Terminator 2: Hands of Fate

T2 is one of the best action/sci-fi movies ever. I always considered the "Bad to the Bone" scene and the various cheese to be an annoyance, but they weren't deal breakers. However, after watching this edit, it becomes immediately obvious how changing the scene in the bar completely alters the tone of the film up until John meets the T-800. When he first sees him at the mall, John is scared of Arnie's Terminator, as he should be, and the viewer is unclear on the T-800's intentions as well. This is a major improvement, and is the way it should've been all along. I'm glad most of the cheese is gone, but there's still just a little left (just about the right amount).

The audio and video editing is top notch, and the amount of work that went into reworking the bar scene is really impressive. As always, ThrowgnCpr dazzles with his amazing menu screens!

Highly recommended edit!!

Audio/Video Quality 10: The quality of the 1280x720 mp4 is lovely.

Visual Editing 10: A great job here. ThrowgnCpr has used his/her own personnal taste as to what extended-cut scenes to use or not use and luckily I loved what was kept and didn't miss what was cut. All the editing was nicely done and the many removals of cheesiness were very welcome. The edits themselves are numorous and well executed.

Audio Editing 10: Sensational! The biker bar redub is inspired and worth the 'price' of admission for this fanedit alone. It not only changes our perception of Arnie's character but it changes our perception of his performance. All other audio editing was smooth and slick.

Narrative 9: I've knocked a point off for narrative as while I felt the vast majority of changes were an improvement... I thought that the removal of some of the early Sarah footage portrayed her as a slightly less physically threatening character. In the original it's made pretty clear that anybody who turns their back on Sarah is likely going to visiting the emergency room. In this cut she's just a bit angry until we see her escape. This didn't spoil my experience, as I've seen the official cut a gazillion times and have a well formed idea of who Sarah is. But I wonder about first time viewers?

Enjoyment 10: In all honesty this is probably gonna be the cut I watch in future. The story feels fully fleshed out like in the extended cut but less bloated. I was surprised by quite how much could be done to improve what some might consider a masterpiece already.

T2 is a really good film (8/10). And, as such, hard to fanedit to be better. And I'm not sure this edit is "better". Certainly as good as the excellent original, but I'm not sure better.
It is different, darker in tone. With cutting the cheese, some of the humanity is gone, perhaps? And some of the levity, although strictly out of character in the original, helps to lighten the film - this edit is very heavy, particularly in the middle where the "teaching the Terminator" has been cut.
However it is worth the price of admission for one scene alone: the bad to the bone. This is how the original SHOULD have been! Yes, it's that good. It straightens out the narrative in the first act, and improves the film drastically.

So, would I recommend it? YES!
Would I never watch the original again and instead replace it with this one? No.
Would I alternate versions? Probably!
Good job, Throw, this was an editing tour-de-force because of THAT scene. Wow.

Watched this with my roommates last night, had a blast. Cheese cutting went over well.

I much prefer the theatrical cut of T2, Special Edition is too long. But for anybody who loves the SE this edit should be right up your alley.

Editing was smooth. The only nitpick is during the Kyle dream sequence I could hear the cuts quite clearly. But it was a dream sequence so it helped the atmosphere some.

The new music at the bar was awesome, 100% helps to set the tone and keep the suspense going.

A/V quality - 10
Editing - 10 visual, 9 audio
Narrative - 8
Enjoyment - 9 (10 theatrical)

Recommended drink: Judgment Day

April 4, 2010 @ 10:21 pm

Regarding editing decisions:
The obivous high point to me is the reworking of the bar scene.
No more Bad To The Bone.
I actually liked it in the original but it works ALOT better here.
It would have worked even better if the T1000 doesn’t kill the cop when he arrives. This way, we are more inclined to think that he is a good guy.
The way it is now, they both look like bad guys and we wonder which one worse.

I agree more robo humor could be cut. The standing on one leg scene along with the horse face smile could easily go.
Actually, that whole leg scene is groan worthy, especially where John acts like a douchebag (“are you calling moi a blah blah blah?).
I’d cut some of John’s lines short as well whenever he says stuff like “that’s intense” or “now we have skynet by the balls” and things of that nature.

Cutting the torment that Sarah goes through early on makes her look way too mean when she breaks out. When she beats the crap out of that guy with the broom stick, we actually feel sorry for the guy. Instead, I’d like to be cheering her on since the creep is actually getting what he deserves.

Why cut the motorcycle jump? That was cool…
The T1000 going through John’s room doesn’t really add anything.

I had no issue with the video quality. It seems to me that this issue is way overblown for this edit.
The DVD menu and extras are all impeccable and truly impressive.

Overall, I enjoyed this very much and was well worth the download.
Highly recommended
8/10