Overall Rating
  Awesome: 79.12%
Worth A Look: 13.19%
Average: 2.93%
Pretty Bad: 1.83%
Total Crap: 2.93%
5 reviews, 243 user ratings
|
|
| Terminator 2: Judgment Day |
by Brian McKay
"'Titanic' Shmitanic - This is Cameron's best film"
|
Of all the Action and Sci-Fi movies we've seen in the past twenty years, few have left as indelible an impression as "Terminator 2". A rare exception to the game, it is one of the few sequels that far surpasses the original film, which was also excellent. Though ten years old, everything in this film still holds up remarkably well - even the Guns 'N Roses laden soundtrack!Do I really have to bother with plot exposition? if you've never seen this movie by now, or at least its predecessor, then I'm guessing you probably never will. Let me try to sum it up for you succinctly, however. In the future, machines will take over the Earth, only to be threatened by a group of human rebels. They send back an unstoppable killing machine called the T-1000 to eliminate the future leader of the revolution. Wise to their game, the future human leader sends back a less advanced but more hip T-800 (Schwarznegger) to protect his younger self.
Arnold Schwarznegger is still the ultimate leathers-wearing, Harley-riding, lever-action shotgun-toting bad ass. Linda Hamilton is perfect as the rabid mother-warrior, and one woman you simply do not want to fuck with. And Robert Patrick is still intimidating as a motherfuck, giving the most chilling portrayal of machine-disguised-as-man since Rutger Hauer in Blade Runner. Even Edward Furlong's scratchy, whiny pubescent voice can't drag this movie down.
Although Aliens is a very close second in the pantheon of Jim Cameron films, it is here that Cameron proved himself the master of action and suspense, gleefully suckerpunching us with false endings and giving us multilayered and exponential climaxes. As action films go, you could say this one is multi-orgasmic. Just when you think this movie is about to end, it doesn't. Just when you think it can't get any more intense - it does!
Likewise, it still has some of the most gripping and disturbing imagery ever. The nightmare sequences where Sarah (Hamilton) sees children being burned to ash on a playground as the cityscape behind them literally melts in the wake of a nuclear shock wave gave me nightmares the first time I saw it, and it still makes me shudder now.
What still impresses me the most is just how perfect the three leads are in their roles. Ahnold injects just the right mix of cold machine aloofness while still managing to be equally hip, amusing, and intimidating. Hamilton really was cut in the movie. My God, look at her muscle tone in this! She has not an ounce of body fat on her. It's not really all that attractive, since she almost looks like a man, but it is nevertheless awe-inspiring. Plus, she is the ultimate take-charge kind of heroine. Like that scene in the elevator when the T-1K is on the roof and Ahnold is pumping shotgun rounds into it through the cieling. Does she stand by waiting to be protected? Fuck no, she grabs the .45 from Ahnold's belt and starts firing away. Add to that kind of tenacity her snarling ferocity, and she is the ultimate action heroine. As for Robert Patrick, was this guy perfect or what? His every glance oozes cold, precise malevolence. He's a human who perfectly acts like a machine acting like a human. Look at that scene where he's running after Furlong on the motorcycle. Look how perfect his form is. He looks exactly like how a machine shaped like a human would run. He's been in a lot of roles since then, some of them very good (The Sopranos, for instance), but none have impressed me nearly as much as this one.
Also, unlike the first Terminator, whose visual effects are looking a tad dated, T2 still holds up very well in the FX department. I doubt they could make it look much more realistic today then they did 10 years ago.
Drive-In Triple-Feature Two-Fisted Action Picks for Terminator 2: Judgement Day:
Aliens: Cameron's other masterpiece of action, suspense, and multiple climaxes. Sigourney Weaver much-appreciated as another strong, memorable movie heroine. "Get away from her you BEOTCH!"
Robocop: Inferior sequels be damned. The original still kicks ass. Kurtwood Smith as Clarence Boddicker is one nasty motherfucker!Could this be "The Action Movie That Can't Be Topped?" Many have tried ever since. A few have come close (movies like "The Matrix" come to mind). However, none have surpassed it. Without Cameron at the helm, it's not likely that "Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines" will be heir to the crown. However, with "U-571" and "Breakdown" director Jonathan Mostow helming, I remain optimistic that it will at least not tarnish the franchise. I feel for Kristanna Loken, who will be playing the T-X, though. The girl has got some mighty big shoes to fill!
 del.icio.us 
link directly to this review at http://efilmcritic.com/review.php?movie=232&reviewer=258
originally posted: 09/22/02 10:55:27
![[printer]](/images/icon/printer.gif) printer-friendly format
|
 |
USA
03-Jul-1991 (R)
UK
N/A
Australia
N/A
|
|
Articles 
subscribe to this feed
![[AllPosters.com]](/images/icon/ap.gif){kind=icon}
