Director – James Cameron – 1991 – US – Cert. 15 – 127m
*****
A second Terminator is sent from the future to kill the future leader of the war against the machines – plays as part of Art of Action, a major UK-wide season celebrating the artistry of real action choreography at cinemas across the UK October-December 2024
In the 1984 original, a Terminator robot (Arnold Schwarznegger) is sent back in time to kill Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton), the mother-to-be of the leader of the war in the future against the machines, who are exterminating humanity.
This sequel sees a more advanced T-1000 robot (Robert Patrick) sent back in time to kill Sarah’s now-ten-year-old son John (Ed Furlong). Another Terminator (Schwarzengger) is also running around in the present (i.e. 1991).
Sarah’s recurring nightmare pictures the coming apocalypse when the machines unleash nuclear missiles on humanity. That aside, this is basically an essay on mothers and sons – and fathers and sons – wrapped up in the best chase movie you’ve ever seen.
What makes the film work is the mother and son element. Sarah is a believer in Terminators, the coming war against the machines, and humanity’s fightback in a world where such beliefs are dismissed as delusions. After years of raising her son as a survivalist, she is incarcerated in a maximum security psychiatric facility. When she gets out, she is able to protect her son, believing him the future leader of the revolution who will save us all.
John moves from son living with the idea of a delusional mother to the realisation that she was not delusional but correct in her beliefs. And Schwarzenegger is on hand to deliver such audience-pleasing lines as, “Hasta La Vista, Baby”.
If the fight sequences and automotive vehicle mayhem are an action cineaste’s wet dream, strip that element away and what remains is a terrifying, apocalyptic nightmare. While it’s framed in technological rather than religious terms, there’s something here that appeals on a very deep level – humanity screwing up then being judged and punished by a force much more powerful than itself and a one-man saviour figure who alone has the potential for salvation.
These are powerful images, not easily dismissed. So, adrenaline-pumping thrill ride, yes, absolutely. Yet dig deeper, and you’ll find much, much more.
Terminator 2 Judgement Day plays as part of Art of Action, a major UK-wide season celebrating the artistry of real action choreography at cinemas across the UK October-December 2024
Edited down from a hitherto unpublished review of Terminator 2 Judgement Day 3D from August 2017. You can read a longer version which deals with the 3D version here.
Teaser Trailer (endoskeleton):
Trailer: