Metascore

Generally favorable reviews - based on 16 Critics What's this?

User Score

Universal acclaim- based on 238 Ratings

  • Starring: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Linda Hamilton
  • Summary: In a future, war-ravaged Los Angeles in which the machines have taken over the earth, a faction of human rebels led by an adult John Connor do battle with the cyborgs. Two "intelligent machines" have been dispatched to the past, one -- a replica of the Terminator model T-800 which dominated the original film -- to protect the young Connor, the other -- a shape-shifting metallic T-1000 -- to kill him. Expand
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 12 out of 16
  2. Negative: 2 out of 16
  1. Terminator 2 imagines things you wouldn't even be likely to dream and gets these visions onto the screen with a seamlessness that's mind-boggling. [3 July 1991, Daily Datebook, p.E1]
  2. Reviewed by: Kim Newman
    80
    No-one can walk out of this and say they didn't see the whole hundred mil up there on the screen in exploding vehicles, wrecked buildings, monster effects and sheer sweaty action.
  3. All the virtues of the original... are present here, though when Cameron tries to milk some sentiment out of the "personality" and fate of his top machine he comes up flat and empty, and the other characters are scarcely more interesting.
  4. This tirelessly violent, ultimately exhausting film has the utter sincerity of all good science fiction, and a lot more flair than most, but it suffers from a certain confusion of purpose. In the end, it amounts to quite the pistol-packing plea for peace.

See all 16 Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 52 out of 54
  2. Negative: 1 out of 54
  1. BenS.
    10
    Maybe the critics don't like this one, but for viewers it is first class entertainment.Great action and special effects keep you on the edge of your seat for the entire movie. Classic - the best in the series. Watch it - it's hard not to have a great time. Expand
  2. Probably famous for being one of the few movies out there that is better than it's predecessor, this is one movie that I think is actually not as great as the last one. Allow me to explain. The first one I thought had better subtext about war and the dangers of technology, this one however does still have bits of that located in it somewhere, but is more focused on trying out new types of effects. Not that's bad, this has some of the best action out there. Some of the things I am disappointed about is the opening, it's the same as the last one, but doesn't have that same flare that it had. The effects overall in this film are quite entertaining and are still pretty good for todays standards. Arnold is still good, for not showing emotion, but the scenes where they try to insert humor for him don't always work. Unfortunately I think that this is one of Arnolds last movies that he stars in and does well, afterwards is a steady decline. The main cast does pretty well to, definitely some believable characters. The villain is really good in this, even though it's a clone of Arnolds performance in a way, he's very imposing and at times scary. This is definitely a awesome movie, but compared to the last one it's just not as well written. Expand
  3. Against the grain of what so many other people think, I don't really like JUDGMENT DAY anywhere near as much as THE TERMINATOR. It has too many unnecessary special effects. If just those had been edited to different ones / taken out completely (i.e. a Terminator coming out of the floor looking like a blob of checkers in the shape of a human body), this film would have been flawless. Expand
  4. From watching this movie I thought the graphics were **** and that they could of done better with the ending it's just them distorting the chips in liquid that completely does NOT look like actual melted metal. So PipeBomb!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Expand

See all 54 User Reviews

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