In the seven years since the original, both Cameron's ability and ambition as a director had grown. The Terminator was a great action-thriller, but in T2 he placed greater emphasis on storyline and performance, allowing them to drive the film while at the same time introducing thrilling and mould breaking special effects. Robert Patrick as the frightening T-1000, and Linda Hamilton as Sarah Connor, the mother haunted by visions of the future apocalypse and obsessed with her son's safety, made their roles so much their own they have rarely been seen elsewhere. Schwarzenegger, meanwhile, has never topped this performance, using his unique brand of impassiveness, physical presence and deadpan humour to play the machine gradually becoming more human as it learns from its surroundings. The special effects were also a star of the show.
Ground breaking at the time, they still impress ten years on.
In fact, the most dated things about the film are the dodgy mullet haircuts sported by some of the extras. The Region 1 release was hailed as the best DVD ever, and the R2 has a similar bundle of great features. These extra scenes are interesting, in particular a scene in which Sarah and John remove the processor chip from the Terminator's head and he has to prevent her destroying it. It would have been nice to have the theatrical version as an alternative. The Eye' shows deleted scenes and explains the inclusion of some of them in the Special Edition and 'Breaking the Screen Barrier' covers the creation of a Terminator theme park attraction.