Terminator 2: Judgment Day
Caution. Age: 18+. A Catholic review of this movie for parents.
Our review
Lumen's widest split between craft and content: an all-time action masterpiece whose moral spine is surprisingly strong -- a boy teaching a machine 'you can't kill people,' Sarah stopped by mercy at Dyson's house, a machine's self-sacrifice -- wrapped in severe violence, heavy profanity including repeated abuse of the Holy Name, and a cosmology with a Judgment Day but no Judge. Adults can watch with discernment; formation it is not.
For parents
Adults, or 16+ with a parent at most. Three conversations: John's 'you can't kill people' is the Fifth Commandment from a child's mouth; Sarah lowering her rifle at Dyson's house shows mercy defeating she-becomes-what-she-hunts consequentialism; and 'no fate but what we make' is the film's real creed -- ask what changes when Providence, not just willpower, holds the future. Name the abuse of God's name for what it is; hearing it casually is how kids learn it.