Subject: REVIEW: TERMINATOR 2: Judgement Day

From: [email-masked] (Subrata Sircar)
Date: 3 Jul 91 20:06:52 GMT

TERMINATOR 2:  Judgement Day
		       A film review by Subrata K. Sircar
			Copyright (c) 1991 Subrata K. Sircar

	Quick Take:  SEE THIS MOVIE!  NOW!  WOW!  GREAT!

	Capsule Review:  Arnold Schwarznegger returns to modern-day LA
     from 2029 as a Terminator assigned to protect John Conner against
     another Terminator with advanced mimetic powers.  Linda Hamilton
     turns in an excellent performance, but the actors play second fiddle
     to awesome special effects.  Rating:  8+ [1 to 10 scale].

Spoilers: 

	Wow.  See this movie.

	Arnie is back as a Terminator, only this time he's a generation
behind in technology.  The new T-1000 series Terminators are made of mimetic
metal, and can take on any form with the same mass, able to form any solid
metal object.  The new Terminator takes out a police officer and assumes his
form to hunt John Conner, while Arnie appears nude near a biker bar.  Some
nasty mayhem later, he's got clothes, boots, a shotgun, a Harley and the
all-important shades.  The two machines find John at nearly the same time,
and battle it out through the mall, several roads, and a few trucks, with
Arnie finally saving John.

	In the last few years, things have not gone so well for Sarah
Conner.  She has been shacking up with anyone who could teach her and her
son about combat and survival, and eventually went over the edge and
attacked a computer factory.  She's been locked up in a mental institution
for a few years, while John Conner has been turning into a juvenile
delinquent with foster parents.

	So of course, Terminator and John go to bust Sarah out, minutes
ahead of the evil Terminator ...

	The movie also seems to be the last Terminator flick, as there was a
good effort to wrap up all the loose ends from both movies.  The first movie
pointed out the alternate reason for sending a Terminator to the past the
first time; his remains were needed for the cybernetic breakthrough which
triggered Armageddon.  This time, all remains of all three Terminators are
incinerated, and the movie ends on a somewhat positive note, implying that
the future the Terminators came from is no longer inevitable.

	Overall, this movie was just as good as the original, which is an
amazing accomplishment.  There are two science-fiction gimmicks; time travel
and mimetic metal.  Get past those and the rest is one hell of an action
movie.  Usually, when watching a science-fiction movie, I tend to think of
six different ways the villains could use their powers to end the movie
somewhere after the first half hour; not so this time.  The mimetic
Terminator uses his abilities very intelligently, especially in combat;
reforming around bullets, sliding through grills, reforming around Arnie's
hand when he punches him, etc.  About the only trick he missed was abandoning
the human form altogether and going to the octopus mode for combat, but
overall the evil Terminator was right on the money.

	Linda Hamilton plays Sarah Conner as a woman driven by the spectre
of global annihilation; she has a recurring dream of the world ending,
destroying all the children in a playground.  She is not quite sane, and has
become determined to prevent the holocaust by any means necessary, including
the sacrifice of other lives as well as her own.  I kept seeing Sarah Conner
as someone who was alternately trying to be a mother and a soldier, never
sure which one was right, knowing which one was practical.

	I won't attempt to describe the special effects, except to say that
Industrial Light and Magic did themselves proud.  The evil Terminator looked
convincing and very very menacing.  Lots and lots of explosions, gunfire and
mayhem, and all of it was spectacular.  The opening scene was wonderful, as
were the two knock-down drag-out fights between Terminators.

	In short, I loved this movie.  Great special effects, a good
performance by Linda Hamilton, and some excellent science-fiction to mix
into a truly excellent Arnie action film.  You'll like this, and it will
make back its $100 million (rumored) budget.

-- 
Subrata Sircar | [email-masked] |Prophet& SPAMIT Charter Member
	I don't speak for Princeton, and they don't speak for me.
"May their souls rot in easy-listening hell!" - Johnny Melnibone, GRIMJACK #76
"I seem to suffer from irrelevant flashbacks." - Paul, PAUL THE SAMURAI #1