Movie Review: Terminator 2: Judgement Day (1991) directed by James Cameron
In the near future year of 1995, two visitors from the slightly further future of 2029 arrive. One has been sent by the hostile artificial intelligence Skynet to kill the leader of the future Resistance, John Connor (Edward Furlong) while he is still a child, the other was sent by the Resistance to protect John. The first to arrive is a T-800 model Terminator (Arnold Schwartzenegger), a cyborg assassin. It steals clothing, weapons, and a motorcycle from a biker bar. The other visitor (Robert Patrick) impersonates a police officer. Both begin their search for John Connor.
As it turns out, John is living with foster parents, as his mother Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton) is currently incarcerated in a facility for the criminally insane. Seems that she tried to blow up Cyberdyne Systems, and the police were disbelieving of her claims that they will be responsible for the creation of Skynet, the nuclear war called “Judgement Day” on August 29, 1997, and the time-traveling Terminators. Her treatment is overseen by Dr. Silberman (Earl Boen), who is aware that a man was trying to kill her in 1984, but since all evidence of his cyborg nature was hidden by Cyberdyne, thinks he was just a random criminal and Sarah has become detached from reality. In response to learning that his mother is allegedly insane, John has turned his training in hacking and survival into committing petty crime.
Meanwhile, mild-mannered engineer Miles Dyson (Joe Morton) is using bits of the original Terminator (“don’t ask where these came from”) to reverse-engineer a new microprocessor for Cyberdyne–the very microprocessor that will make Skynet possible!
About half an hour in, both visitors find John Connor, and we have the first major twist–the T-800 is the one sent to protect, not kill, John, and the other visitor is an advanced T-1000 Terminator made with liquid metal!
This sequel to the very popular The Terminator movie of 1984 was proposed almost immediately, but was delayed several years by legal issues. This turned out to be all to the good, as it allowed the film to use improved computer generated imagery for certain special effects, and Linda Hamilton to look just enough older to be believable in her role.
Good: The movie uses just enough CGI (still pretty limited at that point in time) to “sell” the liquid metal nature of the T-1000, and sticks to practical effects for almost everything else. For example, if the T-1000 is impersonating someone else who’s on screen at the same time, it’s actors who are twins.
The story doesn’t dump the female lead from the first movie like a lot of other action franchises did, and indeed beefs up Sarah Connor’s role. Linda Hamilton trained hard to be believable as someone who’d spent the last decade preparing for a guerilla war. (She’s managed to almost escape from the asylum when her rescuers arrive.)
Arnold Schwartzenegger’s facility with English had also improved considerably, important as the T-800 has a lot more dialogue in this sequel. James Cameron gives him a lot of quotable lines.
The story hangs together well enough that I can forgive some minor lapses in logic–it feels like a labor of love.
Less good: Some of John’s suggestions to “Uncle Bob” to blend in more seamlessly in human company are cringeworthy. Yes, he’s ten, but still.
Content note: Lots of violence, some gory. After a certain point T-800 stops killing humans, but there’s going to be a lot of guards and cops with permanent limps. Death of children in a graphic, body horror manner. A male guard licks Sarah while she’s tied down in a manner that suggests he’s done this to other patients. Rough language, smoking, male nudity.
Overall: A very good sequel, and also a good movie in its own right. Well worth a rewatch, but perhaps a teensy long for a double feature night.
