Terminator 2: Judgement Day – Skynet Edition Blu-ray review
He said he'd be back, and now he is, and in glorious high definition as we review Terminator 2: Judgement Day - Skynet Edition on Blu-ray...
Arguably one of the best known films of the 1990s and the best in the Terminator franchise comes to high-def.
There’s not much that can be said about T2 that hasn’t already been said but for those of you that haven’t seen it, here’s a brief summary of the plot. Following on from the first film, Sarah Connor has given birth to her baby John, who we learn is alive and well in the future, and continuing to lead humanity’s fight for survival against Skynet and its army of machines.
Skynet has once again sent a Terminator back to eliminate John and, therefore, the Resistance. Thankfully, Arnie’s got a new operating system (I think Cyberdyne Systems overtook Microsoft as the world’s dominant tech giant sometime around 1995 in the Terminator universe Imagine, a world without Vista!) and is now on our side, thanks to some reprogramming, because the machines have a new model, and he’s going to take some stopping.
First up, the film looks simply superb and the transfer to Blu-ray is perfect; it really looks as if it was shot with the format in mind and is a testament to the high-quality of the production. The only clue to this film being almost eighteen years old is the ginger mullet sported by John Connor’s friend early in the film.
The disc contains the original 1991 theatrical cut (137 minutes) and the Directors Cut (152 minutes). I prefer the directors cut, the added scenes (the Kyle Reese dream sequence, for example) improve the film without dragging things out, something a lot of directors cuts are guilty of.
Watching the film on my PS3 also gave me access to the BD Live. The menu works pretty well, with quite a bit of additional content, although, at the time of review, a lot of it was labelled as ‘coming soon’. There’s also interactive trivia quizzes that you can run alongside the film, as well as the usual smattering of audio and text commentaries.
The audio commentaries from James Cameron are pretty interesting, if a tad quiet, I had to turn up the volume pretty loud to avoid straining to hear it. There’s also the option to have picture-in-picture ‘making of’ footage, as well as the films story-board running while the film plays. The only problem I found with this was that the text was so small, it was hard to read, and this was on a thirty-six inch TV.
The film itself sounds superb; the audio transfer is top-notch and my Dolby 6.1 really added my enjoyment of the film and sent my wife into the room to find out what all the noise was about (which is worth an extra star in my book!).
The T2 themed THX ident is a nice touch, which made me smile.
Robert Patrick still rules as the T-1000 (although I do smirk when I think of Wayne’s World‘s spoof) and his sinister, fluid-like grace makes him the perfect foil for Arnie’s lumbering, Frankenstein-esque original Terminator. Linda Hamilton is excellent as Sarah Connor, who has undergone the change from waitress to determined and impassioned foot-soldier, ready to fight against the machines once again, her drive to protect her son only matched by the T-1000’s drive to destroy him.
Terminator 2 is a fantastic film and its great on Blu-ray. The effects have stood up really well to the test of time. The disc itself is nicely presented with great looking and easily navigated menus, combined with extras that make it a worth while purchase. If the upcoming Terminator: Salvation is a patch on T2 then we’ll all be happy.
Film:
Written by