Rated R for strong sci-fi action and violence, and for language.
137 min / USA:152 min (director’s cut) / USA:154 min (extended special edition)
Written and Directed By: James Cameron
Staring: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Linda Hamilton, Edward Furlong, Robert Patrick, Earl Boen, and Joe Morton
On August 29th, 1997, it’s gonna feel pretty f**king real to you too. Anybody not wearing 2 million sunblock is gonna have a real bad day. Get it? -Sarah Connor
Review
Terminator 2 attempts to combine so many different elements of film making and story telling and amazingly it succeeds, in fact, it flourishes. It’s an action adventure science fiction drama special effects dynasty with so many complex character developments it wouldn’t seem possible to fit all in one movie. But all of the elements are there for each genre of movie.
The action adventure aspect of the film hits hard with some insane chase scenes involving a motorcycle and semi truck which turned into one of the most amazing special effects and action scenes ever on film. It also has the uncomplicated main character, played by our re-programmed cyborg friend. His personality is simple, he follows orders, and though later he begins to learn and change, for the better part of the film, he is simply a machine.
Judgement Day is just around the bend, and the elusive future has not yet been altered despite Sarah Connor’s many attempts to destroy to company that will eventually create Skynet. In her attempts to alter the future, her fanaticism has landed her in a maximum security psychiatric prison under the care of none of than Dr. Silberman. John Connor is now nearing adolescence and has been taken in foster care. His mother has been preparing him for the future, though he often has difficulty enduring it’s truth. With Sarah locked away unable to protect him, Skynet has sent a newer and even more dangerous version of the Terminator to kill him. It’s called the T-1000 and can mimic anything of solid creature, like knives and stabbing weapons, but even more formidably, it can disguise itself in the form of another human and mimic their voice and appearance. John Connor responded in kind, sending back a re-programed version of the Terminator that killed Kyle Reece and tried to kill Sarah as protection. With teenage John giving the orders they attempt to rescue Sarah from the Psych Ward even though the Terminator is certain, “The T-1000 will definitely try to reacquire her there.”
The science fiction aspect of this film, really focusing on the possibility of the future and asking real questions about whether or not it can be changed, and gets philosophical enough to create a scene where Sarah realizes she has become as inhumane as the machines that threaten her species when she goes after Miles Dyson with no remorse for the fact that he’s a human, and so far is innocent. The choices she makes there may or may not change the future, but at least she’s kept her humanity. That’s just plain and simple good Sci-Fi.
The special effects and CGI team of this film were the same group that worked on The Abyss and Jurassic Park, two cutting edge films in this category. The creation of the T-1000 and it’s ability to change from human, to liquid metal, and morph into something else was and still is visually breath taking to watch. It was some of the most ground breaking technology in that field and opened doors for all the movies and shows we see today with CGI.
Though things are constantly blowing up, people being shot, killed, and car chases everywhere the character’s of this film is what separates it from other Science Fiction or Action films. Sarah Connor’s character alone, the complexity of it, and the horror she faces in seeing the cyborg that changed her life so many years before sitting next to her as an ally is mind boggling. John Connor himself, a young boy, not yet a man that has only see darkness for his future and knowing that he will be the one who tries to bring the world to salvation, is a lot to take on. With the proof of the Terminator he can no longer question his mother’s sanity and now must face his future. The relationship between himself and the Terminator, boy and machine, and the paternal aspect the Terminator takes on gives even more insight into the nature of humanity. Is it learned or is it something we are born with? These are not small questions, and yet they lie everywhere hidden under the mask of an action film.
Obviously Arnold was a star as the stoic killing machine that bonded with Ed Furlong, but it was Linda Hamilton’s performance as Sarah Connor that is one of the most intense and complicated performances in the history of actresses and actors. Sarah is no longer the frightened and unknowing waitress from the first film. She has become jaded, hardened, and obsessed. She suffers the fury of knowing the future and no one believing her. She lost her one true love, and now is burdened with his memory and the desire to protect her son, the boy who will one day become the man to lead mankind. In her maternal instinct she tries desperately to change the future in order to protect her son from the death and destruction that lies before him. In every attempt she fails. The depth of her character, and Linda Hamilton’s ability to switch gears from ass kicking militia woman, to nurturing mother is astounding. In the moment where she wants to kill Dyson and knows she cannot do it, when she sees him as a human, a father, instead of a killing machine, her humanity burns through. That scene alone should have won her an Oscar. Whether it was overlooked because it was a genre of Science Fiction or not I will never understand, but this role and her performance is not to be taken lightly.
Terminator 2, Judgement Day may come gift wrapped in the decoration of an action/science fiction film, but the truth behind it’s flash and bang is a film that really evaluates serious questions about the nature of humanity and it’s coupling with violence and technology. The questions it asks about the destructiveness of our own kind is not punished by God in this film, but by ourselves, as we are the ignorant source of our own demise. There is a very realistic fear about this as we see these changes in technology and violence surround us everyday. Are we truly making progress or are we taking steps back in the evolutionary process? These are only some of the questions this film evokes from the brain. There is no doubt it is plain and simply entertaining, even funny at times, but truthfully the darkness of it’s undertones is what makes it stand apart from so many other films in existence today. This is one of the greatest films ever made.
No Fate But What We Make.
Rate This Review and Tell us What You Think.
Don’t get me wrong I really love this movie, but for all the great effects and Linda Hamilton’s great performance (and new toned look) I still think The Terminator was a better movie.
I can’t believe it came out in 1991, I remember going to see it at the cinema, this makes me feel old!
Both Terminator movies rank up with my favorites (and best) movies of all time. When I think about movies that have changed the science fiction universe, these are the movies that have. They’ve stayed true to sci-fi and yet they’ve evolved into action adventure allowing a mainstream world to appreciate their quality, while still having incredible depth and some of the most interesting characters of all time.
The Sarah Connor Chronicles was a well done television ode to Cameron’s work. It’s a shame it was canceled, and with such a cliff hanger.
I like the 2 terminator I saw they several times
they are very incredibles science fiction films
thank you
sincerely
dorianopulpio
Thanks for writing this information it was exceptional!
graet article and i really enjoyed the terminator films and terminator 1 and 2 are amongst my very favourites and there were some absolutelty awesome action sequences . i agree that although it may have seemed like a sci fi film to many and did not appeal to everyone it did ask some interesting questions about ourselves and what direction we are going in , after all with the super powers of today eagerly investing billions in developing the most effective weapons we are more than capable of wiping ourselves out .911 showed that some groups are willing to destroy others on large scale well planned and terrifying attacks .since the cold war we have wondered if we will ever be able to get along with each other and whether we will ever have real peace but with so many unstable and extreme groups in the world it seems that such films as the terminator will keep showing us the self destruction we are capable of .would the films have been as successful without arnold though ? i doubt it , he just filled those boots !
This movie was so SO cool, amazing. I am turning 23 this year and loved watching this movie over and over again when I was growing up, Arnold just looks so cool in this film, mind blowing. Edward Furlong looks really cool also, youth only lasts for so long and we all get old, so why not look cool for as long as you can while it fades away like how a flower has it’s time and place and then turns to dust at one with the Earth.
10/10
Arnold also reminds me of my dad, has my dad has always owned the fastest car Ferrari’s etc in my life growing up and my dad actually looks a bit like Arnold. Pretty cool, it was a blast growing up, except for all the bullying at school as all the kids didn’t like me because my dad owned fast exotic cars.
The best film of all time, for sure, Edward Furlong and Arnold just look so wickedly cool in this film, youth is beautiful.
The series of Terminator will soon join the ranks of “The classics’ & yes, we are all getting old.