Terminator 2: Judgment Day

The best action movie ever made. It’s got exactly the right amount of everything. Action and emotions are marvelously worked into a fantastic story which paints a chilling picture of the future. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who this time is on the other side of the barricades than in part one, gives the best performance of his acting career. The special effects are perfect (decent even for today’s standards) and maybe that’s why the runny Robert Patrick is even more terrifying than his predecessor. Terminator 2 is one of the movies that changed the history of cinema. It’s embedded deep in everybody’s memory and will remain there for many years to come. My personal Top 20. (11/20/2006)

In the first film, the heroes fought for their lives, and the good rule of the second film is that twice as much must be placed on the bet. Cameron fulfilled his commitment, and so the marvelous trio of warriors are fighting not only for existence, but now above all for the future. The script cleverly developed Kyle's words about fate, and Judgment Day is such a dramatic struggle for the right to change what was determined the first time. While machines act as exotic oddities in the first film (in accordance with the times), the second film does not deny the onset of the silicon age. Computers are a common part of human existence, and Cameron rightly points to the threat of diluting human intelligence with a virtual one. But since T2 is massively leaning on the power of silicon as the first film in history, the message goes the other way: even a machine can think like a human. Arnold has a top performance as the humanized Terminator. If there hadn't been such a strong disregard for the genre among academics, it would have been at least nominated for an Oscar that year. One tends to believe in the machine with the learning module. To this day, I'm not convinced that the Governor doesn't have a metal chassis under his skin. If James Cameron based T1 on excellent action, T2 is brilliant professorship. No one (and I stand by that) has been able to elevate the "fallen" genre to the level of art without alienating himself by low means. The lightness with which Cameron juggles emotions and pumps adrenaline, the genius of the action scenes (again, still unbeatable) and the overall apocalyptic touch are among the film's crowning displays of power. That's not the opinion of an intellectual, but of a man who grew up on T2 and, after years and hundreds of films, watched it again, found Cameron's pet to be at least as powerful. Like the time I woke up in the morning and dreamed on the way to elementary school that the door would open and Arnie would join me with a slightly crooked smile. (01/08/2004)

A great film. The second installment was definitely not a disgrace to the first one. It was just as good, and, thanks to more advanced special effects, it might have even surpassed it in quality (although I’m not sure if that’s even possible). The cast was excellent and both Terminators were extremely convincing. (09/13/2016)

Because The Terminator was a clear success with the audience and the revenue was, in one word, magnificent, the production studio decided to use its reputation to make a sequel, which was handled by almost the same crew as in the case of the first one, with the exception that William Wisher Jr. helped Cameron with the screenplay instead of Anne Hurd. Both main characters were portrayed by the same actors as in the first film, with the addition of Edward Furlong alongside Linda Hamilton as the future leader of the human resistance against the rule of machines. This fourteen-year-old boy was chosen in an audition from 1,400 applicants and received an unbelievable 30,000 dollars for his role. Unlike the first film, the sequel had a significantly larger budget, which allowed Cameron to come up with the concept of the liquid Terminator, an idea he had already thought of in the first film. However, at that time, he could not realize the idea due to insufficient visual effects technology and a limited budget. Unlike the gritty and stylish first film, the sequel is considerably more mainstream, and the altered character of the Terminator reflects that. Audience favorite Arnold Schwarzenegger was no longer meant to be a tough killer, but a robot yearning to understand human emotions, effectively becoming a positive character. On the other hand, Linda Hamilton portrayed Sarah Connor as a woman marked by her past, who was significantly tougher and more cynical. The unique innovation was the T-1000 robot, for which Robert Patrick found his role of a lifetime. The special effects required an investment of 25 million dollars, but it was well worth it in terms of revenue. The screenplay once again played with a clever time loop and even utilized the remains of the original terminator from the first film. Given that the sequel is just a safe bet and lacks the originality and rawness of the first installment, my rating is slightly lower. The second film was a safe bet for the director and producers, albeit one lined with dollars and therefore grandiose. Overall impression: 75%. (01/18/2008)

What can I say other than praise. Right from the first viewing, I encountered an extended version, and those 154 minutes are absolutely unique at first sight. I've never liked Arnold as much as here, and Cameron's explosive ego I accept without question. Exciting action, amazing tricks, one of the best villains I've ever seen, and the Terminator reloading a shotgun with one hand. (05/24/2006)