Terminator 2: Judgement Day (1991)

"It's hard to believe that this movie is nearly ten years old, and that the date it prophecies for the end of the world has quietly come and gone. So shove it into your machine and travel back to that bygone era when the pre-Mr Freeze Austrian Oak wasn't the biggest star in the world, and James Cameron wasn't yet confirmed as the über-director of big budget action and bigger emotions.

After a first reel that reprises almost exactly that of the original, the big revel is that futuristic robot Arnold Schwarzenegger has come not to murder survivalist mama Sarah (the truly buffed Linda Hamilton), but to learn how to be a caring father figure - without forgetting how to injure dozens of in-the-way extras - and avert a civilisation-smashing war.

The scenes with the boy and his robot are infallibly entertaining, but the show is still nearly stolen by walking special effect Robert Patrick, a liquid metal android in the shape of a creepy LA cop whose CGI metamorphoses are still, well, after we've all got fed up with the tech, among the most amazing effects ever filmed. It lacks the dark originality and tight storyline of the first film, but has more action, destruction, excitement and carnage (and tears) than 20 other competing science fiction films. Ah yes, the 1990s - that was a time...
KIM NEWMAN

First Published In: Empire no.131 (May 2000) p.138 (UK)

Visit Kim's Official Website at www.johnnyalucard.com