The final scene from the second instalment of the terminator
series is, in my opinion, an extremely intense scene of action and emotional
crippling, where I used to believe that this scene was all down to the story I now
pick up on several camera and lighting choices that make the scene an even more
intense experience.
One part of the scene sees one of our heroes, Sarah Conner, in
a close call with the T-1000, the villain. This part sees the camera switching
between the two characters in close ups of the faces. As we switch between we
see each face bathed in a colour, a red colour covers the villains face at an
angle which leaves sinister shadows across his face where Sarah’s is completely
covered by a blue light that continuously flickers during the encounter which,
to me, seems as if it’s trying to show that Sarah is losing this battle and is
close to giving up. This technique is utilized again later in the scene when
our villain stands on an edge and so close to defeat when we lose hope and he
stands and repairs before molten metal again which shows him surrounded by
flames and covers him in an orange colour, we then in turn see another of the
heroes that we previously thought dead rise up through a blue and white light.
A part that takes on a more emotional side is when our
heroes finally triumph over the villain and he falls into a smelting chamber. This
part now gives us camera shots that are further away from the characters,
making use of long shots and medium shots and also angles which again add more
to the scene for me. As our villain is finally defeated we watch as he melts
into the molten metal we see a medium shot from his level which then changes to
a close up from above and finally it becomes a medium low angle shot of our
heroes standing above him. This to me shows that the villain has become less
and less until his final death which allows our heroes to stand tall and
finally have hope.
Something which I adore in this scene is the use of the main
theme for different uses and emotional needs. To begin with it’s used in an
uplifting side when a character I believed had died comes back to life and then
it is slowed and completely turned around and, in my opinion, adds an immense
amount of feeling to a scene that already had an immense weight to it. A scene
where we watch a machine that has learnt the value of humanity in a final act
gives his life so that humanity can continue to exist.
