Review of Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) by Richard F — 11 Sep 2014

This film was massively disappointing to me. The original was such a masterpiece that my hopes for the sequel were just too high. Gone was the grit, darkness, and understatement of the original, replaced with a glossy overproduced clunky script and slathered with corporate marketing to kids.

This was a HappyMeal sequel. The most interesting character was Sarah Connor and her transformation from soft waitress to military commander was the highlight. However, even that was spoiled by the fairly cheesy emotionalism of the scene where she confronts the scientist in his home.

Whenever a serious film gives a 12 year old or so a major part you know it's not going to be very good and the decision was made for marketing (as is so obvious with a crassly commercialized film like Star Wars Episode One).

I have nothing against little kids in films, but they really are best in films that are made for kids. Too many productions try to appeal to everyone and slather on a load of peripheral marketing (like HappyMeals), yielding a soft overproduced TV movie quality result.

The sequel should have been more gritty, not less. Why weren't we in the future, after the nukes?