Terminator 2 - Tag der Abrechnung

An action blast with revolutionary visual effects never seen before. Five stars for the T-1000 and its metamorphosis, five stars for the vision of nuclear war, three stars for the script, as well as for some scenes that were too militant for my taste (Arnie vs. a column of police cars). But to overlook the fact that this film meant so much to the development of filmmaking technology and visual effects would be a great sin. Therefore, the only and correct rating is for five, it’s just awesome! (11.05.2003)

This is total overkill in several filmmaking disciplines that hasn't been knocked into the dust by time or silicon by better-refined followers. It's all been said about it already, but the unwritten Cameronian dictum that action scenes must serve the story and not the other way around ages like a fine wine with every unnecessary megabyte of data generated, and it's a wonder that there haven't been many action blockbusters that work on a similar principle in the twenty-six years since. Personally, I'll always prefer the uneven trench warfare of planetoid LV-426, but I still very much understand why this fully holds up in the genre battle even after blowing away all the nostalgic overlay in this millennium. This will survive judgment day because it's... (see the beginning of my comment). (01.10.2017)

Im Teil eins kämpften die Helden um ihr nacktes Leben, und eine gute Faustregel für Teil zwei ist, dass doppelt so viel auf dem Spiel stehen muss. Cameron hat seine Verpflichtung erfüllt, und so kämpft das ungleiche Kämpfertrio nicht nur um die Existenz, sondern nun vor allem um die Zukunft. Das Drehbuch verarbeitet geschickt Kyles Worte über die Gegebenheit des Schicksals und macht den Tag des Jüngsten Gerichts zu einem dramatischen Kampf um das Recht, etwas zu ändern, was einmal festgelegt wurde. Während in Teil eins (im Einklang mit der Zeit) Maschinen als exotische Kuriosität fungieren, verleugnet Teil zwei den Beginn des Siliziumzeitalters nicht. Computer sind ein normaler Teil der menschlichen Existenz, und Cameron weist mit zu Recht kantoraler Pedanterie auf die Gefahr hin, dass die menschliche Intelligenz durch virtuelle Intelligenz verwässert wird. Aber da T2 der erste Film in der Geschichte ist, der massiv auf die Kraft des Siliziums setzt, geht die Botschaft in die andere Richtung: Auch eine Maschine kann wie ein Mensch denken. Arnold liefert eine Spitzenleistung als vermenschlichter Terminator. Wenn die Verachtung für das Genre unter Akademikern nicht so groß wäre, hätte er in diesem Jahr zumindest für einen Glatzkopf nominiert werden müssen. Die Maschine mit dem eingeschalteten Lernmodul kauft man ihm ab. Bis heute hat mich niemand davon überzeugen können, dass der Herr Gouverneur kein Metallgehäuse unter seiner Haut hat. Wenn James Cameron T1 mit Bravour bestanden hat, ist T2 eine brillante Professur. Niemandem (und dazu stehe ich) ist es gelungen, ein "niederes" Genre auf die Ebene der Kunst zu heben, ohne die niederen Mittel zu verfremden. Die Leichtigkeit, mit der Cameron mit Emotionen und Adrenalin jongliert, die Genialität der Actionszenen (die bis heute unübertroffen sind) und das apokalyptische Gesamtgefühl gehören zu den besten Beispielen für die Stärke des Films. Das ist nicht die Aussage eines Intellektuellen, sondern eines Mannes, der mit dem Film T2 aufgewachsen ist, und als er ihn nach Jahren und Hunderten von Malen erneut sah, fand er Camerons Liebling mindestens genauso stark. Wie damals, als ich morgens auf dem Weg zur Grundschule aufwachte und träumte, dass sich die Tür öffnet und Arnie sich mit einem leicht schiefen Lächeln mir anschloss. (08.01.2004)

In part one, Arnie promised that he’d be back. And he kept his word like a real gentleman. But the stumbling block here is the sticky epilog which I have never come to terms with (and have no plans of doing so in the future) and this also applies to the special effects which are unusually frequent for Cameron. P.S.: This is one of the few movies that HD is detrimental to. The picture is so crystal clear that in most stunt scenes you can easily recognize Arnold’s stand-in, who really doesn’t look much like him. (08.01.2010)

What can I say other than praise. Right from the first viewing, I encountered an extended version, and those 154 minutes are absolutely unique at first sight. I've never liked Arnold as much as here, and Cameron's explosive ego I accept without question. Exciting action, amazing tricks, one of the best villains I've ever seen, and the Terminator reloading a shotgun with one hand. (24.05.2006)

Because The Terminator was a clear success with the audience and the revenue was, in one word, magnificent, the production studio decided to use its reputation to make a sequel, which was handled by almost the same crew as in the case of the first one, with the exception that William Wisher Jr. helped Cameron with the screenplay instead of Anne Hurd. Both main characters were portrayed by the same actors as in the first film, with the addition of Edward Furlong alongside Linda Hamilton as the future leader of the human resistance against the rule of machines. This fourteen-year-old boy was chosen in an audition from 1,400 applicants and received an unbelievable 30,000 dollars for his role. Unlike the first film, the sequel had a significantly larger budget, which allowed Cameron to come up with the concept of the liquid Terminator, an idea he had already thought of in the first film. However, at that time, he could not realize the idea due to insufficient visual effects technology and a limited budget. Unlike the gritty and stylish first film, the sequel is considerably more mainstream, and the altered character of the Terminator reflects that. Audience favorite Arnold Schwarzenegger was no longer meant to be a tough killer, but a robot yearning to understand human emotions, effectively becoming a positive character. On the other hand, Linda Hamilton portrayed Sarah Connor as a woman marked by her past, who was significantly tougher and more cynical. The unique innovation was the T-1000 robot, for which Robert Patrick found his role of a lifetime. The special effects required an investment of 25 million dollars, but it was well worth it in terms of revenue. The screenplay once again played with a clever time loop and even utilized the remains of the original terminator from the first film. Given that the sequel is just a safe bet and lacks the originality and rawness of the first installment, my rating is slightly lower. The second film was a safe bet for the director and producers, albeit one lined with dollars and therefore grandiose. Overall impression: 75%. (18.01.2008)

The best action movie ever made. It’s got exactly the right amount of everything. Action and emotions are marvelously worked into a fantastic story which paints a chilling picture of the future. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who this time is on the other side of the barricades than in part one, gives the best performance of his acting career. The special effects are perfect (decent even for today’s standards) and maybe that’s why the runny Robert Patrick is even more terrifying than his predecessor. Terminator 2 is one of the movies that changed the history of cinema. It’s embedded deep in everybody’s memory and will remain there for many years to come. My personal Top 20. (20.11.2006)

A deep idea, the best action, Arnold at his most likeable, James Cameron at his best. T2 is a classic that will hardly ever be surpassed within the genre. (08.11.2003)

A seminal film, not only in science fiction, but in cinema as a whole. The fastest 150 minutes of my life, the most entertaining and at the same time most stylish action flick in history, better than anything by Spielberg or Ridley Scott. The story is again simple, but memorably upgraded with chilling flashforwards, a dash of perfectly workable value philosophy ("I swear I won't kill anyone") and of course the duel between two fantastic movie characters – the sinister machine, who gives you goosebumps and ranks among the best villains ever, and Arnold, who is more than just cool, and his building human relationship with John Connor is the biggest highlight of the whole film. The inimitable and touching finale only underlines all the genius. I'd probably propose to Cameron if I happened to meet him somewhere .... I just wouldn’t be able control myself. :)) (18.04.2022)

The second installment of The Terminator was the pinnacle of Cameron's career at the time, mainly because he managed to completely refine the script into the perfect crowd-pleaser. In his previous three films (Piranha II doesn't count), you can feel that he had to force a lot of things and therefore they felt more auteur, idiosyncratic, and innovative. In Judgement Day he already knew exactly what to add, what to trim, what to emphasize, what to cut. It's technically competent, but what can we say, it lacks heart. Suddenly we've got comic figures, a badass villain, would-be on-the-spot musings about humanity, and an jacked-up Linda Hamilton whose character is pretty much written as a militant feminist for no other reason than Cameron had been getting big props thus far for how he'd been working with female protagonists and their abilities to make it in a man's world. After all, he himself said in the 80s that he himself doesn't understand how the film industry can ignore the 50% of moviegoers who are still 80% deciding which film to see. (28.11.2017)

A great film. The second installment was definitely not a disgrace to the first one. It was just as good, and, thanks to more advanced special effects, it might have even surpassed it in quality (although I’m not sure if that’s even possible). The cast was excellent and both Terminators were extremely convincing. (13.09.2016)