Terminator 2: Judgment Day (****)
review by Jon Waterman

It’s been a little more than a decade since the Terminator tried to kill Sarah Connor, and thus stop her son John from being born. John will grow up to become a great leader. He will fight off the machines in the year 2029 and give humans new hope. That is, if he can live that long. The Terminator is back for round two, except now he’s fighting to keep Connor alive. It will be a tough fight, too, because a new and improved killing machine, the T-1000, will not stop until John is dead.

I’ll just quickly mention that there are some time issues. If we are led to believe that the film takes place in 1991 (the year of release), then John Connor would only be 6 years old or so. Since he clearly appears to be older, we must assume that the film takes place sometime in the near future…perhaps 1995 or 1996. Just keep that in mind when watching.

Just like with the first film, director James Cameron writes a brilliant, nearly flawless script. He covers virtually every angle. The plot is intelligent, consistent, occasionally funny and action-packed. I dare you to find another science fiction film that works through a two and a half hour running time smoother, more efficient and with greater entertainment value. The film may be long, but it is tight as a drum and you won’t want to leave your seat.

Robert Patrick comes in as the T-1000 out to kill John Connor (played by newcomer Edward Furlong). The T-1000 is easily one of the most ruthless villains ever shown on screen. Much credit has to be given to Patrick for playing the cold, methodical, emotionless beast. It’s a calculated, yet careless character. With his morphing and reconstruction abilities, possibly nothing can defeat him. This updated monster is craftier, more cunning, quicker and overall downright scary. Arnold Schwarzenneger’s Terminator is an outdated model and it shows (although, one must ask if this is the same model as in the first one, then why is his hair different? Was that part of the change brought about by the events in the future?).

The chase scenes are unique, yet still exhilarating. Most movies find anything fast to race against each other. In this film, any mode of transportation available is used to escape or hunt down. Big rigs and trailers become equally as heart pounding to watch as motorcycles and helicopters. Which brings up another point. The chases vary. The majority of the film may be spent trying to get away from the menacing machine, but no two chases are alike. The action is spread out amongst the exposition and in-depth storytelling rather than put in one large chunk at the end. It makes the film that much easier to take in.

Unlike the first film, which was more sci-fi thriller, “Judgment Day” is more sci-fi action. I’m not saying that action is better than thriller, but it reiterates the concept that we are presented a new film, rather than a rehashing of the old one. A big contributor to this is in the much-improved special effects.

Stan Winston and his crew create some of the most elaborate and mind-blowing effects seen on film to date. Not only are the revolutionary computer generated morphing effects stunning, but even some of the puppetry may not be caught by the untrained eye. Over a decade after this film was released, the special effects still look better and integrate into the film more believably than some modern movies (“The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen,” “Spiderman”).

My Closing thoughts: James Cameron delivers a rock (or should I say metal) solid film once again. “T2” is one of those rare sequels that surpass the original. Sound byte time: Incredible. Absolute must see.

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