The apex of several genres

Rating: 9/10 (23 September 2003)

First off, one thing has always bugged me about the Terminator trilogy. It was established in the first one that in 2029, John & Co. definitively had the machines on the ropes, pushed to defeat. The only reason this whole time travel thing came to pass was because of it. We could infer that it was a last-ditch act before their last stronghold fell. Yet in the next two, this point seemed to be downplayed, with John's importance being more symbolic than decisive. In this film, the machines have still had time to develop a new model of Terminator, but Arnold refers to it as an 'advanced prototype.' But there's a still-newer T-X in T3. These machines certainly seem industrious in defeat.
Now that I've vented that, on to T2. What is there to say that has not yet been said? It's a masterpiece of action, a clever piece of sci-fi. It's one of the only movies ever made that manages to be both poetic and moving, and testosterone-pumping. After paying her dues as the damsel in distress in the first, Linda Hamilton fully sinks her teeth into her new urban guerrilla persona. Edward Furlong is one of the best kid actors ever, right up there with Henry Thomas in E.T. or Macauly Culkin in the Home Alone films (both of which, lambaste me if you must, I enjoyed). Arnold is again at his best, back in the pre-Matrix days when his brand of action was still on top. It's almost impossible to believe this lethal, commanding creature is the same actor as the over-grown clown from The 6th Day.
We're all glad that "he's back."