Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) TriStar/Action-Sci-Fi RT: 152 minutes Rated R (language, strong excessive action violence, criminal behavior by children, brief nudity) Director: James Cameron Screenplay: James Cameron and William Wisher Jr. Music: Brad Fiedel Cinematography: Adam Greenberg Release date: July 3, 1991 (US) Cast: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Linda Hamilton, Robert Patrick, Edward Furlong, Earl Boen, Joe Morton, S. Epatha Merkerson, Castulo Guerra, Danny Cooksey, Jenette Goldstein, Xander Berkeley, Michael Biehn. Box Office: $205.8M (US)/$520.8M (World)
Rating: *** ½
In summer ’91, Terminator 2: Judgment Day was the most highly anticipated movie of the season. Everybody and their brother wanted to see it. Studios were a little nervous because it was the first time anyone spent $100 million on a movie, $15 million of which went to pay Arnold Schwarzenegger to return as the T-800 model Terminator. With a price tag that high, it better make some serious bread at the box office. It did. It was the summer’s top-grossing movie with over $200 million domestic. It also confirmed Arnie’s status as an action superstar.
While it’s Schwarzenegger’s name above the title, the true star of Terminator 2: Judgment Day is the special effects. It’s the first movie to make extensive use of CGI, mainly for the liquid metal effect for its cyborg antagonist (Patrick, Die Hard 2), a T-1000 model Terminator that can take the shape of anybody and any solid object it touches- e.g. knives, swords, hooks, etc. When blown to bits, the pieces melt and reform into its human form. It’s a lot more difficult to terminate this Terminator. The effects in Terminator 2: Judgment Day are amazing. It took home four Oscars that year including Best Visual Effects.
Just like in the first movie, Arnie’s Terminator is sent from the post-apocalyptic future to deal with the John Connor situation. The boy (newcomer Furlong) is ten years old and lives with a foster family while his mother Sarah (Hamilton, Black Moon Rising) is in a psychiatric hospital. It seems that nobody believes her stories about robots coming from the future to destroy her and the world ending on August 29, 1997.
ANYWAY, Arnie’s mission is a bit different this time. He’s been sent to protect John from the T-1000 sent to kill him thus preventing him from leading the resistance against the machines that will take over the world on Judgment Day. Disguised as a cop, he goes looking for John. It’s a perfect cover given John is something of a juvenile delinquent.
Eventually, both Terminators track down John at the local shopping mall and a big chase involving a motorcycle and 18-wheeler ensues. This is when John finds out what’s going on. He orders his protector to help him break Mom out of the hospital which he does. Naturally, she’s skeptical of Arnie’s good intentions, but goes along with the plan anyway. After the trio obtains a cache of automatic weapons, they set off to stop the computer engineer (Morton, The Brother from Another Planet) who will create Skynet in the very near future. Throughout it all, the T-1000 continues his relentless pursuit.
For all its impressive visuals, I found Terminator 2: Judgment Day somewhat lacking in the story department. I get that nobody wants to see Ah-nuld play a villain anymore. Still, wouldn’t it have been cool to have him play both roles? Don’t get me wrong, Patrick is terrific as the unstoppable, unkillable T-1000. I just wonder how it would have turned out with Schwarzenegger playing a dual role. Now I’ve given this a lot of thought over the 30+ years Terminator 2: Judgment Day has been in existence. Initially, I wasn’t crazy about James Cameron turning the T-800 into a kinder, more humane Terminator. I felt it betrayed the original movie. It didn’t make sense for a cyborg without emotions to develop a bond with John. I’ve changed my mind on this point. I get now that it can be explained by John reprogramming him before sending him to the past-present. AI can evolve, can’t it?
The good thing about Terminator 2: Judgment Day is that is has a lot of big wild action sequences. They’re violent, definitely R-rated material, but it’s not all that graphic. In one sequence, multiple police cars are destroyed, a building blows up and a ton of ammo is expended yet the body count is low. Arnie’s Terminator only wounds because John orders him not to kill. It’s okay, he’s still totally bad ass. Check out the scene in the biker bar shortly after he arrives in the present, once again naked and in need of clothes. Let’s just say it’s a successful mission. He leaves with an outfit and a cycle. Hamilton, sporting a sexy ripped bod, gets to flex her muscles as a seriously bad ass heroine. Furlong is good in his first movie. He’s neither cloying nor annoying. He shows real potential.
Now I’m going to admit something that gets me funny looks from some people. I like Terminator 2: Judgment Day very much. It’s action-packed and visually impressive. Pre-King of the World Cameron directs with his usual skill and panache. The Judgment Day nightmare scene still blows me away. HOWEVER, I like the first movie better. It’s a B-movie that transcended its genre and became an A-list action classic. T2 is merely a B-movie with A-list production values. It’s bigger but not necessarily better. Throwing more money at a movie has no effect on that. Yet a lot of people, including my good friend GY, insist it’s one the best movies ever made. I disagree but everybody is entitled to his or her own opinion.
SPECIAL NOTE: This review is of the longer extended version of Terminator 2: Judgment Day. It includes extra scenes including a dream sequence where the late Kyle Reese (Biehn) visits Sarah in the hospital to remind her of her pivotal role in the events to come. I think Cameron made a mistake removing it from the theatrical version. It provides a human connection to the first movie.
