I recently re-watched my “Extreme Edition” of Terminator 2. This is an interesting DVD, in that it’s more instructive than entertaining. The default presentation of the film includes all sorts of extra footage that pretty much ruins the movie, but the commentary track and bonus features provide an unusual amount of insight into both how a movie comes together, and how important the editing process is. In particular, I gained a new respect for Cameron based upon his ruthlessness in cutting out all sorts of expensive, tricky, and cool stuff (that killed pacing) from the theatrical release.
Bonus Material
This edition of the DVD adds back an enormous amount of material cut from the theatrical release. It’s my opinion that, as a rule, the theatrical cut of a movie is its best cut, and I think T2 is an excellent illustration of this phenomenon. An extensive effects sequence in a garage, for instance, includes some really cool practical effects work that appears to open up Arnold’s head, and some important character development for John Conner. Unfortunately, it also slows the film down to a crawl.
Cameron cut this sequence from the theatrical release, along with a dream sequence that brought back Michael Biehn, a lot of T-1000 “glitching” effects (including one that Cameron described as the most difficult of all the shots that ILM was asked to do), and all sorts of other completed material. Those must have been hard cuts to make, both from a standpoint of admitting to an error in going to the expense of filming them in the first place, and because, on their own, they were pretty great. Those were good cuts, however, and all credit to Cameron for making them.
Fortunately, the theatrical cut of the film is hidden on the DVD as an Easter Egg. So, after you’re done admiring the cleverness of it all, you can sit back and just watch a good movie.
Bonus Features
Speaking of that cleverness, this DVD does a nice job of showing just how much ingenuity goes into pulling off a movie like this. Cameron does a great commentary track; it’s a good balance of notes on production history, storytelling, the cast, post-production, and effects work. He’s an amusing narrator, who plays off well against co-writer William Wisher.
There’s also an “Extreme Interactive” mode, which is more like a class in film school than actual entertainment. In this mode, the film plays while four other things go on:
- Below the frame, a relatively normal text commentary track plays, making general remarks on the current scene.
- Above and to the left of the frame, shot-by-shot notes flash in and out; these notes describe which shots are models, which are live-action, which are CGI, etc.
- Above and to the right of the frame, a Cyberdyne logo flashes in and out; its appearance is a signal that the “Enter” button may be pressed to view featurettes related to the current scene.
- Periodically, on-screen graphics pop up to illustrate the composition of various scenes.
Absorbing all this information can be challenging, and frame-by-frame stepping can come in handy when attempting to see how, for instance, the T-1000’s jump to the helicopter was done. I thought it was worth the effort, as it gave me a deeper appreciation of the craft required to pull off such a blockbuster.
