Sequels: Terminator 2 (1 of 2)

I am sorry to say it. In spite of its great popularity and Academy Awards, Terminator 2 is a bad sequel.

As you can see from my articles on the subject, I think highly of the original Terminator. Deep themes, awesome hero, exciting action: great movie. And, it seems like a sequel, while not necessary, could be a fine thing to have. Plenty of things are there to be explored: what is John Connor like and what does he do? How did Sarah make out? How did people survive the bombs? How did the war with the machines start? Any number of things.

The ideal father, says an independent woman of the early 90's.

Terminator 2 gives us replies to a few of these questions. For instance: “John Connor is a screwed up, whiny thief”, and “Sarah Connor became a militaristic sociopath, essentially selling her body for survival training and neglecting her son”.

The Terminator (part 2 of 2)

This is part 2. Read part 1!

In the end, Sarah Conner strikes the final blow and defeats the Terminator. Of course, without Kyle Reese this would have been impossible. But the fact still remains that Kyle, by himself, would have failed. What does this mean?

 

Well, on one level, not much. Considering the events of the story as events, Sarah had to destroy the Terminator because Kyle wasn’t around to do it. That’s just how it went down. But, the fact of this event at the climax of the story can tell us something about what is being presented as a whole and the central role that Sarah Conner plays in it.