Fri 2 Jun 2017
Archived SF Movie Review: TERMINATOR 2: JUDGMENT DAY (1991)
Posted by Steve under Action Adventure movies , Reviews , SF & Fantasy films[8] Comments
TERMINATOR 2: JUDGMENT DAY. TriStar Pictures, 1991. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Linda Hamilton, Edward Furlong. Director and co-screenwriter: James Cameron.
OK, I agree, The special effects are everything everyone has said they were. But I didn’t see the first film, and I still don’t have much of an idea of what the story is about. (Two killer cyborg robots come from the future, one to protect a young boy, Linda Hamilton’s son, the other to destroy him.)
There’s lots of shooting for the juvenile gun-freaks in the crowd, but since both Schwartzennegger and his nemesis are essentially indestructible, most of the shooting pretty pointless. If you like to see trucks smashing into everything in sight, and buildings being blown up, and people being shot, stabbed, dismembered and thrown away, this is certainly the movie for you.
[UPDATE.] Within the past year I’ve seen the first movie of the series, and while I now understand the story, I don’t think I’d change anything else in what I said about this second one.
June 2nd, 2017 at 5:09 pm
I actually really enjoyed this movie, and will still watch it if it turns up on late night tv. Thought as far as sequels go, it had an interesting story (that made sense in a sci-fi way) and the part of a cyborg robot was a perfect vehicle for Arnold to play. Couple of pretty funny moments in the movie also.
June 2nd, 2017 at 5:50 pm
I thought the special effects were inventive (Now that you an do ANYTHING in the movies, we get to see who really has imagination.) and the director has a fluid way with action scenes.
June 2nd, 2017 at 6:06 pm
Well, maybe I ought to give the movie a second chance. I did enjoy the first one, and knowing the story now can’t hurt.
June 3rd, 2017 at 12:19 am
Good sequel, but don’t bother with the rest of the series. The third one manages to destroy the entire point of one and two by showing you can’t change history meaning there was no reason for anyone to time travel in the first place .. the perfect metaphor for noisy action flicks.
June 3rd, 2017 at 8:07 am
I haven’t seen any of the movies past Day but if that is the premise of #3 or beyond that is too funny.
Regarding the special effects in Judgment Day, I thought I saw a special where it showed how they used mercury to recreate the new terminator each time he was blown apart.
June 4th, 2017 at 1:29 pm
If you start off watching a series mid-way in and then complain about not getting the point, that really isn’t the fault of the movie, now is it?
June 4th, 2017 at 2:22 pm
That’s a good question. It’s not easy for me to address it since at this late date, I don’t remember all that much about this, the second movie.
In general, though, I think sequels should still try to be self-contained enough to stand on their own, yet not do a lot of boring recapitulation for those who do remember the first story and want to get on with what happens next.
It’s obviously a hard line to follow, and when I wrote this review, it’s clear that I didn’t think the movie did enough to explain where we were in the overall story line when this one began.
Some sequels can do it, others can’t. In this case, it had to have been doubly tough, since time travel stories are hard enough to follow, without having to fill in gaps between movies as well.
June 21st, 2017 at 6:58 am
The kid in TW needs to cut his damned hair. That by itself was so annoying and distracting–he’s under constant danger, but keeps a stupid haircut that literally puts his hair in eyes at some angle at all times, because for several months in 1990 that haircut was sort of trendy.
Nope.
Then there’s the kid’s constant condescension to his mother, and the film/filmmakers’ condescension to Sarah Conner.
3 is better. I’m glad it obviates the thread of 1 and 2.