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I am fully aware I'm pretty much alone with my opinion, but I find Terminator 1 far superior to T2.
Even with the limited budget T1 manages to create a far more horrifying vision of an unstoppable killer coming after you. The lo-fi'ish synth soundtrack sets a perfect oppressive feeling. The casting is perfect, Michael Biehn' s scarred and wiry Reese with Hamilton's young and scared next door girl going against metal-Arnold in his prime is the epitome of underdog scenarios.
And the pacing is very good, the plot flows.
T2 is a good film, but like many sequels, it suffers from the "let's do the same thing from a different angle, but bigger and louder!" - syndrome. It doesn't really get to be it's own kind of beast. I was very surprised that Cameron fell for the trap, after he avoided that mistake with "Aliens". Switching genre from space horror to space action made that film stand firmly on it's own feet and the result was good.
Lastly, T2 has the young John Connor doing the "badass kid" - role, which so many seem to love. I just find the character annoying.
I agree with you!
I think T2 hits everybody that was a certain age when it came out a bit different. Young John Connor appealed to the divorced-parents-latch-key-kid generation.
Though hard agree the first one was pretty solid. Definitely more of a horror vibe.
I was 12 when T2 came out. I remember all my friends talking about how young John was the coolest kid ever, which I never understood. But I have always had a quite different mindset than most men of my generation.
The first one didn't age all that well. My teenagers can't finish it. T2 on the other hand..
Arnold is on his peak here though. He is very very scary. His expression(or better: lack of) , his body language..
And the police station scene is forever etched in my memory.
I also don't get the hate for T3. Sure, it has some cheesy humour and the plot isn't amazing but it's a very solid action movie.