Terminator 2: Judgment Day 1991

Dave Kehr, Chicago Tribune: The pathos of the film is the pathos of its leading character -- it is a magnificent machine, but a machine it remains. Read more

Gene Siskel, Chicago Tribune: Best of all, though, the level of tension in the film is palpable because we can`t figure out how Arnold is going to terminate the Terminator. Read more

Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: More elaborate than the original, but just as shrewdly put together, it cleverly combines the most successful elements of its predecessor with a number of new twists to produce one hell of a wild ride. Read more

Jay Boyar, Orlando Sentinel: Terminator 2 does work viscerally, however, and with this kind of movie, that's really what counts. No problemo. Read more

Carrie Rickey, Philadelphia Inquirer: Inside Terminator 2 beats a human heart. But its soul is that of a killer machine. Read more

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: "The Terminator 2" is movie-making on a massive scale, packed dense with spectacular touches that are too many to describe - escape scenes, helicopter stunts and huge explosions. Read more

Michael Upchurch, Seattle Times: Schwarzenegger is in impeccable deadpan form, milking his tough-guy image for all it's worth and getting laughs out of the Terminator's wooden parroting of slang ("No problemo" probably will be a catch-phrase to reckon with this summer). Read more

Janet Maslin, New York Times: Mr. Cameron has made a swift, exciting special-effects epic that thoroughly justifies its vast expense and greatly improves upon the first film's potent but rudimentary visual style. Read more

Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader: As a fancy mechanism fueled by the pleasure of watching legions of people and equipment being summarily destroyed, this is pretty hot stuff. Read more

Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: Terminator 2 is a state-of-the-art action movie, all right: It gets you thinking that the most reasonable thing might just have been to blow everyone away. Read more

David Ansen, Newsweek: For all its state-of-the-art pyrotechnics and breathtaking thrills, this bruisingly exciting movie never loses sight of its humanity. That's its point, and its pride. Read more

Terrence Rafferty, New Yorker: The picture is full of spectacular action sequences and dazzling special effects, but the narrative doesn't have the snap of the original's: it's lumbering and monotonous, and it carries a heavy-handed anti-nuke message. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: Few films have matched it within the science fiction genre for sheer white-knuckle exhilaration. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: Nobody, I think, will complain that it doesn't have enough action. Read more

Peter Travers, Rolling Stone: It's Cameron's show; he's the reigning king of movie pow, with dark wit and a poet's eye for mayhem. T2 cost a reported $100 million, and you can actually see where the money went. Read more

Richard Corliss, TIME Magazine: A humongous, visionary parable that intermittently enthralls and ultimately disappoints. T2 is half of a terrific movie -- the wrong half. Read more

Geoff Andrew, Time Out: Structured as a simple chase, the story sags midway, but the first hour and last 30 minutes display an enjoyably relentless bravura. Read more

Variety Staff, Variety: Arnold Schwarzenegger is more comfortable and assured here than the first time around, reprising a role so perfectly suited to the voice and physique that have established him as a larger-than-life film persona. Read more

Joe Brown, Washington Post: Brutally beautiful, darkly comic sci-fi Read more

Hal Hinson, Washington Post: It's a tank of a movie, big, powerful and hard to resist. Read more