“Hasta la vista, baby.”

In 1991, James Cameron returned to the world of SkyNet and Sarah Connor, bringing Terminator 2: Judgment Day to theaters. It had been almost ten years since the first movie and the general structure looked like it was going to ape the original, so how does the sequel stack up?

Plot
It’s the 1990s, and much like the original movie, a flash of electricity heralds the arrival of two naked men. Arnold’s Terminator is back and after beating up a group of bikers gets some clothes and starts looking for the last name of Connor. The other guy takes a cop’s clothes and does the same, ultimately converging in a shopping mall where they confront the young John Connor, and this time, the Arnold Terminator is the one sent back to protect him from the even more dangerous T-1000. More chases, gunfights, a side trip to rescue Sarah Connor from a mental hospital and a desperate attempt to prevent SkyNet from being completed to save the future ensue.

Characters
John Connor: Edward Furlong is our Hero, the very troubled youth John Connor. A foul-mouthed Mötley Crüe aficionado who’s in foster care (hey, his foster mom’s Jenette Goldstein, who was Vasquez in Aliens), he’s also an amateur hacker and mechanic, having been taught a lot of stuff by his presumed crazy mom. The kid’s kind of a dick, but undergoes some character development that actually makes him pretty likable by the end of the movie. After all, he’s got to survive to save humanity. Still, he spouts a lot of early 90s catchphrases that…they just haven’t aged well.

Sarah Connor: Linda Hamilton is back, though she’s changed a lot. First, she’s in a mental institution because she won’t stop talking about the robots and how they’re going to Kill All Humans. Second, she’s upgraded herself into a badass. She’s a survivor now, and is one tough cookie.

Dr. Silberman: Earl Boen is back again as the highly skeptical psychologist who’s now made Sarah his case study. Then he actually sees the Terminators in action for a really funny scene.

Miles Dyson: Joe Morton (who was also in, uh, Blues Brothers 2000) is the humble Cyberdine computer programmer who’s also the man who will unwittingly create SkyNet. Once our heroes figure out he’s the one, Sarah decides to take a very proactive means of solving that problem.

The T-800 Terminator: Arnold Schwarzenegger once more as the shades wearing cyborg, except this time, he’s on our (as in humanity) side. While still the implacable machine like in the first movie, he’s also way more awesome as the movie goes into “a boy and his killer cyborg” territory, blending the Badass Arnold with the Funny Arnold. I dare you to not be affected by the ending as the T-800 performs one of the coolest heroic sacrifices in cinema. Totally badass.

The T-1000: Robert Patrick is our villain, and really, really creepy. More skilled at infiltration because of his “liquid metal” body that can change shape (and form nasty looking blades). He manages to be a credible threat not by being bigger than the T-800, but by being more adaptable, flexible and relentless. When the heroes escape in a car, he just starts sprinting after them, and the way its done, he makes running at 35 mph look effortless in its inhumanity. An absolutely fantastic villain.

Visuals/Effects
Visually, I’d say that James Cameron outdid The Terminator with this one. Action is still relentless, but there is an even greater sense of urgency, what with the goal of the heroes being to actually prevent (dun dun dun, or rather DUN DUN DUN DUN DUN) Judgment Day. The special effects are outstanding from Stan Winston’s team. The T-800 still looks great and the T-1000 is an absolute marvel to behold. Surprisingly, the CGI on the T-1000 was fairly restrained. Most of it was done with practical effects, and my God is it incredible.

However, I think the part that really sold me on this movie was the use of color and contrast. Each location has a distinct color, like the asylum being washed out white and blue, and then the…I guess smelting plant of the finale is full of blacks and reds. Its just outstanding.

Writing
All right, written by James Cameron and William Wisher, Jr., the script is tightly tied in to the events of the first movie. Its so tight that I can’t really think of any obvious plot holes. Dialog is good (aside from the dated 90s jargon that, well, every kid who ever experienced the 90s spouted. I didn’t even see this movie as a kid but said “hasta la vista, baby” a lot). There are a few moments where Sarah Connor gets incredibly preachy about how men are always destroying things, but before it becomes insufferable John kind of tells her "shut up, that's not helping."

Sound
The score by Brad Fiedel continues that same awesome percussive theme of the original movie.

Conclusion
The Terminator was a great film, but Terminator 2: Judgment Day I’m going to say outshines it. It’s a brilliantly realized sequel that completely ties up any and all loose ends from the first movie. Loose ends you didn’t even think were loose ends.

Thumbs up.

“It can't be bargained with. It can't be reasoned with. It doesn't feel pity, or remorse, or fear. And it absolutely will not stop, ever, until you are dead.”

An implacable, nigh invulnerable killing machine can be a terrifying prospect, especially when its been designed to walk like a duck, talk like a duck and look like a duck, but actually isn’t. Strip away the science fiction, the action sequences and all that other stuff and what you’ve got at the core of this movie is an unblinking, metal endoskeleton that is now a classic movie monster in 1984’s The Terminator.

Plot
In 1984 Los Angeles, a robot in the shape of large naked man appears in a flash of lightning then takes the clothes off a group of street punks led by Bill Paxton. Somewhere else in the city, another naked man appears in an identical flash and steals a hobo’s clothes. Both of these strangers in a strange time are after the same person, Sarah Connor, a down on her luck waitress who has no idea why anybody would want to see her dead. Chase scenes, shootouts, general violence and trying to explain time travel in a coherent way ensue.

Characters
Sarah Connor: Linda Hamilton is our main character and the center of this movie’s world. She’s a normal woman with a dead end job, friends who have more fun than her, and a pet lizard. In short, an average, unremarkable person except for all of quirks that make her unique… Then a cyborg from the future shows up to try to kill her. Yeah, you’d be confused too. Fortunately the other guy who came through time is both there to rescue her and explain what the hell’s going on. She is going to be the mother of John Connor, a man who’s going to save humanity from the machines when a computer system called SkyNet decides to Kill All Humans.

Kyle Reese: Michael Biehn is the human soldier sent through time by John Connor to protect Sarah Connor and also to conceive John Connor in 1984 so that adult John Connor can send Kyle Reese back in time to-- See, this is why Time Travel is a pain in the ass. Reese is actually a pretty likable hero and gets some great badass moments.

Lieutenant Ed Traxler and Detective Hal Vukovich: Paul Winfield and Lance Henriksen are two cops trying to piece together what’s going on when a man shows up and starts killing women named “Sarah Connor” alphabetically according to their placement in the phone book. They get some fun scenes, but, well, the Terminator absolutely destroys a police station to get at Sarah, so don’t get too attached to them.

Dr. Peter Silberman: Earl Boen (who’s done a bajillion things in voice over work, including the undead pirate LeChuck from the awesome Monkey Island games) plays a psychologist who’s brought in by the police to analyze Reese. The obvious conclusion is that he’s nuttier than a bag of cashews, and Silberman has some fun scenes where he’s both amused by Reese’s shouting and implacably skeptical.

The T-800 Terminator: Arnold Schwarzenegger in a badass movie role. Who’dathunk? Anyway, he’s a cyborg sent by SkyNet to terminate Sarah Connor, and he’s basically perfect for it. Cold, implacable, stern-faced, emotionless and thoroughly imposing, he’s also very good at really making himself behave mechanically. Then, there’s the battle damage that the Terminator goes through, which just makes him even more monstrous as bits of flesh get taken off here and there. And then we finally get the flesh completely taken off and are left with a glorious Stan Winston creation that is just plain iconic. Yeah, you don’t want to mess with a Terminator.

Visuals/Effects
James Cameron is a fantastic director. The movie, while in a lot of places (like the shootout in the nightclub) it is extraordinarily 80s in its visuals, also has a lasting quality too. Action scenes are beautifully arranged, especially the car chases and there’s just this unrelenting undercurrent of dread and inevitability as the Terminator just won’t stop. You knock him off a building, fill him with bullets, throw him into an explosion. That just buys you breathing room. The atmosphere is fantastic, and then it throws a fourth act into the mix which I’m sure floored audiences back then since, well, we finally have the endoskeleton revealed and an even more apocalyptic showdown inside a factory. Outstanding visuals combined with stunning practical effects from Stan Winston’s team.

Writing
James Cameron and Gale Anne Hurd wrote the script (with William Wisher) based on ideas by temperamental Sci-Fi legend Harlan Ellison. The plot is heavy, grim and thick. In the 90s, SkyNet, a computer so sophisticated it becomes sentient, decides to nuke humanity to protect itself in an event called Judgment Day and its only in 2029 that humanity is able to win the war on the machines, but in a last ditch gambit, SkyNet sends an agent back in time to prevent John Connor from ever existing. Its all staple sci-fi stuff, but it really works in the context of the movie. And the plot, while crucial to the events going on, never gets too ponderous or confusing in those ways that time travel can be. Unrelenting in its grim portrait of the future, its also quite hopeful because it stresses that “there is no future but what we make.”

Sound
The score by Brad Fiedel uses a very computer based sound. Lots of synthesizers and drum beats, and it complements the movie perfectly. The Terminator theme is just outstanding at setting the mood over the opening titles, promising relentless action.

Conclusion
The Terminator is a fantastic monster movie disguised as a solid action thriller with a coat of sci-fi paint. The Terminator itself is just plain awesome and the plot is wonderfully coherent. Totally recommended.