Zanobard Reviews

Brad Fiedel’s Terminator 2: Judgment Day is a perfect sequel score to the original, with its more action-oriented percussion-heavy style resulting in not only some killer action setpieces – see “I’ll Be Back” – and new themes that perfectly fit the franchise in the unbreaking T-800 and unrelenting T-1000 motifs, but also a main title rendition of the iconic main theme that to this day remains one of my all time favourite pieces of film music.

Like I said in my soundtrack review for The Terminator, Brad Fiedel’s iconic theme for the franchise remains one of my absolute all time favourites – and now we’ve arrived at the Terminator album where the very best version of that brilliant theme resides. Standout Cue “Main Title Terminator 2 Theme” is just brilliant, primarily because of how utterly emotionally impactful its playthrough of the titular theme is. Terminator at its heart has always been a highly emotive franchise – its solemn idea of an apocalyptic, darkened future ruled by machines is more relevant now than ever, and Fiedel’s theme, particularly this rendition of it, captures not only the boldness, grandiosity and the violent, battle-hardened nature of both the Terminators and the humans that oppose them, but also the solemnity and indeed sadness right at the heart of this grim potential future, and I’ll forever love it as a piece of music for that. Tense metallic punches of percussion open the track as the iconic five-note repeating motif for the franchise starts to play, and before long the moodily heroic synthesizer notes of the main theme itself then ring out, and the cue then perfectly balances epicness and sorrow throughout its two excellent minutes before the five-note motif crescendos tensely out.

With the main theme firmly reestablished, its time to talk about the instrumentation here. It sounds a bit more modernised now; the overarching compositional style of the album is of course still very much similar to that of The Terminator with heavy synth as the stylistic baseline, but it now sounds larger, and darker too with new, additional percussion very much central, and this is something the earlier “Main Title” cue does an excellent job of showcasing. This is very much a proper sequel score; bigger, bolder and louder. “Sarah On The Run” then continues this newly murkier tone with a tense percussive rhythm and woodwind-like synth notes for two and a half minutes of eerie ambience, before “Escape From The Hospital” introduces the first of the new motifs for the sequel film – the villainous T-1000 motif. It’s an unrelenting, pulsating theme with malevolence in its heart, and right off the bat its unnervingly repeating rise-and-fall nature is enough to unsettle as it debuts alongside frenetic strikes of high-pitched horror-like synth. Frenetic action then takes over in the cue’s back half, building to intense crescendos with the aforementioned stabbing synth notes now very much centre stage.

The gentler “Desert Suite” then leans into quiet electronic ambience with the occasional twang of strings, before “Sarah Dream” descends deeply into solemnity with sorrowful strings in its first half, and crashes of dramatic drums and eerily echoing vocals in its final minute. Tensions then start to build in “Attack On Dyson”, with a brand new motif for the T-800 – spoiler alert, a good Terminator this time – debuting at just past sixty seconds in. Gone is the unrelenting four-note hunter motif from The Terminator, instead now replaced with an echoing two-note metallic repetition that still sells the unstoppable nature of the titular Terminator pretty well, but also signifies this is a very different T-800 to that of the first film. Hints toward the main theme then echo ominously through the remainder of the cue, with solemn atmosphere taking prominence. Moody ambience then overtakes in “Our Gang Goes To Cyberdyne” with metallic punches of percussion playing alongside quietly thoughtful synth. A sudden burst of tense drums opens “Trust Me” with the T-800 motif playing loudly and dramatically alongside interspersed notes from the now reservedly epic main theme. The short “John And Dyson In Vault” then picks up the pace with the main theme playing centrally, surging in hope for the first time.

Downplayed electronic tension is the stylistic centrepiece of “Swat Team Attack”, with serene synthesizer notes playing worrisomely from around halfway through until a short atmospheric crescendo is reached followed by a brief hint toward the T-1000 motif. Said theme then continues malevolently into the start of the subsequent “I’ll Be Back”, until the poundingly metallic T-800 motif overtakes and dramatic, frantic action takes the reigns with a reprisal of the main theme hinting gently towards hope… before the horror-like T-1000 theme them returns to eerily close out the track. A pair of shrill, tensely horrifying action setpieces then follow in “Helicopter Chase” and “Tanker Chase” with the aforementioned T-1000 motif in aggressive pursuit throughout alongside increasingly frantic percussive punches and loudly dramatic synth. The pace quickens and anxiety rises rapidly in the latter cue particularly, building to a near-miss high-pitched horror-like crescendo which then leads directly into “Hasta La Vista Baby”. Here the unrelenting T-1000 motif rears its villainous head again opposite shrill vocals and synth notes, with a brief hint towards hope at the midpoint before aggressive percussion then thunders back into frame for the track’s back half alongside deeply moody, low-pitched vocals.

As the score – and the film – start to head into the finale, “Into The Steel Mill” dials up the tension considerably with angry bursts of brass-like synth and imposing percussive crashes. Emphatic, high-pitched vocals then join the aggressive percussion and tense synth notes in “Cameron’s Inferno” alongside worrisome hints toward the T-800 motif, with this same angrily in-your-face tense action style then continuing into “Terminator Impaled”. The T-800 motif isn’t done yet though, as it starts to get back up in the subsequent “Terminator Revives” together with the most heroic rendition of the main theme on the album. The percussion-heavy freneticism then returns in the cue’s back half alongside thunderously dramatic vocals, with the action finally drawing to an eerie close in “T-1000 Terminated” together with bursts of high-pitched and very horror-esque vocals and synth, and distorted electronics. Final track “It’s Over” then would actually have been the Standout Cue of the score had it not been for the flawless main title piece, as it contains the most rawly emotional rendition of the main theme since that cue – it hits you like a gut punch with a lengthy and beautifully sorrowful playthrough here as the T-800 sacrifices itself, and all-in you honestly couldn’t ask for a better cue to close out the album.

Overall, Brad Fiedel’s darker, more percussive and action-heavy score for Terminator 2: Judgment Day marks a pretty perfect sequel soundtrack to the more restrained, horror-like nature of The Terminator, and its flawless rendition of the iconic main theme in Standout Cue “Main Title Terminator 2 Theme” is such an impeccable cherry on top that I’m almost tempted to say it’s a better album overall. But in truth, I actually think both scores are equally pretty damned impeccable – where the first shines in unnerving but deeply atmospheric synth horror and emotional piano work, Judgment Day leans much more into action with the introduction of tense metallic percussive punches and deeper, meaner synth, resulting in some absolutely killer action setpieces – see “Trust Me” and “I’ll Be Back” for this epic stylistic thunder in action alongside excellent renditions of the main theme, unrelenting T-800 and pulsing T-1000 motifs – that lean towards heroism while never playing it outright, focusing instead on the darker, more restrained and solemn nature of Terminator, to amazing effect. With aggressive action being the focus of much of the score when the emotional moments do come they then hit like a truck, with the desperately sorrowful rendition of the main theme in “It’s Over” very nearly stealing the Standout show from the main title cue.

All-in, Judgment Day is the perfect more action-oriented sequel score to The Terminator, and its impeccable darkly dramatic setpieces alongside the more thunderous percussive-heavy use of the main theme makes it just as good as the original. If only Fiedel had scored more Terminator films.

Score: 9/10

Standout Cue: Main Title Terminator 2 Theme

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