Almost perfect

Rating: 10/10 (9 March 2016)

This film was released in 1991 and I saw it at the cinema upon release. It blew me away. Now twenty-five (yes really!! do the maths!) years later I am finally doing it the justice of recording my review.
First things first. I love this movie. I have seen it 20, 30 maybe 40 times and it still blows me away. Not only was it the best action/sci-fi film of its time, for me it is certainly in contention for being the best action/sci-fi film of all time.
Following on from the first film, almost ten years later a second terminator is sent back in time, this time to kill John Connor, Sarah Connor's son and the future leader of the resistance. This time it is a T1000 - a liquid metal cyborg that can imitate anything it touches. As before, the resistance can also send back one protector, but this time it is another (but lower spec) terminator (Arnie) reprogrammed to protect John.
There is little to criticise. The story is tight, the casting (with one exception) spot on. The atmosphere is perfect, the pacing is bang on and the music and sound is wonderful. The special effects which were utterly jaw dropping at the time still wouldn't look out of place in a modern release. When you consider that this film was released only a year after the original Total Recall it is truly staggering how different they look today. Total recall looks low budget, low tech and really dated, whereas T2 would hold it's own against any film released even now.
The only negative - I have to say that Edward Furlong's John Connor is quite irritating, a shrill, fairly unlikable delinquent which makes rooting for him, certainly in the early part of the film, a little difficult.
That said this is a minor niggle in what is a cinematic masterpiece. I can't believe there can be many that haven't seen it, but if you haven't - watch it! And if you have - watch it again.
The true test of a great film is - if you find it on TV, no matter how many times you have seen it or however far through it it, you watch it to the end again. This has passed that test on more occasions than I can remember!
Fully deserving of a 10/10 score.