Recent headlines about the integration of artificial intelligence and “autonomous lethality” into the “kill chain” of modern warfare add a frisson of topicality to Terminator 2: Judgment Day, James Cameron’s tale of time-travelling robot assassins on a mission to change humanity’s future.

The real buzz here, however, comes from the new soundtrack by Belgian techno producer Peter Van Hoesen, performed live by players from Melbourne Electronic Sound Studio (MESS).

Hear My Eyes: Terminator 2. Photo © Simon Aubor

It is not the easiest brief. The thundering martial drumbeats, synthetic fanfares and Jaws-like motifs of composer Brad Fiedel’s original score are, for many, as iconic as Arnold Schwarzenegger’s catchphrases. Some took to social media after the premiere at Melbourne Recital Centre to air their views, which ranged from “absolutely flipping bonkers great” to accusations of outright butchery.

Van Hoesen – who, incidentally, describes Fiedel’s music as “fantastic” – hasn’t thrown the cyborg out with the bathwater. His pulsing beats may be techno, but the soundtrack’s role in supporting the visuals is carefully observed. MESS’s synthetic palette, played on vintage instruments dating from the era the film was made (and earlier), feels tonally right for what is a very analogue movie, packed with jaw-dropping practical effects and stunt work.

A laser display designed by Robin Fox augments the onscreen spectacle. The “red-dot” rifle sight playing across the back of Cyberdyne engineer Miles Dyson (Joe Morton) is mirrored by one that shoots across the auditorium from the rear mezzanine. Later, when the T-1000 (Robert Patrick) freezes in liquid nitrogen and shatters, the space above the audience erupts into dazzling shards of laser light.

Hear My Eyes: Terminator 2. Photo © Simon Aubor

We are not in a cinema, of course. The projection equipment here lacks the punch of the biggest movie theatres, but City Recital Hall’s excellent sound system handled everything the MESS performers – Mat Watson, Kat Stathis, Rachael Kim, Madeleine Davey and Gus Franklin, arranged along a “liquid metal” desk beneath the screen – could throw at it.

In the end, Van Hoesen’s score works because it doesn’t try to outgun the original so much as rewire it. Purists may still prefer the original, but heard this way the film acquires a welcome new sheen.

Hear My Eyes presents Terminator 2: Judgement Day at the Canberra Theatre Centre, 18 and 19 March.