Terminator 2: Judgment Day [MOVIE REVIEW]

After the big success of 'The Terminator', we got the sequel 7 years later that is now being considered as the best Terminator movie and one of the greatest movies of all time. It is the first Terminator movie with a big budget and it shows, but is it better than the original?

'Terminator 2: Judgment Day' is a movie we all heard was one of the tentpoles for "best sequel ever made" together with 'The Empire Strikes Back and 'The Dark Knight'. I do not actually hold it to that high of a standard but nobody can deny that it is a fantastic movie. Out of all the Terminator movies we have had so far, this one is clearly the most entertaining. The action is greatly improved thanks to the higher budget but Cameron still does not go too far with it, they never become bloated or overdone. In fact the action sequence following John Connor's first encounter with the Terminators is one of the best action scenes I have ever seen.

One of the big changes with this film is the

the Arnold Schwarzenegger Terminator T-800 was reprogrammed by John Connor in the future to help him in the past - which means he is a good guy now. I very much prefer him as a bad guy like in 'TheTerminator', "the kid and the Terminator are best friends now!" is not as interesting in my opinion as I very much it being the man versus the machine.  At least the explanation makes sense though so it is just a personal thing I have. What does not really make sense though is that it is established in 'The Terminator' that you can only send skin through the time machine (at least it has to be covered in skin which is why the Terminator is naked), and yet we find out that in this film it is not skin, just liquid metal imitating skin. Did they trick the machine?

In terms of performances, Arnold Schwarzenegger is fantastic yet again as the terminator, and Linda Hamilton completely works as a badass, she is a rare case where it actually does look and feel like she could do all these things without the aid of clever camera angles and stunt doubles. Robert Patrick is eerie as the T-1000 and a great badguy for the film. There is such a creepy atmosphere around him when he is posing as a cop trying to find John Connor, we know of course he is not just an ordinary cop - but the people he is asking do not. 

The visual effects were outstanding for its time and I would be lying if I said they did not hold up. Yes the liquid metal effects are obvious but in scenes like when the T-1000 walks through metal bars is seamless and could not have been done much better today.

Action. You rarely see well filmed action anymore. 'Terminator 2: Judgment Day' is a perfect example of well filmed action and every modern action director should take notes from it. There are no extremely close up combat scenes with fast editing. Here the action is shot with a wide angle and without extreme shaky cam. The chase sequence is dynamic and nailbitingly intense, it is one of the best action chade sequences ever made. 

To conclude this quick review (honestly what new can one add about this film), I have enough issues with it for me to rate it below 'The Terminator' which I know many people do not do. I know why this is the film in the franchise people like the most but gor me it just was tough to get over the Terminator being friends with John Connor as I very much prefer him being the bad guy. The actual filmmaking involved though is near perfection. Fantastic editing, gorgeous cinematography and revolutionary effects that really stood the test of time. Great film.

8/10

- Lucas