Terminator 2: Judgment Day

It's quite a testament to James Cameron that TERMINATOR 2: JUDGMENT DAY still appears ground breaking over thirty years later.   Even more remarkable is that its early examples of computer generated imagery look better than just about anything of its kind today.  Unstinting efforts at perfection have long been synonymous with the director, leading to acrimony with his actors and crews, but whatever behind the scenes tsuris that had unfolded his movies look and often are breathtaking.  Dramatically? Certainly weaker by comparison, even when the emotional stakes are extremely high (TITANIC).  Such concerns tend to fade in the moment, and here, work out a bit better.

This 1991 sequel really ups the ante, but never feels like a desperate attempt at outdoing the original magic.  It also allows the terminator, seen in the original 1984 film as a relentless threat, to be more human this time out.  In another iconic performance, Arnold Schwarzenegger returns as a seemingly unstoppable android, but now the T-800 has been sent from the future to find and protect young John Connor (Edward Furlong), who will one day far into the future lead the resistance against the all controlling, omniscient Skynet - Artificial Intelligence that in turn has sent its own, more advanced model to take Connor out.  The T-1000, an even more unstoppable, shape shifter made of liquid metal, usually taking the form of a traffic cop, played with stone cold malevolence and studied facial and body calisthenics by Robert Patrick.

Between amazingly orchestrated, hair raising chases (which are only beginning with that incredible semi vs. bike and motorbike bit in the spillway), John will teach the T-800, who must follow his commands, to act with compassion.  John's mother Sarah (Linda Hamilton), who's become a violent renegade out to prevent Skynet's eventual takeover of the world, will note that the android is more of a father figure to her son than any human she's encountered.  Cameron and co-screenwriter William Wisher develop this perfectly, lending a soul to the hard sci-fi and increasingly elaborate set pieces.  

Which are astonishing and creative, especially involving the T-1000's many incarnations.  Kudos to Industrial Light and Magic and the Stan Winton Studio.  Plenty of imagination at work, a triumph of  then-new CGI and advanced prosthetics.  Cameron also successfully melds action and horror during relentless pursuit and confrontation scenes.  There's something in T2 for almost everyone.