One of my favourite movies...it's every bit as good as the original

Rating: 10/10 (15 January 2006)

I have seen Terminator 2 six times in my life and I still don't get the slightest bit tired of watching it. Since I watched it the first time, it has become one of my favourite movies.
Terminator 2 starts off very well, commencing action immediately with an introduction into the horrors of the future (2030?) as perpetrated by a computer called Skynet. The human resistance then send one of their own robots back into the present (T-100) in response to Skynet sending a liquid one back (T-1000, more on him later). Before this scene, we see Los Angeles as it was in 1991, further exemplifying the devastation caused in the future. This scene caught my attention and I was waiting for more from then on. Imagine my disappointment when, in class one day, we saw the intro of Terminator 2, but nothing else.
Luckily, I got more. We see our hero, in a mildly amusing scene, steal a biker's clothes and his car, while Liquid Terminator kills a cop. From then on, they are adversaries, with each looking to foil the other's objectives: kill and protect John Connor, the saviour of the future, respectively. The action heats up again when Connor flees The Liquid Terminator on a bike, meets up with our hero and they flee the truck-riding Liquid Terminator in an awesome chase scene which sees high-octane explosions all round.
Then we enter the next scene: the mental institution where John's mum, Sarah, is being kept. Sarah hits her way out of the institution, injects poison into the head mental doctor (Dr. Silberman, who somehow manages to feature in all three movies) and meets John, only to flee our hero when he exits the lift. Another awesome chase scene occurs, where when Liquid Terminator is chasing them, he sticks his liquid knives onto the back of the car (a scene which has been spoofed in 'The Simpsons').
A lull occurs, but even this is not that boring, as we enter Sarah's paranoid mind in a dream. She then sets out to try and kill the creator of the robots, Miles. This leads up to the best scene in the movie, when Miles helps them infiltrate the cyber building and take/destroy the robot technology. Our hero then takes out his grenade launcher and Gatling gun and...no, I won't spoil this. After yet another awesome chase scene, the final showdown occurs, which after a protracted struggle...I'll leave it here; I've spoilt enough of the movie. Now on to the review.
Terminator 2 is such a great movie on so many levels. Not only is the plot good, but the action almost never relents, save for that brief lull I was talking about. The special effects are awesome, some of the best I've seen in movies. The Liquid Terminator, for instance, does some great looking metamorphosis and can turn his arms and hands into liquid steel knives. This looks incredible, but it could have come off as looking cheap.
Let's not forget about the acting. In my opinion, there is not one single bad performance here. Arnold Schwarzenegger does a fine job as the T-100, playing his cyborg protector part to a tee, especially at the end. Linda Hamilton offers insight into Sarah Connor, how the run-in with The Terminator (in the first film) completely changed her personality and outlook on life. Even Edward Furlong isn't too bad as John Connor. But the best performance in the film would have to belong to Robert Patrick, in my opinion. He pulls of the Liquid Terminator role perfectly, as he emits a sheer callousness and a sheer disregard for life that comes from the best villains. He even acts 'metallic' in his demeanour, with his head movements. (They should have cast him as the lead villain in Die Hard 2, then it would have been a better movie. See that review for more.)
You can also see it over and over again without ever getting bored with it, which is the mark of a really good movie.
In the end, what can I say? This is one of my favourite movies, for so many reasons. The original Terminator is as good as this film is, but I am more familiar with this one, having seen it six times. And hey, if I can see it six times without getting bored, then it must be good!
5/5 stars