Rent Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)

One Of the Great SciFi Action Films - Terminator 2: Judgment Day review by GI

One of those rare sequels that's as good if not better than the original and certainly this broke new ground with digital effects and is a much more ambitious affair than the 1984 first film. As a science fiction action thriller it's hard to beat this, it's ambitious, bold, exciting and has some fantastic set pieces which, at the time of its release were really ground breaking. The chase sequences, especially the final climactic chase involving a helicopter and tanker truck, remain impressive even though they've been much copied since. When you think about it the story is much the same as the original film, this time director and writer James Cameron cleverly inverted the protagonists to toy with audience expectations. But even now, knowing who is on who's side doesn't detract from the sheer spectacle and entertainment value. The backstory here is that since the events in 1984 Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton) has trained to protect her son and is a modern day warrior but she's been caught trying to blow up a computer factory and is now incarcerated in an asylum. Her young son John (Edward Furlong) is in foster care and a bit of a delinquent. This is the situation as the film begins. Once again, from the future where mankind is battling global annihilation by super intelligent machines, a Terminator (Robert Patrick) is sent back this time to kill the young John, a future leader for humanity. He in turn sends back a protector, this time a re-programmed Terminator (Arnold Schwarzenegger). So in essence Schwarzenegger becomes the good guy this time around and has to take on an advanced model of assassin, one that can change shape which results in the innovative effects the film is now famous for. But apart from the action, chases (after all the Terminator films are basically huge chase stories), there is an interesting look at what it means to be human, a theme often found in sci-fi narratives. This is explored more in the two extended versions of the film - the Special Edition and Ultimate Cut. These are the ones to watch and include more in regards to the boy's relationship with the machine programmed to learn and befriend people rather than kill them. There's also some extended scenes and Michael Biehn cameos in a dream sequence plus some more effects as Patrick's terminator begins to malfunction in the film's climax. (The Ultimate Cut has a coda added which is the only difference in the extended versions). In short this film is action packed, great fun but also has something interesting to say in the genre. An important film and if they'd ended it there that would have been ok as most of the films that have followed are mediocre or downright poor.