James Cameron's action epic Terminator 2: Judgment Day opened the summer I turned 12. And it was hot hot hot. Everybody had a crush on previously unknown teen angst machine Edward Furlong (though, in my age group, more from the Guns N' Roses "You Could Be Mine" video than from the film itself, since we couldn't get in to see the R-rated film without our parents). T2 was THE big thing.

I didn't see it (see above re: parents) until it came on to VHS (remember VHS?). And when I did, I didn't share the Furlong-mania. For me, there was someone much, much more attractive in the film.

Linda Hamilton.

Linda Hamilton's Sarah Connor is the first action heroine of whom I remember being cognizant. From the first moment she appeared on screen, doing chin-ups in her mental ward cell, she made one thing very clear to me, and it isn't something I've since forgotten: nothing kicks so much ass as a woman doing chin-ups. I can't do a chin-up. Not even one. I have never, in my entire life, been able to do a chin-up. Clearly it isn't just the chin-ups that make Sarah a compelling character, but I maintain that they have a good deal to do with it.

Sarah Connor is a great character. She's unremittingly driven to protect not only her son, but her world. She's physically capable and mentally sharp. It is quite questionable whether or not she needs to be rescued (if you'll remember, she was doing just fine breaking herself out of the mental hospital before Machine 1 and Machine 2 came along), and when she is "rescued," it's not by a man, it's by a machine. And she's not sexed up while she does any of it. She never runs in heels, she never seduces anyone (though her kid does make reference to her shacking up with anyone who would teach her stuff, it's not shown in this film). This combination, to my mind, makes her a gold standard action heroine.

There is something admirable about the film's entire premise, as well--saving the humans from the machines, rescuing us from our own technology. There are also little bits of what I would even call feminism, or at least some form of feminist consciousness. One example is the early scene between John's foster parents, where his foster mom, Janelle, berates his foster dad, Todd, for not helping around the house. That's something you just don't see in movies, especially action movies. The best example, though, is Sarah's voice-over while watching John interact with the Terminator:

Watching John with the machine, it was suddenly so clear. The terminator wouldn't stop, it would never leave him. It would never hurt him or shout at him or get drunk and hit him or say it was too busy to spend time with him. And it would die to protect him. Of all the would-be fathers that came over the years, this thing, this machine, was the only thing that measured up. In an insane world, it was the sanest choice.

If that isn't an indictment of men as fathers, I'm not sure what it is.

Racially, T2 isn't as good a film. There are (I think) only two non-white characters. The first is Miles Dyson, the scientist responsible for the creation of Skynet, the computer system that takes everything over. Although he's a sympathetic character, he's not a very well fleshed-out one, and he is obviously problematic, since he's the brain behind all of the bad stuff that happens. It is, however, a non-stereotypical role for a black man. The second is Enrique Salceda, Sarah's friend, who outfits the Terminator, Sarah, and John with weapons after Sarah's escape. Though he seems like a good enough guy, he's a minor character, and it's not exactly a stretch to see a Hispanic man and his family portrayed in a film as desert-dwelling outlaws of some sort. All that being said, I still have to give T2 four stars, partially due to it's semi-hidden feminist content, but mostly because I think Sarah Connor may well be just behind Tank Girl in my HC hall of fame.