THE
TERMINATOR 2 - JUDGMENT DAY
STARRING: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Linda Hamilton,
Edward Furlong, Robert Patrick, Earl Boen, Joe Morton
1991, 139 Minutes, Directed by: James Cameron
 Description: He said he'd be back. Arnold
Schwarzenegger returns as the Terminator in this sequel co-written, produced and
directed by James Cameron (The Terminator, Aliens, Titanic). Now he's one of the
good guys, sent back in time to protect John Connor, the boy destined to lead
the freedom fighters of the future. Linda Hamilton reprises her role as Sarah
Connor, John's mother, a quintessential survivor who has been institutionalized
for her warning of the nuclear holocaust she knows is inevitable. Together, the
threesome must find a way to stop the ultimate enemy - the T-1000, the most
lethal Terminator ever created. —
Amazon.com
Schwarzenegger
is back in the role that was made for him: that of the
emotionless machine sent from the future to destroy his enemy.
Except this time around, he is one of the good guys, sent to
protect the enemy in question against a far superior android.
As
a sequel this movie is rare: it by far out-grossed its
predecessor. It was also made on a much larger budget than the
first Terminator movie.
(How much bigger a budget? The first movie was made for a mere $6
million, the salary Schwarzenegger commanded for this one!)
Obviously the effects and stunts are much more spectacular this
time around - especially the fluid metal android Schwarzenegger
does battle with is a masterpiece of special effects ingenuity.
This
is a subversive affair: Cameron is packaging a pacifist argument
within a violent action movie. For example, the young boy teaches
the Schwarzenegger cyborg the value of life and he doesn't kill
any people throughout the movie (instead he shoots them in the
kneecaps maiming them for life - but never mind!).
Linda Hamilton graduates from hunted female victim (like those
women who gets chased around in the Halloween movies) to
muscled independent woman (al a Ripley in Aliens). Even
she doubts her Rambo antics at one point in the movie:
"And if a small boy can teach a machine the value of human
life, then..."
Definitely
worth seeing although as sequel it isn't an equal. This is
Hollywood high art: it has all the spectacular special effects
and awesome stunts that only tinsel town infrastructure (i.e. big
bucks) can produce and nobody else.
The dream sequences
in which LA is engulfed in a nuclear blast are spectacular and well-done.
This is a movie that sincerely misses the Cold War since its plot (largely
tying in with the first Terminator movie that was made when the Cold War
was still in full swing) and its anti-nuclear war message feels somehow out of
date several years after the end of the Cold War.
Voted
# 15
of the
Top 100 Sci-Fi
Movies
of all time
by:
|
