Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)
Jesus - you were gonna kill that guy! Of course - I’m a terminator!
THE SUMMARY: Schwarzejogger gets reprogrammed as a good guy and sent back to save the squeakiest hero of all time, young John Connor, from a souped-up luxury terminator that can shapeshift and grow Ginsu knives on the fly. Much like the first, I thoroughly enjoyed this movie - it’s an improvement on the original in nearly every way - but a few annoyances hold it back from Five Wicky™ perfection.
THE BEST:
Arnold’s character shines much brighter: In the first movie, Arnold was a much more literal robot. In the sequel, his character comes out much better. He’s funny. He’s empathetic. He’s curious. He was born to play this sort of role, so I wouldn’t call it great acting, but his interactions and dialogue in this movie are much more entertaining than the first.
Dat lever action: Overall, the visuals and action scenes in this movie are greatly improved from the first, with the exception of a few stunt doubles that hilariously look nothing like Arnold, but dissimilar stunt doubles are still better than whatever that fake Arnold face was in the first movie. Beyond the motorcycle jumps, explosions, and other popcorn action stunts, the one I enjoyed the most was the simplest: the lever-action flip. Wild west cowboy meets future cyborg. Classic.
Our own tech betrays us: I left the last movie with questions about the rules of the time travel and how the technology in this universe works. This movie didn’t answer all my questions, but it did give a good backstory on Skynet’s development. When we start toying with tech to play God, bad things happen. Paging Dr. Fauci.
The ‘thumbs up’ death: The meme is pretty self-explanatory, but now that I’ve seen the movie, I officially get it. Very ‘this is fine’ dog.
The more I screech, the more dramatic the scene!
THE WORST:
The Connors often need to shut the hell up: John Connor’s screeching almost ruined the show for me. The voice cracks are piercing. It’s the only truly awful thing in the movie. Stop screaming. Chill out. Similarly, Sarah’s scenes are often over-acted. I get it - it’s an action-drama. It’s supposed to be tense and hyped. But a lot of these lines and dialogues are forced. Thankfully Arnold’s stoicism balances it out well.
The sequel is debatably a repeat: In many ways, this movie is more of a repeat than a sequel. Arnold replaces Kyle Reese. John replaces Sarah, even though Sarah is still Sarah, but you get what I mean - the story is in many ways a copy rather than advancement. One guy/robot is sent back in time to save someone, another guy/robot is sent back in time to kill someone, and the two future fighters have a war in the past and they both die. I won’t knock T2 too much on this point, with the understanding that the movies were made seven years apart. Sometimes remaking an old movie but fixing its flaws is appreciated, and this is one such case, in my opinion.
THE RATING: 4/5 Wickies. It’s better than the first, but please stop screaming at me, John.
YOUR RATING: Vote here ⬇
NEXT WEEK: ALIENS (1986)
AFTER THAT? YOU PICK - VOTE!