Terminator 2: Judgment Day Review
by Brian L. Johnson (blj AT mithrandir DOT cs DOT unh DOT edu)July 15th, 1991
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TERMINATOR 2: JUDGMENT DAY
[Spoilers]
A film review by Ken Johnson
Copyright 1991 Ken Johnson
140 min, R, Action, 1991
Director: James Cameron
Cast: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Linda Hamilton, Robert Patrick,
Edward Furlong
WARNING - spoilers for THE TERMINATOR
In THE TERMINATOR there is a very bleak version of the future. The nuclear war has already happened (in the year 1997), and some survived. Those who have survived face even a tougher battle. Machines now have artificial intelligence and can run themselves. They see the errors in the ways of humans, so have set out to cease their existence. The humans, though, have a leader, a man named John. The machines, afraid that John will lead the humans to victory, had sent Arnold Schwarzenegger, a Terminator T800 robot, back in time to 1984. His job is to kill off Hamilton who is going to give birth to John. The humans learning of the machines move send back in time a human to stop the T800 (who was played by Michael Biehn). The T800 failed it's mission.
In TERMINATOR 2 the machines are now desperate to kill off John (who is played in TERMINATOR 2 by Furlong). They send back a Terminator version T1000 (played by Patrick) to kill off Furlong, now ten. The humans in an effort to stop the T1000, send back the T800 model of the Terminator robots (played again by Schwarzenegger).
On a 0 to 5 scale I give this film a 5. The special effects in the film, done by Industrial Light & Magic I have heard, were exceptional (they should be for the $88 million budget the film had). The film is nowhere near as brutal as Arnold's tend to be, but don't be worried though because there is still a considerable amount of violence in it. I suggest seeing the film while it is still in the theaters for it will lose some of its impact on a small television screen; it is well worth the $7 for the ticket. For more on the film for those of you who have already seen the film you can see the next page.
TERMINATOR 2 is rated R for explicit language and graphic violence.
WARNING - the following may contain spoilers that may hinder your enjoyment of watching TERMINATOR 2 and/or may spoil the end.
The plot on the whole was quite well done although in a couple spots it was obvious what was going to happen. Like at the metal works at the film's finale it was quite obvious where Robert Patrick was going to end up. The other place that comes to mind that was a bit obvious was the inevitable end of the poor guy who, unintentionally, made the robots who will fight the humans for the earth.
Linda Hamilton plays the psycho role of John's mother to the extreme. I feel that she has seen too many films with Jack Nicholson in them. If she is really as crazy as shown in the film maybe she should be in a mental institution. The T1000 robot, made of a liquid metal, could have better used its ability in some of the fight/chase scenes. But if it did Arnie might not have lasted through the film. My only other compliant is the boy, John, is supposed to be ten years old. From his behavior I would have put his age at around sixteen. Other than those few problems, which don't distract from the viewing pleasure, the film is one of the best I have seen in a long time!
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