Terminator 2: Judgment Day

Review by Thomas Glorieux:

Its perhaps not much to begin with but James Cameron has really been lucky with his choice of composers. Alan Silvestri and James Horner have really delivered soundtracks that equaled the movie's big scope. The other composer that delivered fitting scores for the movies but didn't score big with the fans or crowd is Brad Fiedel, the action composer of Cameron's movies like The Terminator and True Lies. Many have complained that Terminator 2: Judgment Day is rubbish, electronic rubbish. Well, you are right, half right. It isn't an easy score but I always accepted it in the movie, and just like Aliens and The Abyss, it is a score that I heard working perfectly in the movie for dozens of times. Therefore I always accepted it as the accompanying score for the movie and never had a problem listening to it. But since several years I kept it lying there, thinking that I would not reconsider my impressions of the score but now I have. It is a score that I know from the heart but it doesn't take me there. There is a serious lack of emotion and even if action scores don't need that, I wasn't happy when listening to it because it didn't make me feel alive.

Still, there are better moments of score and anybody that accepted and loved the film will at least accept the sound of Brad Fiedel. The main theme is a classic and I don't think that somebody will have trouble in figuring out of which movie it comes. The best main theme performances are in the first track and last '"It's Over" ("Good-Bye")', but also nice short hints are given in various tracks, such as with great pride in 'John & Dyson into Vault' and '"I'll Be Back"'. The action tracks will be a lot harder and examples of this fact are 'Sarah on the Run', 'Escape from the Hospital (and T1000)', 'Attack on Dyson (Sarah's Solution)' and 'Swat Team Attacks'. The other tracks all feature chase moments with the usual sound effect. Normally these would bother me too and due to the movie, I accepted them for the way they worked during the movie, just like The Abyss and Aliens. In any case, the movies of James Cameron always did have scores that created the texture and environment of the movie (successful movies I might add with it). Also, a part that will be amused by some people is the choir like male 'Main Title (Terminator 2 Theme)' or female 'Cameron's Inferno' (with the appropriate sound effects that go with it). And 'Desert Suite' is also the only emotional track, with a guitar solo that will sooth the most of you before the final track (highlight) will close the score positively.

In the end I am shocked that after all those years I thought that Terminator 2 sounded so flat. I always thought that this score would sooth me but it seems that a broad career in soundtracks can change your mind after all those years. I know that fans who have heard this score will think something of Brad Fiedel, see him as a crappy composer and by that ignoring other soundtracks of him. I think that is not fair. Indeed the Terminator scores aren't that huge but True Lies is so much better and has splendid action themes and nice developments of tone. Still, those things aren't really here and Terminator 2 is then also just for the fans of the movie and Brad Fiedel admirers. Because it consists of too much sound effects, a lot of droning and too less of the good stuff, making perhaps not your day but more not satisfying you. I accept Terminator 2 and I always will but since today I find it unsatisfying as film music and that is my final impression.

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Tracks

Single Disc

1. Main Title (Terminator 2 Theme) (1.56)

2. Sarah On The Run (2.31)

3. Escape From The Hospital (And T1000) (4.34)

4. Desert Suite (3.25)

5. Sarah's Dream (Nuclear Nightmare) (1.49)

6. Attack On Dyson (Sarah's Solution) (4.06)

7. Our Gang Goes To CyberDyne (3.10)

8. "Trust Me" (1.39)

9. John & Dyson Into Vault (0.41)

10. Swat Team Attacks (3.22)

11. "I'll Be Back" (3.58)

12. Helicopter Chase (2.27)

13. Tanker Chase (1.43)

14. "Hasta La Vista, Baby" (T1000 Freezes) (3.03)

15. Into The Steel Mill (1.27)

16. Cameron's Inferno (2.39)

17. Terminator Impaled (2.05)

18. Terminator Revives (2.15)

19. T1000 Terminated (1.40)

20. "It's Over" ("Good-Bye") (4.36) Excellent Track

Total Length: 53.44

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