Perhaps a tad overrated, but an impressive and entertaining action film nonetheless.

Rating: 8/10 (12 January 2011)

This film was released 20 years ago now, and looking on it now, it's still amazing they managed to make this then. Computer generated effects were not nearly as prevalent or as easy to pull off as they are today, and because of these facts, this movie is a really interesting piece of cinema history. And at the time, the effects were amazing, sort of like how many feel about Avatar today, but is this film really one of the best of all time? I'm going to say no, and in addition to that, the original Terminator which was done on a much smaller budget is a better film.
So, it's been 13 years since the first Terminator, and Sarah Connor is now in an insane asylum after all of her nonsensical ramblings of Terminators got too much for people. Her son John Connor is living in a foster home and he's now a hoodlum. To top off all these wacky family dynamics, a reprogrammed Terminator is sent back in time to protect John, who, in the future, is the leader of the war against the machines. Sent to kill John is a T-1000 model shape shifter Terminator disguised cleverly as Robert Patrick in a cop uniform. After various plot developments, Sarah Connor decides she must assassinate the man who created the original Terminator so all of this could end. Chaos ensues.
To start with the positives, this movie has some awesome action scenes. A motorcycle/bus chase in a drainage ditch is a pretty cool way to kick start the action in this picture. The special effects for the time are amazing, and still today, they look good. The characters are likable enough to get the audience rooting for them. Even Arnie as a robot gained audience support in his programmed quest. The movie at times, is funny, and many one liners that might have come off as corny, come off as tongue and cheek amusing. The final 20 minutes or so of the film are really good, and make up mostly for the middle lag. And Robert Patrick plays an excellent villain. His uncaring stare is very menacing.
The negatives...well, how about that John Connor? Edward Furlong gave a good performance, but, perhaps they could've given the kid less corny lines of dialogue. From time to time, the kid came off as irritating, completely due to the dialogue he had to work with. The first half of the movie is really good, and action packed, and interesting to see how Sarah copes with living in the nut house. When Sarah decides to go kill Terminator creator Miles Dyson, the film goes downhill. Why exactly? Hard to say. Sarah Connor is only doing what she can to save the world, but she becomes somewhat unlikable here, and after the long opening where she and John meet up for the first time in several years, she leaves again. And she didn't even seem that happy to see her son, the supposed "savior of the human race" to begin with. It almost seemed as though when the T-1000 went off for long periods of time, the movie became slightly less interesting. And I'm not one who wanted Mr. Patrick on screen all the time, it just wasn't as exciting, and the characters weren't well written enough for the amount of time they were given for development (except for Arnold).
The only specific scene that really irritated me was when John called for help as the Terminator grabbed him. He's screaming for help, and then when two guys come up to help, John chews them out. What a little punk. This boy who cries wolf better watch out or he's going to get killed by people trying to help him. This scene actually mars John's character a bit, but perhaps I'm just venting my extreme dislike of him pointlessly being a jerk.
Overall, this is a great action film...meaning the action scenes were mostly great. The movie lags a bit in the middle, and the writing isn't as good as it could be (writing is clearly not one of Mr. Cameron's strong points), but overall, this is one interesting film. A must see for fans of Arnold, or fans of James Cameron. I liked the first Terminator better because it almost played as a character piece, while this is pure action. Either way, these two movies make for an interesting contrast, and definitely should be watched.
My rating: *** out of ****. 150 mins. R for violence.