A Two and a Half-Hour Adrenaline Rush

Rating: 8/10 (18 October 2009)

When I went into watching Terminator 2, I wasn't sure how high my expectations should be. I had read some reviews from other users, and all of them were very positive, and everyone seemed to love this film. I was skeptical, because the whole idea of a cyborg battling another cyborg to save a boy, his mother, and humanity alike simply didn't appeal to me. In all honesty, it sounded like the type of movie you hear characters talking about in a Saturday morning cartoon. The Wachowski Brothers' first Matrix film is one of my all-time favorites, and it was roughly the same genre with a different concept. So naturally, that gave me the incentive to give T2 a chance.
When I watched it, I was blown away. It wasn't your stereotypical one-guy-against-another-guy with humanity's fate on the line film. Yes, it easily qualifies as action-packed, but it also contains an interesting, somewhat complex story. Because of this, everything that happens in the film occurs for a reason. This wasn't made by a director that decided he wanted to throw bigtime action scenes just to get a cheap thrill from the audience *cough Michael Bay ***COUGH COUGH*** Arnold Schwartzenegger (Did I spell that right? Doubt it) plays a very likable, well-developed character as The Terminator. There are a few actors in the history of film-making that are absolutely perfectly-cast for their respective roles (i.e. Samuel L. Jackson as Jules Winnfield in Pulp Fiction or Eli Wallach as Tuco in The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly), and I am going to say that Big Arnie has cemented a spot for himself in that league of actors. The only other option to play Terminator that I can fathom would be Jean Claude Van Damme, but even he simply would not be able to supply the same fire as Arnold.
Linda Hamilton and Edward Furlong are great supporting actors, and their performances also deserve mention. But as far as supporting actors in the film go, Robert Patrick takes the throne easily. He showed great range as he played the emotionless, cold-hearted cyborg known simply as T-1000.
Overall, this a film with little flaws to talk about. It has great writing, superb acting, a few scattered funny moments, and of course, pulse-pounding action. I would even go out on a limb and place it in a tied position with Fight Club as the greatest "guy" film of all time.
"HASTA LA VISTA, BABY!" -The Terminator