Classic Action/Sci-Fi

Rating: 9/10 (29 January 2012)

I saw this the other day on cable for like the millionth time. That's when you know a movie is great - if you can watch it again and again over the years and it's still just as exciting each time as it was the first time. It's hard to believe this movie is now 20 years old, but its special effects and use of CGI actually hold up better than most of the over-budget garbage that passes for action/sci-fi these days.
In the original Terminator (1984) Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton) kills off the cyborg-assassin (Arnold Schwarzenegger) sent from the year 2029 to take her out. Of course, she had the help of the young, handsome Kyle Reese (Michael Biehn) to help her. He was sent back from the same year by Sarah's future son, John Connor. In the future, John is apparently the leader of a human resistance movement gaining momentum against the machines, who have taken over Earth and unleashed apocalyptic hell on mankind. The machines' system (dubbed Skynet) thought it could send the terminator back in time to kill off Sarah, which would erase John from existence, and thus would wipe out the resistance. It fails to do that, and with that, makes room for a sequel.
Now, if you can get past the whole butterfly effect and the grandfather paradox that makes a lot of what happens in this franchise highly unlikely, then you'll be able to appreciate just how great the first two movies were. T2 for its part, is even better than the original. It picks up 11 years after the events of the first movie, to 1995 (interesting that T2 is set a few years in the future from its release year 1991, while the original was set in then-present day 1984).
This time around the sweet, innocent Sarah Connor is replaced by a much more militant, yet psychologically-disturbed female warrior. John Connor is a rebellious teen that still doesn't realize the gravity of his future, and Schwarzenegger is back as the Terminator. Only this time, he's been programmed by the Resistance to protect John. Why? Because Skynet is sending a more advanced Terminator to kill Connor as a teen. Robert Patrick does an excellent job as the new T-1000, ice cold one moment, then able to speak like a charismatic human when it suits its purpose, something the old Terminator cannot do. The T-1000 also can shape-shift into various stabbing weapons and other people.
It's great to see Arnie back but fighting on the good side. He's not the best actor in the world, or even a close second, but this genre suits him. And when he has great material to work with, he will shine. Hamilton also gives an excellent performance here. There are very few females that can pull off the action heroine role and be 110% convincing. Like Sigourney Weaver in Aliens, I wouldn't want to run into Sarah in a dark alley.
As great as the film is, it is not without its faults. As I've said earlier, based on our current knowledge of the laws of physics, time travel to the past to kill someone presents a number of problems, and none of those issues were properly addressed by the franchise. But then it is sci-fi, so pretty much anything can be forgiven in this genre. Also, I think the factory scene at the end of T2 was too convenient and way too reminiscent of the original movie. A little bit more originality for the ending please! Otherwise a great movie and a collector's item.