Sorry for the delay :)
Terminator 2
Arnold Schwarzenegger, Linda Hamilton, Edward Furlong, Robert Patrick. Directed by James Cameron.
This is the second time I'm putting in the second installment of a movie series but, again, like Star Wars, this sequel was better than its predecessor. In this Terminator story, the cyborg (Schwarzenegger) that had previously stalked Sarah Conner (Hamilton) and tried to kill her has now returned to protect her son (Furlong) from another time traveling cyborg who is intent on killing him (Patrick). I think the main appeal to this movie over the first one is that one of the cyborg's is on the human's side. It's a long-held tradition in movie watching that audiences love to see big, powerful machines on the good side and on the bad side. It is also interesting to watch Furlong's character grow to love the cyborg, even as the movie resolutely stays away from over-sentimentalizing the machine by having him develop emotions - this machine is a machine all the way to the end. The acting is good (if you can call Schwarzenegger 'acting'), and it is always admirable to have such a strong female lead as Hamilton’s Sarah Conner (this was also one of the strongest points in the first movie). Robert Patrick is fittingly robotic, as well, which may seem like a weak compliment but it's not. It must take a lot of restraint to play a machine when so many actors would be tempted to deepen the role through emotional reactions or human traits. On a side note, simply because I chose part 2 to list does not mean the original Terminator should be skipped over - both are integral to the plot and both are very good movies. Make it a night and watch both.
Terminator 2
Arnold Schwarzenegger, Linda Hamilton, Edward Furlong, Robert Patrick. Directed by James Cameron.
This is the second time I'm putting in the second installment of a movie series but, again, like Star Wars, this sequel was better than its predecessor. In this Terminator story, the cyborg (Schwarzenegger) that had previously stalked Sarah Conner (Hamilton) and tried to kill her has now returned to protect her son (Furlong) from another time traveling cyborg who is intent on killing him (Patrick). I think the main appeal to this movie over the first one is that one of the cyborg's is on the human's side. It's a long-held tradition in movie watching that audiences love to see big, powerful machines on the good side and on the bad side. It is also interesting to watch Furlong's character grow to love the cyborg, even as the movie resolutely stays away from over-sentimentalizing the machine by having him develop emotions - this machine is a machine all the way to the end. The acting is good (if you can call Schwarzenegger 'acting'), and it is always admirable to have such a strong female lead as Hamilton’s Sarah Conner (this was also one of the strongest points in the first movie). Robert Patrick is fittingly robotic, as well, which may seem like a weak compliment but it's not. It must take a lot of restraint to play a machine when so many actors would be tempted to deepen the role through emotional reactions or human traits. On a side note, simply because I chose part 2 to list does not mean the original Terminator should be skipped over - both are integral to the plot and both are very good movies. Make it a night and watch both.
