In a commendable effort Terminator 2: Judgment Day also manages to keep within the canon of the original Terminator, and better still, it gives us stronger characters with built-upon arcs. From the young John Connor instructing Arnie’s T-800 to tone down the killing, to Sarah finally putting her robot worries aside and allying with her son’s protector, it’s these character turns and twists that make the film’s closing moments resonate. In the grand scheme of things Judgment Day is this horrid event that must be prevented, sure, but amid all the explosions and gunfire Cameron squeezes in instances where even the would-be saviours have wobbles in faith. Look no further than a nail-tearing moment at the Dyson residence to see this, which is in turn the film’s last moment of calm. In what is now typical fashion of the franchise, the film ends with a terrifying standoff in a sweltering steel mill. As well as featuring one of the most thrilling one-on-one rucks in memory, this finale has the ability to make grown men weep – all at the flick of a thumb.
It’s easy to remember Terminator 2: Judgment Day for its spectacular scenes of action and CG effects, and while these moments are plentiful – Arnie and Robert Patrick’s wall-bothering mall fight, the T-1000 thundering after John in a truck and Arnie’s minigun attack minus the casualties are personal standouts – it’s the human drama that elevates the film onto another platform altogether.
Alien may have cornered the market as the best atmospheric horror the genre has ever seen, and Blade Runner certainly presents us with the most eye-opening futuristic dystopia, but Terminator 2: Judgment Day has so much more. It has the ability to fling you from your seat in excitement, before tapping you on the shoulder and asking you to consider a very real worry: nuclear war. Once the movie is over, the open road of uncertainty spells that this fear will never go away; robot protectors or not, it’s the human race that must act in order to prevent catastrophe. Eerie this notion may be, but it’s this stark, bleak and downright fascinating mix of emotions this film brings about that force me to hit the repeat button over and over again.
To find out more about this exciting phase in SciFiNow’s forum feature, hit the link and check out the other movies that made our shortlist. Clue: Battlefield Earth is not one of them.
Don’t forget to log on to our forums to discuss the films on our shortlist, and to read any of the other articles in this series as they are written, click on the title below.
Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope
Blade Runner
Planet Of The Apes
Forbidden Planet
ET The Extra-Terrestrial
Terminator 2: Judgment Day
Alien
The Matrix
2001: A Space Odyssey
Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back
This article originally appeared in the print edition of SciFiNow issue 37 by Shaun Davis. To buy a copy of the magazine or subscribe, go to www.imagineshop.com, or call our subscriptions hotline on +44 (0) 844 844 0245.
