wife, why bother to be like T1 The T-800 in the movie lacks demographic information and kills people one by one according to the phone book). Based on points (3), (4), and (5), it can be seen that T-X is indeed more advanced than T-800 and T-1000, or it is so powerful that it is a bit shameless: it has a laser on its body ! ! The key lies in how director Jonathan Mostow gives our dear T-X a broader stage, fully displays its talents, and surprises us. Let’s take a look again: Regarding the use of function (2), I think there is no need to say more. You can instantly repair your own image, and you can also become anyone you have come into contact with and sampled. Specifically, T-X has only become the current fiancé of John's future wife (to quote T2: "THIS IS DEEP"). Function (3), the laser of T-X has never hit the pursuit target John (of course, if it hits, the story will be over), and has been injured by the missile of T-850; the chainsaw has killed an innocent person, Also used to free myself from the accelerator (sawing through wires); the flamethrower only burned a little of the T-850's skin. For the use of function (4), T-X can obtain more data faster, and has also controlled four cars to chase John, but unfortunately it did not pose much of a threat; for the use of (5), T-X has made the T-1 series and The Aerial Hunters (all the predecessors of Future HK) hunted down John and everyone, but the effect was very little - come to think of it, the T-850 is many times more advanced than the T-1 series, don't always use Uncle Arnold's T -800 is regarded as a vintage product. Back to T-X, we found that T-X should indeed be much more powerful, but T3 made a mistake: the display of T-X is always in this contradiction - on the one hand, it is too busy telling the audience that T-X has this function and that function, on the other hand, it cannot let the audience know that T-X has this function and that function. Any function of T-X can succeed because T-X represents evil and is anti-human and is destined to fail. This contradiction makes T-X become like "Liu Adou who cannot be supported." We will not be grateful that T-X is unlucky, but we will only be surprised that T-X's IQ is getting lower and lower, and he cannot succeed even if he carries an arsenal with him. And this contradiction stems from another ultimate contradiction, that is, the limited length of T3 prevents Jonathan Mostow from telling more than two clues in parallel.

What are the benefits of more leads? In T2, several of the T-1000's most impressive stunts were performed in the auxiliary lines: turning into a knife with one hand at John's adoptive parents' house, and turning into the floor in the madhouse... In T3, the T-X could neither perform other clues. CUHK exerts its lustful power but is unable to succeed on the main line. It is like being yoked with invisible shackles. Each stunt is just a quick glance at the show. There is no real surefire move and it cannot give people a deeper impression.

5. Style, substance and story. The overall style of T3 does not have its own characteristics. The first half is close to T1, and the second half is close to T2. Overall, it does not look like a sequel, but more like a gift film to commemorate the 19th anniversary of the T series. Let’s talk about the first half first. In fact, I like the first part very much. After T-X found the person who matched the target name, it did not quickly show its special functions. Instead, it took out a pistol to kill instantly, which was similar to the pursuit mode in the first half of T1. Watching T-X shoot innocent people expressionlessly, I seemed to see Arnold who was still young 19 years ago (I feel nostalgic about killing people, I seem to be a little perverted). Jonathan's arrangement in this aspect is quite wise. Although some people may say that the scene where T-X kills people with a small pistol is too petty for a 21st century Hollywood blockbuster with a budget of up to 170 million US dollars, but I firmly believe that this is the most shining scene in the whole film. The glorious splendid scenes of classic action movies, a kind of atmosphere of the 1980s hits your face. The target of the T3 screening is not children. Children will jump with joy as long as they watch "Charlie's Angels 2". Unlike any popular sequel movie, T3 should not attempt to create another box office miracle, but should be a cultural call. For this purpose, the first half of T3 is satisfactory. The second half turns into a typical T2 mode as the T-X and T-850 find John. Familiar themes and scenes appear one after another, escaping from capture, deserting deserts, national defense buildings, and changing fate. There must be changes during this period: change (1), T-850 no longer obeys John's orders, but listens to his girlfriend; change (2), T-850 once changed from a protector to a hunter; change (3) , destiny can no longer be changed like T2. My evaluation is: change (3) is shocking, or in other words, change (3) has raised the connotation of T3 to a whole new level; change (2) is unnecessary because it is solved too quickly and there is no drama; change (3) 1) It's boring. T3 doesn't need such a self-slapping episode (because in the end T-850 admitted that John is a "LEADER", and John's girlfriend has no role at all). In a sense, T3 wants to talk about a lot of philosophy: first of all, John successfully prevented T-850 from killing himself, telling us that destiny can be changed; secondly, John was unable to prevent the occurrence of JUDGMENT DAY, showing that people face the Fate is sometimes more about helplessness (this theme seems a bit different in Hollywood). The important thing is how to actively face fate when facing it. From this perspective, T3 has both its pessimistic side and its positive side. Finally, some exploration of the robot's thoughts was carried out: T-850 desperately said "I AM A MACHINE" to John, but finally terminated the pursuit on its own, as if its conscience discovered this. This is a bit childish. T3 is not an A?I after all. , there is no need to preach about human nature. At the expense of this: Jonathan missed a great opportunity to break through the two classic pursuit modes of T1 and T2: we have seen the two terminators fighting each other, but we have never seen the cooperation of the two terminators* **thing! ! ! Try to imagine that the T-850 and T-X cooperate with each other like wild wolves to surround and hunt, forcing the target into a blind corner step by step. This can add 15 minutes of exciting scenes. And John wanted to awaken T-850's memory of the father-son bond they cultivated 12 years ago, but the result was of course in vain. In desperation, John can only rely on his own power to interrupt the power supply of the two Terminators (which can add another 5 minutes), and then prepare to prevent the arrival of Judgment Day. But when they saw that the future could not be changed, the desperate John restarted the power of T-850. At this time, he had a wise, philosophical, prophetic and revealing dialogue with T-850 (I really hope Cameron (can be a screenwriter), which is deeply touching; then the T-X restarts unexpectedly, and the T-850 dies with it in order to stop it. Finally, in the ruins, John and his girlfriend sat together, quietly waiting for the arrival of Judgment Day. I believe this ending will be much more enjoyable than the actual ending of T3.

6． Actors and characters. For me, who reads the Terminator series as a bible, none of the actors in T3, except for Kristina Rogen and Arnold, felt like "I'm starring in a Terminator movie now." Unlike the numerous sequels and prequels of the classic series STAR WARS, James Cameron, the father of Terminator, will no longer direct T3. The so-called "Terminator feeling" can only be maintained by the actors' performances, because the Terminator series is still very... Focusing on the power of performance. But the two new-generation protagonists, John Connor and Claire Denise, who plays his girlfriend, behave like sleepwalkers. According to my observation, the low evaluation of T3 on the Internet is mainly because of them. If they felt even remotely responsible, they should read the first two Terminators.

Edward Furlong's version of John in 1991 worked seamlessly with Arnold's T-800. Facing this completely unfamiliar John 12 years later, not only Arnold couldn't feel it, but even the audience wondered, "Is this person actually John?" question. Jonathan has not yet figured out what the Terminator should emphasize - it is John, not the T-850; the feeling to the audience should be that John is the one worth looking forward to and relying on, not the T-850, who is the last hope of mankind. Because John is at the heart of the Terminator's mission. If John is not worthy of reliance, then all the actions of the T-850 will be meaningless, and the entire Terminator story will lose its foundation. It is a pity that T3 focused all our attention on T-850, because we found that not only did John not learn anything new in 12 years, but he also became old, accidental, decadent and slow, and his original agility was gone. Well, what could be more disappointing than this? There is another point that explains the problem, that is, the psychiatrist who also appeared in T1 and T2 also came to play a role (he is the only veteran who can compete with Arnold), facing the woman John who was rescued from the cemetery. My friend, he described the impact of the "incomprehensible crazy things" on him back then (do you still remember the scene in T2 where he was frightened by the T-1000 that casually walked through the iron gate)? It's a pity that this character (the actor is quite talented) was not given more scenes at all, and he disappeared after seeing the T-850 coming out of the cemetery. This is another shortcoming of T3: each appearance image is too thin, and there is no in-depth exploration. This is in stark contrast to the Kaspersky film. Ironically, the character that really shocked me in T3 was exactly the one absent from T3, the first protagonist in T1 and T2, a strong woman, eternal fighter, and respectable mother—Sarah Connor. When the T-850 opened Sarah's coffin and what came into view was a box full of ammunition carefully prepared by Sarah, I think no one would not be shocked by this mother's great maternal love! T3’s regret lies not only in Cameron’s absence, but also in the news of Sarah’s death.

7． visual effects. The key reason why the first two episodes of Terminator can give people the deepest impression is the outstanding visual effects. The meaning of "outstanding" here is not "outstanding", but "earthquake and earth-shaking". You don't need to waste time on this point. Faced with the perfect images created by Cameron, Jonathan could only rely on the most amazing budget in Hollywood history to embolden himself. Indeed, Jonathan put a lot of thought into the creation of visual effects, and the direction was very clear as to what stunts should be used in what aspects. Two key action scenes did not disappoint T fans like me: one is a road chase, and the other is the National Defense Building. The classic action mode of the T series is A+B: A is the vehicle chase along the way (both sides have to change vehicles several times), and B is the chase at the decisive battle site (fully demonstrating the personality/performance of the Terminators). In T3, the highway chase carries the A function. The scene where the T-X uses a giant crane to bring the T-850 to wreak havoc on an entire street is indeed comparable to the highway scene in "MATRIX: RELOADED". In MATRIX, the Zworski brothers pursue the distorted and exaggerated pleasure in the virtual world, while T3 pursues realistic explosive power. When we saw the footage of the giant truck being thrown into the air, gradually falling apart, and finally crashing to the ground, we had to lament that times have changed - this was not even seen in T2. The battle between T-X and T-850 in the National Defense Building also gave a Terminator feel. The two machines had expressionless faces, but through their movements you can feel the pressure they exert on each other; their movements were clean and crisp. There is no sloppiness, and the description is full of details (such as the T-X's stunning look in the mirror). We have to admit that even if Cameron were to film it, it would be hard to beat him. But there is one thing about Jonathan that is indeed inferior to Cameron, and that is the layout of the action scenes, the grasp of the basic tones and the overall rhythm control of the entire film. Jonathan can use gorgeous CG to entertain us in half a minute, but Cameron can make us fall in love with the entire film. Taking T2 as an example, the transition between the three tones of orange, blue and white is natural and smooth; T-800 and Y-1000 meet three times, and the tones are different each time: the first time is white and orange, the second time is white and blue, The third time is white, blue and orange. Interested fans can study the shot in T2 of the T-1000 being frozen by liquid nitrogen, shattered and finally reassembled into one piece. The transition from white to orange is very skillful. Half a minute ago, the picture was white, and half a minute later it was all white. The orange color is not obtrusive at all. In the end, blue is used to describe the scene dominated by the T-1000, and orange is used to describe John and Sarah's collaboration with the T-800. The two complementary colors give our visual enjoyment an unprecedented sense of satisfaction. But this kind of change is rare in T3. The tone of the four encounters between T-850 and T-X basically conforms to the color of the scene and lacks meaning. Jonathan gave up on color first. Secondly, looking at the rhythm, T3's movements have no sense of delay, but the shortcoming is that they are too crisp and neat. We were ready to accept 10 minutes of visual bombardment, but he only gave us 5 minutes to end. Especially in the cemetery section, the T-850 singled out a police force and left after firing only one round of mini-machine gun bullets. The deterrent power that was once the same in T2 has now been reduced by half. The most unsatisfactory part is the ending in the cave. The T-850 ended the T-X so easily that we can’t even remember whether the T-X did anything in the cave.

This really disappointed the audience. Even if there was any innovation in the ending that followed, the audience was not interested at all. Then, with the arrival of Judgment Day and the outbreak of nuclear war, the visual shock index is not as good as that of T2. How can it make the audience feel the despair that Jonathan expected? Therefore, if we judge whether T3 can be better based on Jonathan's level, the conclusion is: it is either impossible or impossible.

From this point of view, T3 has too much humor, too little cleverness, too much respect, and not enough ambition; it is surprising in small ways, but disappointing overall - it is exactly what I feared before. , like a short fan movie spontaneously shot by die-hard Terminator fans. The latest issue of "Watching Movies" magazine revealed that the average rating of T3 by mainstream newspapers in the United States is B+, which is really for the sake of old relationships. If you want me, only give me C+. T3 didn't produce anything that felt different from movies like Core X-MEN. Unless Cameron comes back, I don't hope there will be another T4.

As mentioned in the preface, this is indeed Cameron’s territory; if Cameron decides to buy back the rights to the T series and remake T3 just like he did with TITANIC, then I will be the first to fund it! ! !