Enjoyable But Dumb And Unnecessary Second Terminator Sequel

Rating: 5/10 (21 August 2005)

John Connor, a resistance leader of the future, is being pursued by the T-X, an ultra-sophisticated terminator cyborg sent from the future with a mission to kill him. He and a childhood friend are being protected by another terminator while trying to escape the T-X and avert a nuclear holocaust caused by Skynet, a US military computer network.
This movie has the standard modern-day Hollywood blockbuster virtues and vices - it's great-looking, fast-paced and has some terrific action and special effects, but the plot is a lame rehash of another movie (in this case, Terminator 2: Judgement Day), the characters are uninteresting and the film lacks any kind of depth or atmosphere. If only they'd stop making movies by committee, with three writers and nine producers, and give the director some creative control. However, there is a lot to enjoy in this film - Loken is wonderful as the sinister T-X, cheerfully murdering people and reprogramming machines to do her bidding, and it's fun to see a petite girl in a jumpsuit throwing big Arnie around. The stuntwork by Simon Crane is fantastic, as are the visual effects by Pablo Helman, Don Taylor and Stan Winston, and there are some great sets, costumes and chases, especially when the T-X hijacks a crane and destroys half of downtown Los Angeles. Schwarzenegger gives it his all (this was his last movie before being elected Governor of California) but was much better in the original movie as the bad guy, romantic leads Stahl and Danes do what they can with their ropey dialogue ("It all makes sense now !!"), and Boen has an offbeat cameo reprising his character from the previous two movies. An enjoyable flick, but check out the original The Terminator instead - that movie had a tiny fraction of the budget of this one, but a great story, real characters, style and atmosphere. Remember kids - just say no to Big Budget Hollywood.