Arguably the greatest action movie of all time

Rating: 9/10 (13 December 2013)

I love this movie, this is probably one of the best action movies ever made. It has some awesome chase scenes and some brilliant fight scenes. The climax of this movie I would say is when Arnie stands in a window and shoots hundreds of police cars with a minigun. The chase scenes are just superb, one of them between a scooter and a huge two truck down a sewer and the second between a helicopter and a Swat van along a Los Angeles Freeway.
This is a sequel and thus begins by going through all of the characters and telling us where they are. Sarah Conner (Linda Hamilton) is really the only one who comes across from the first movie, and is now in a mental hospital with what is believed to be delusions of persecution. John Conner (Edward Furlong), her son, has been fostered out, but has become a very rebellious kid.
The movie opens in the future with a reminder of where the world is going to end up. The war scene here is just brilliant, watching huge robots moving across the earth and people running round with automatic lasers. This short scene is a brilliant opening to what turns out to be a brilliant action feast. Then enters the Terminator (Arnold Schwarzenegger) who, in a brilliant scene, wonders naked through a bikie bar and demands some clothes, some boots, and a bike. The second Terminator (Robert Patrick) is quite different, very hostile, caring nothing for anybody around him. This Terminator is much crueler than the original terminator in the first movie.
Cameron really pays attention to detail in this movie. Even though people have commented on the paradox that this movie causes, Cameron does create his characters with strengths and weaknesses. The Liquid Metal terminator has to remain still to heal his injuries. Every time he is hit, the wounds will not heal until he rests, and Cameron shows us this. Arnie though seems to have more human traits to him. He reacts to John Conner's pay outs, yet does not really understand human emotions. The terminators final words, "I know now why you cry, but it is something I could never do," brings up the truth with how a computer could never replace a human being. Even though they may be self aware, they do not have the soul to express emotion.
Cameron has some very interesting things in this movie, and there are numerous biblical reflections. I do not think that this is intentional, but the reflections are there. John Conner watches two boys playing guns and then they start to fight, he then turns to the Terminator and says "we have no hope have we? We will destroy each other." This comment strikes deep into our soul to show that we really do have no hope. We are not divided into good and bad, nor will peace come by removing all the bad people. Miles Bennet Dyson (Joe Morton), a scientist who is working on the Skynet Project, is shown as an innocent man, yet his invention is responsible for the death of millions of people. His obsession with advancing technology is what causes this. He does not realise that he is sentencing humanity to death, but he does. Even though the future is written down, people just do not want to believe it. The doctors at the mental institute consider Sarah Conner to be mad when she tries to tell them that they are all going to die, but we know the truth because we have been shown it. The bible shows us the future and we know that God will judge humanity, but we do not want to believe it. Even though we live 2000 years after Christ and have no solid proof, we believe it, yet millions do not. We like our lives to be safe and our future to be secure, but unless we prepare for the devastation to come, we will be destroyed. Christ says that people will be marrying right up until the day of judgement. The same comes out in the movie. Children are playing on the swings right up until the moment the bomb hits. Sarah is trying to warn them but they choose not to listen.
The ending creates the terminator to be a Christ figure. In fact, the Terminator is a Christ figure all the way through the movie. When he first appears it seems that he is a threat to John, but turns out to be his saviour. As Jesus says, he has not come to judge but to save. The Liquid Terminator kills Arnie near the end of the movie, but Arnie puts himself in the way to give Sarah and John a chance to escape. Yet, he comes back, a resurrection, and defeats the Liquid Terminator. Finally, he lowers himself into the molten metal for he is the only one left with the chip, and to remain would be to condemn the world. The final thumbs up is Christ's "It is finished."