Upon watching Terminator 2.

Before last night, I'd never seen Terminators 1-3. After being told to skip 1 and go straight to 2, I settled down to watch it in the company of my boyfriend, who was delighted to see it again.

Until he was reminded, repeatedly, that I am a girl - a trait that's great for his dating preferences but falls short at action movies and sports.

I liked Terminator 2. I'll start with that. But I had so many questions, so little patience to see who survived and so little tolerance of needless action shots.

First of all, I was able to compare the situation from the first movie, which I was briefed on, to Harry Potter - if the Terminators had not gone back in time to destroy Sarah Connor, then John Connor would have never been conceived. Much like if Lord Voldemort hadn't tried to destroy Harry, he would never had made him so powerful. However, if the Terminators hadn't come back in time they never would have been created either. But how could they have come back in time if they'd never been created? It doesn't make sense.

I took Philosophy of Time in college - freshman seminar - so I've been trying to work this out in my head. But unless there is a way that the Terminators were created without the humans having the clues the future Terminators left behind, I don't see how this is possible. Unless the future already exists and cannot be altered?

Also, what happens in the third movie if the Terminators (spoiler alert) and all the clues were destroyed in the second one?

Next, I can't believe they killed Arnold. Or that nice man with the family. I specifically asked my boyfriend if the nice man would live and he lied and said yes. I was therefore twice devastated by the death and the deceit. However, it was explained to me post-movie that there were tons of Arnolds so I felt slightly cheered. I knew, of course, that John Connor would live because of the existence of T3 and the new movie (which may be a prequel so that might not apply?) and the fact that John Connor is the one who sends the Terminators back in the future. As previously stated though, that probably wouldn't matter much in the reality that is time in this movie.

I also found myself saying a lot, "That wouldn't happen in a girl movie." I was talking about the glory shots. The unnecessary things like the bad Terminator riding his motorcycle up the steps. He couldn't have walked? Or the slow motion when Arnold shoots the bad Terminator at the end. I did appreciate the dialogue though - especially when I finally saw the "Hasta la vista, baby," scene. I'd known that saying for years and now it has context. Hooray!

My point here isn't to tear down the movie. I said I liked it and I meant that. Even the special effects were great, minus the lasers and the burn hole that appeared when the Terminators came back in time - for some reason that made me think of Bowie. My point is merely to look at it from a girl perspective and warn other boyfriends to get ready to answer some questions.

I'm prepared for the summer movies now. I've seen T2, all the X-Men and Transformers. My remaining question is: When can I buy tickets to midnight Harry Potter?