Terminator 2: Judgement Day (1991)

"A cyborg, identical to the one who failed to kill Sarah Connor, must now protect her ten-year-old son John from a more advanced and powerful cyborg."

- IMDB

Firstly, I want to bring up my experience of the first film. I really didn't get too much out of it. For me, it just blended in with a lot of other 80s action and/or Sci Fi films I've seen. However, I was pretty terrified when the Terminator was walking around in his metal skeleton form. That was very creepy and very memorable. I did appreciate that story - the whole "humans create their own destruction" vibe that we see so much in Science Fiction. It was a solid film, I just didn't get attached to it.

That being said, I watched Terminator 2 after and had a completely different experience. The sequel is so much better in every sense - it's deeper, edgier, more tense, more exciting. Fights are better. Graphics are so much better. It's fun. It's scary. It's perfect. I loved how Sarah Connors developed as a character between the films. John is, of course, an icon. And they did something totally different with the Terminators. 

The T-800, rather than be the villain, is an ally. "A surprise to be sure, but a welcome one." Even better, we get this crazy T-1000 model that was beyond anything I expected. This film really utilizes the technology advancement of CGI at the time to get creative with T-1000 and make it do some crazy things throughout the film and during fights. Not only was it super cool, but it was even harder to kill, which added to the suspense.

As I mentioned earlier, the Terminator franchise is like a lot of other Science Fiction stories in that it's theme is all about how humans will be the cause of their own destruction. This has been a popular theme since the use of the atomic bomb in the 40s and still remains as relevant as ever, especially given recent global events. This gives T2 a bit of agelessness as not only does the quality of the film withstand the test of time, but so does the core message and story.

My Rating: ★★★★★★★★☆☆

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