Film Review: Terminator 2 - Judgement Day Last update: 10th September 2000

Following on from the previous film using a scripting technique from the Big Boys Book of Film Making, we're presented with a rehashed version of The Terminator. Instead of a killing machine from the future hunting down Sarah Connor, the machines have worked out that killing her doesn't work; so this time a killing machine from the future is coming to kill John Connor, her son and future leader of the humans in their war against the machines.

In place of the human sent to fight the machines assassin is a reprogrammed T-101 model Terminator, who is more suited to the task because this time the machines haven't sent a T-800 terminator (basically a suped-up human in plot terms) but instead have sent a T-1000, who is here because the law of sequels states "if you can't get a different plot, use the original but whack up the special effects".

This T-1000 is liquid metal. It would seem that up to this point all the Terminators have looked like Arnold Schwarzenegger (Both the T-800 in the original and the T-101 here look the same - a point which is raised in the film) but now the machines have chosen a different default shape for their new Terminator which looks more like the adult John Connor seen at the start of the film.

The main reason for the T-1000's liquid metal state is, of course, that they need new effects to pull in the viewers. We've seen the skin falling off a Terminator in the original so they need something very different here and they certainly came up with a great idea. The T-1000 can change shape and turn parts of his body into "knives and stabbing weapons". The film focuses on this ability for much of the tension of the film, such as the lift scene when he's slamming sword-like appendages through the top of the lift while Sarah and the T-101 are frantically shooting the ceiling to get rid of him, without knowing where he is.

The film is a pretty good no-brain action romp, although it has some typical Hollywood sci-fi pieces, taken directly from the same Big Boy's Book of Film Making that the plot comes from. Pieces such as the T-101 asking why people cry really grates, but overall it's good fun to watch and has some pretty good humerous ideas in it too, if you look. For example, while the T-1000 is reloading his shotgun and flying a helicopter at the same time he produces a clearly visible third arm to pilot with. It's clear that time has been taken to make sure everything in the film works and it gives that little bit more believeability to it.

Yes it's a no-brainer action film with lots of special effects, but did we really expect anything else from a sequel? It's pretty good at what it does.