Preferred the 1st one then. Still prefer it now

vailsy

score 7/10

Don't get me wrong, this is a great film but it is much more child friendly compared to the first movie, and is more commercial

The biggest problem I have with it is that the whole Mexico thing goes on for far too long and the movie loses a huge amount of it's pace. I have never been able to fully engage with this movies second half for that reason. Granted the first film also slows down mid way-ish but for nowhere near as long, and we always feel that Sarah and Kyle are being relentlessly hunted and in considerable danger. Indeed, they are attacked immediately after and so the pace continues

In Judgement Day we know the characters are in a place of relative safety at this point in the movie and the feeling of pursuit is well and truly lost from thereon in

I much preferred Arnie as the bad Terminator, and find a lot of the comedic aspects of this sequel goofy, taken to a further extreme in the third outing. They also date the film further

I feel that the first movie has strangely aged better than this one. It is set firmly in the 80's but without all the stupid guns and roses and other obvious 'cultural' references. The liquid metal thing while amazing at the time would let's be honest, look a little crap to young eyes I'm sure. The opening sequence is still brilliant

The sound in Judgement Day is unbelievably good. All the weapons sound fantastic and full of character, especially the grenade launcher, mini-gun and the T1000's Beretta. Although I did prefer the delayed style heart beat effect in the first one which intensified the tension and was a very clever audio cue. They use a similar device in Judgement Day but it's not nearly as good

A great movie that absolutely shouldn't be missed, but I find The Terminator stands up much better to repeated viewing

vailsy 26 June 2011

Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw2449257/