Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)

The future leader of the human resistance spends a good chunk of Terminator 2 teaching a killing machine how to smile and use slang. That’s the weak spot. Edward Furlong’s John is loud and whiny in exactly the way real kids are, which is accurate and still kind of grating, and the robot’s slang lessons get a little too cute. The rest is about as good as action movies get. Linda Hamilton turns Sarah Connor from a scared waitress into a woman doing pull-ups on a flipped bed in a hospital cell, the most intense glow-up in movie history. Robert Patrick’s T-1000 never runs out of breath and never blinks, and the liquid metal effects still look better than plenty of modern CGI. James Cameron stages a truck chase through a drainage canal like he’s inventing a new genre. A reported $102 million, and every dollar is on screen. A 9.6 because it’s the rare sequel that tops a great original. $40.87 says you try the T-1000 run down a hallway this week, arms pumping, face totally blank.

What works: Linda Hamilton’s ferocious Sarah Connor, Robert Patrick’s unstoppable T-1000, and practical stunts that still hold up.

What doesn’t: John Connor’s whining and the Terminator’s slang lessons get cute enough to undercut the menace in a few scenes.

Who it’s for: Anyone who thinks sequels are always worse and needs to be proven wrong in 137 minutes.