So after watching The Terminator for the first time earlier this month it was the turn of T2! Often claimed by many to be one of the best sequels ever, this was always a biggie when I had said that I had never seen it – people genuinely seemed to take offense! I knew this movie had to be good, never have I heard a bad word about it so I got stuck into it fairly easily.
Judgement Day is effectively The Terminator on steroids. It has quite a similar storyline to the first film but what it does is build on each aspect so brilliantly. The story gets beefed up with a sub plot, the action goes up several notches and the one-liners are thick and fast compared to the first outing. The story features a great twist that is revealed quite early on which was refreshing, the fact that Arnie is no longer the villain but now is a reprogrammed Terminator that has actually been sent to protect John Connor. Now if you thought Arnie was good as a villain, which he was, he was 10 times better being badass as Connor’s protector and fighting the real villain T-1000. As a direct result of this Arnie had a little more flexibility within the role and builds on everything that he achieved in the first film. One of my only complaints about the first film was the fact that I didn’t think it was long enough, well as if by magic Terminator 2 adds on a lot more time and helps to create a real blockbuster. James Cameron uses this time wisely and features so many great scenes. If I was nit-picking I would say that the scene in which the gang are gathering weapons and re-grouping was a bit too long, but as I say nit-picking.
One of the best thing about this movie was the theme music! Honestly The Terminator theme music would have to be some of my favourite ever, it is so damn good. I am pretty sure that I was singing it in my sleep, it contributes so well to the atmosphere of the movie and makes everything about this film so much more memorable. As I mentioned above the action takes a step up too, the scenes featured are so satisfying – there are endless vehicles exploding, driving through glass and off various things! Saying that it isn’t all about the big budget action scenes, there is a great sequence in which Sarah Connor is escaping from the mental hospital she is being held in. Sarah Connor’s character has developed so much in this movie as well, becoming endlessly more badass and she becomes a top action star here and could easily compete with the likes of Sigourney Weaver. The one-liners too, oh I loved them, although I knew most of them just from people quoting them it was fantastic to see them actually in the movie and when The Terminator tries to smile – priceless.
I can easily see why this movie is in so many people’s top films ever, certainly a fantastic sequel that packs punch round every corner. I get the hype now and it honestly lives up to every last bit of it!
BIGGEST FLAW – Potentially the scene mentioned above was too long
BIGGEST ACHIEVEMENT – Building on every aspect of the original
Rating – 10/10
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