Terminator 2: Judgment Day
Terminator 2: Judgment Day[a] is a 1991 American science fiction action film directed by James Cameron, who co-wrote the script with William Wisher. Starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Linda Hamilton and Robert Patrick, it is the sequel to The Terminator (1984) and is the second installment in the Terminator franchise. In the film, the malevolent artificial intelligence Skynet sends a Terminator—a highly advanced killing machine—back in time to 1995 to kill the future leader of the human resistance John Connor when he is a child. The resistance sends back a less advanced, reprogrammed Terminator to protect Connor and ensure the future of humanity.
Terminator 2: Judgment Day
- James Cameron
- William Wisher
James Cameron
- July 1, 1991 (Century City)
- July 3, 1991 (United States)
137 minutes
United States
English
$94–102 million
$519–520.9 million
The Terminator was considered a significant success, enhancing Schwarzenegger's and Cameron's careers, but work on a sequel stalled because of animosity between the pair and Hemdale Film Corporation, which partially owned the film's rights. In 1990, Schwarzenegger and Cameron persuaded Carolco Pictures to purchase the rights from The Terminator producer Gale Anne Hurd and Hemdale, which was financially struggling. A release date was set for the following year, leaving Cameron and Wisher seven weeks to write the script. Principal photography lasted from October 1990 to March 1991, taking place in and around Los Angeles on an estimated $94–102 million budget, making it the most expensive film made at the time. The advanced visual effects by Industrial Light & Magic (ILM), which include the first use of a computer-generated main character in a blockbuster film, resulted in a schedule overrun. Theatrical prints were not delivered to theaters until the night before the picture's release on July 3, 1991.
Terminator 2 was a critical and commercial success, grossing $519–520.9 million at the box office to become the highest-grossing film of 1991 worldwide and the third-highest-grossing film of its time. The film won several accolades, including Saturn, BAFTA, and Academy awards. Terminator 2 merchandise includes video games, comic books, novels, and T2-3D: Battle Across Time, a live-action attraction.
Terminator 2 is considered one of the best science fiction, action, and sequel films ever made. It is also seen as a major influence on visual effects in films, helping usher in the transition from practical effects to reliance on computer-generated imagery. The United States Library of Congress selected it for preservation in the National Film Registry in 2023. Although Cameron intended for Terminator 2 to be the end of the franchise, it was followed by a series of sequels, including Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003), Terminator Salvation (2009), Terminator Genisys (2015), and Terminator: Dark Fate (2019), as well as a 2008 television series.
Plot[edit]
In 2029, Earth has been ravaged by the war between the malevolent artificial intelligence Skynet and the human resistance. Skynet sends the T-1000—an advanced, shape-shifting prototype Terminator made of virtually indestructible liquid metal—back in time to kill resistance leader John Connor when he is a child. To protect Connor, the resistance sends back a reprogrammed T-800 Terminator, a less advanced metal endoskeleton covered in living tissue.
In 1995 Los Angeles, John's mother Sarah is incarcerated in Pescadero State Hospital for her violent efforts to prevent "Judgment Day"—the prophesied events of August 29, 1997, when Skynet will gain sentience and, in response to its creators' attempts to deactivate it, incite a nuclear holocaust. John, living with foster parents, also considers Sarah delusional and resents her efforts to prepare him for his future role. The T-1000 locates John in a shopping mall, but the T-800 intervenes, coming to John's aid and enabling his escape. John calls to warn his foster parents, but the T-800 deduces that the T-1000 has already killed them. Realizing the T-800 is programmed to obey him, John forbids it to kill people and orders it to save Sarah from the T-1000.
The T-800 and John intercept Sarah as she is making an escape attempt, but Sarah flees in horror because the T-800 looks identical to the Terminator sent to kill her in 1984.[b] John and the T-800 persuade her to join them, and they escape the pursuing T-1000. Although distrustful of the T-800, Sarah uses its knowledge of the future to learn that a revolutionary microprocessor, being developed by Cyberdyne engineer Miles Dyson, will be crucial to Skynet's creation. Over the course of their journey, Sarah sees the T-800 serving as a friend and father figure to John, who teaches it catchphrases and hand signs while encouraging it to become more human-like.
Sarah plans to escape to Mexico with John, but a nightmare about Judgment Day convinces her to kill Dyson. She attacks Dyson in his home but realizes she cannot bring herself to kill a person and relents. John arrives and reconciles with Sarah while the T-800 convinces Dyson of the future consequences of his work. Dyson reveals that his research has been reverse engineered from the CPU and severed arm of the 1984 Terminator. Believing that his work must be destroyed, Dyson helps Sarah, John, and the T-800 break into Cyberdyne, retrieve the CPU and the arm, and set explosives to destroy the lab. The police assault the building and fatally shoot Dyson, but he detonates the explosives as he dies. The T-1000 pursues the surviving trio, cornering them in a steel mill.
Sarah and John split up to escape while the T-1000 mangles the T-800 and briefly deactivates it by destroying its power source. The T-1000 assumes Sarah's appearance and voice to lure out John, but Sarah intervenes and, along with the reactivated T-800, pushes it into a vat of molten steel, where it disintegrates. The T-800 explains that it must also be destroyed to prevent it from serving as a foundation for Skynet. Despite John's tearful protests, the T-800 persuades him that its destruction is the only way to protect their future. Sarah, having come to respect the T-800, shakes its hand and lowers it into the vat. The T-800 gives John a thumbs-up as it is incinerated. As Sarah drives down a highway with John, she reflects on her renewed hope for an unknown future, musing that if the T-800 could learn the value of life, so can humanity.
The film's cast also includes Jenette Goldstein and Xander Berkeley as John's foster parents Janelle and Todd Voight,[12] Cástulo Guerra as Sarah's friend Enrique Salceda, S. Epatha Merkerson and DeVaughn Nixon as Dyson's wife Tarissa and son Danny,[13][14] and Danny Cooksey as John's friend Tim.[15] Hamilton's twin sister Leslie Hamilton Gearren appears as the T-1000 impersonating Sarah when Hamilton is also on-screen. Twins Don and Dan Stanton portray a guard at Pescadero State Hospital and the T-1000 imitating him.[4][13][16]
Other cast members includes Ken Gibbel as an abusive orderly;[17] Robert Winley, Ron Young, Charles Robert Brown, and Pete Schrum as men who confront the T-800 in a biker bar; Abdul Salaam El Razzac as Gibbons, a Cyberdyne guard; and Dean Norris as the SWAT team leader.[13][14] Michael Edwards portrays the John Connor of 2029, and Hamilton's infant son Dalton Abbott portrays John in a dream sequence.[5][13][18] Co-writer William Wisher cameos as a man photographing the T-800 in the mall,[19] and Michael Biehn reprises his role as resistance soldier Kyle Reese in scenes that were removed from the theatrical release.[20]
Reception[edit]
Critical response[edit]
Terminator 2: Judgment Day was released to general acclaim.[s] Many reviews focused on the state-of-the-art physical, special, and make-up effects, which were roundly praised as "revolutionary" and "spectacular", particularly those calling the T-1000 a "technological wonder".[t] Several publications wrote that Cameron's ability to realize cinematic action blockbusters was unmatched. Janet Maslin said that at his best, despite occasional lapses into melodrama, Cameron's work is akin to that of director Stanley Kubrick.[u] Both Maslin and The Austin Chronicle commented on the kindness and compassion in the film. The Austin Chronicle contrasted it to the lack of a moral message in The Terminator and Travers described it as a "visionary parable" but they, alongside others, criticized Terminator 2's "muddled" message about protecting the value of human life and peace by using extreme violence to prevent the use of nuclear weapons, war, and technological reliance.[v]
Reviewers generally agreed the narrative early in the film is stronger than the one near the end. Owen Gleiberman said the first hour has a genuine "emotional pull" and according to Roger Ebert, the initial concept of a boy finding a father figure in a Terminator that is learning to be human is "intriguing", but Gleiberman said the narrative weakens once Hamilton's character joins the group. Travers and Corliss wrote it stumbles after hours of relentless action and a "conventional climax". Despite this observation, Gleiberman praised the final battle between the T-1000 and the protagonists.[w] Empire's review and Terrence Rafferty found the film's narrative less satisfying and idea-driven than that of The Terminator. Gleiberman said despite it being an effective and witty thriller, Terminator 2: Judgment Day comes across as an expensive B movie when compared with "visionary spectacles" such as the Mad Max series and RoboCop (1987). Kenneth Turan said Terminator 2's action scenes succeed without the extreme gore and violence of RoboCop.[x]
Ebert and Maslin, among others, appreciated the twist on Schwarzenegger's public action-hero persona by making him a hero who does not kill his enemies. David Ansen and Glieberman found humor in the T-800's non-lethal methods and efforts to become more human-like.[y] Maslin and Hinson agreed that, as in The Terminator, Schwarzenegger's role is perfect for his acting abilities. Hinson said Schwarzenegger portrayed more humanity as a machine than he did when portraying normal people.[144][150] In contrast, Empire suggested that the change was a concession to Schwarzenegger's young fans, and Peter Travers chose the T-800's death as a "cornball" scene that is out of place for the actor and film.[146][149]
Several reviewers praised the T-1000 character for the combination of Patrick's "chilling" expressionless performance and the advanced special effects, which create an implacable, "showstopping" villain. Empire called the character "one of the great monsters of the cinema".[z] Gleiberman said the character's absence from much of the film's second act is to the film's detriment, and Hinson wrote that the T-1000 lacks any "soul" and thus a way for the audience to identify with it.[143][150] Critics generally agreed Hamilton portrays a "fierce" female hero with an impressive physique that lets her outshine another action hero, Sigourney Weaver's Ellen Ripley in Cameron's Aliens (1986).[aa] Other publications found Sarah Connor's narrations about peace to be "heavy-handed", overused, and "unintentionally amusing".[ab] Furlong was praised for giving a natural performance at a young age,[ac] and Hinson wrote that despite limited screentime, Morton made an impression.[150] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A+" on a scale of A+ to F.[154]
Accolades[edit]
At the 1992 Saturn Awards, Terminator 2: Judgment Day received awards for Best Science Fiction Film, Best Director (Cameron), Best Actress (Hamilton), Best Performance by a Younger Actor (Furlong), and Best Special Effects, as well as nomination for Best Actor (Schwarzenegger).[155][156] It also won Favorite Motion Picture at the 18th People's Choice Awards.[157] For the 45th British Academy Film Awards, Terminator 2 received awards for Best Sound (Lee Orloff, Tom Johnson, Gary Rydstrom, Gary Summers) and Best Special Visual Effects (Stan Winston, Dennis Muren, Gene Warren Jr., Robert Skotak), as well as a nomination for Best Production Design (Joseph Nemec III).[158]
The 64th Academy Awards earned Terminator 2 four awards: Best Makeup (Winston and Jeff Dawn), Best Sound (Orloff, Johnson, Rydstrom, and Summers), Best Sound Effects Editing (Rydstrom and Gloria S. Borders), and Best Visual Effects (Muren, Winston, Warren Jr., and Skotak), as well as nominations for Best Cinematography (Adam Greenberg) and Best Film Editing (Conrad Buff, Mark Goldblatt and Richard A. Harris).[159] It was the first film to win an Academy Award when its predecessor had not been nominated.[58] It received six awards at the 1992 MTV Movie Awards, including: Best Movie, Best Action Sequence ("L.A. Freeway Scene"), Best Breakthrough Performance (Furlong), Best Female Performance (Hamilton), Best Male Performance (Schwarzenegger), and nominations for Best Song From a Movie ("You Could Be Mine"), Best Villain (Patrick), and Most Desirable Female (Hamilton),[160] as well as a Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation (Cameron and Wisher).[161]
Post-release[edit]
Aftermath[edit]
Terminator 2: Judgment Day launched the careers or raised the profiles of its principal actors. According to industry professionals, Schwarzenegger became the top international star, ahead of actors such as Mel Gibson and Tom Cruise.[111] It also marked the start of a lasting friendship between Schwarzenegger and Cameron, who formed a "midlife crisis motorcycle club" and reunited for the action film True Lies (1994).[4] Cameron and Hamilton began a romantic relationship in 1991, married in 1997, and later divorced.[18][162] In 1992 Cameron was given a five-year, $500 million contract by 20th Century Fox to produce twelve films.[163][164]
Furlong became a highly sought-after actor, and Patrick found dealing with his new-found recognition difficult as people asked him to impersonate the T-1000.[4] Despite the film's success, Carolco reported 1991 losses of $265.1 million, which was caused by the financial problems of its other films and subsidiaries. Support from investors failed to prevent the studio from filing for bankruptcy in 1995 and its assets, including Terminator 2, were sold to Canal Plus for $58 million.[ad]
Home media[edit]
On December 11, 1991, Terminator 2: Judgment Day was released on VHS and LaserDisc.[170][171][172][173] It was a popular rental in the U.S. and Canada, with a record 714,000 copies shipped to retailers, and it became the best-selling rental by mid-January 1992.[ae] Varèse Sarabande released Fiedel's score, which spent six weeks on the Billboard 200 record chart, peaking at number 70.[97][180] The theme song "You Could Be Mine" peaked at number 29 on the U.S. Billboard 100, and performed well in the United Kingdom, Australia, Germany, Spain, and Canada.[181][182][183]
A "Special Edition" LaserDisc was released in 1993, featuring a 15-minute extended version of the film that restored deleted scenes, interviews with cast and crew, storyboards, designs, and unrestored deleted scenes. Cameron stated he did not use the label "Director's Cut" because he considered the theatrical releases to be definitive and the extended versions as opportunities to restore "depth and character made omissible by theatrical running time".[79][184] The theatrical version was released on DVD in 1997.[185] In 2000, an "Ultimate Edition" DVD was released, containing the theatrical and "Special Edition" cuts, and a new "Extended Cut", containing a scene of the T-1000 inspecting John's bedroom, and the alternate ending. Terminator 2 special-effects coordinator Van Ling supervised the release.[79][186][187] The "Extreme Edition" was released in 2003, featuring the theatrical and "Special Edition" cuts, a remastered 1080p image, Cameron's first commentary, and a documentary about the film's influence on special effects.[186]
Terminator 2 was released on Blu-ray in 2006, followed in 2009 by a "Skynet Edition" that contains the theatrical and "Special Edition" cuts, and commentaries with the cast and crew. This release includes a limited collector's set containing the Blu-ray, the "Ultimate" and "Extreme" editions on DVDs, a digital download version, all extant special features, and a 14-inch (360 mm) T-800 skull bust.[188][189] A 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray version that includes a standard Blu-ray and digital version was released in 2017. This release also offered a collector's option that includes one of 6,000 life-size replicas of a T-800 skeleton forearm, each signed by Cameron and individually numbered, the soundtrack, the theatrical, "Special", "Extended", and 2017 3D remaster cuts, and "Reprogramming the Terminator", a documentary that includes interviews with Schwarzenegger, Cameron, Furlong, and others.[190][191][192]
Themes and analysis[edit]
Themes[edit]
A central theme of Terminator 2: Judgment Day is the relationship between John Connor and the T-800, which serves as a surrogate for the father (Kyle Reese) he never knew. Cameron said: "Sure, there's going to be big, thunderous action sequences, but the heart of the movie is that relationship", comparing it to the Tin Man getting a heart in The Wizard of Oz.[4] As with Cameron's earlier film Aliens, Terminator 2 focuses on compassion and parental figures, depicting the T-800 as a relentless protector and father figure to John, against the equally relentless T-1000.[211] The T-800 is designed to emulate humans for infiltration purposes, but as it grows and evolves, its emotions become real and it learns from John to feel grief. The T-800 chooses to sacrifice its life to ensure the survival of everyone else.[4][58][72] In 1991 essayist Robert Bly wrote that older men were not offering suitable role models for young men, and in Terminator 2, Sarah denounces the many men in her past who failed to be a father for John, except for the T-800. Once its role is complete, the T-800 leaves John for his own good after stating that it lacks the emotions John must rely on.[212]
While John teaches the T-800 about humanity, his biological mother Sarah has become less human because of her knowledge about the future. Cameron said: "She's a sad character—a tragic character ... she believes that everyone she meets, talks to, or interacts with will be dead very soon".[4][77] This theme of machine-like humans links with Cameron's and Wisher's choice to make the T-1000 appear as a police officer, because thematically they believed it represents humans who should have empathy for others becoming more machine-like and detached from their emotions.[4][77] The SWAT team at Cyberdyne shoots Dyson, an African American, without warning. Cinephilia described Dyson as the most human character in the film, an intelligent, optimistic family man who represents real-world encounters between police forces and people of color, in contrast to their encounter with the Caucasian T-800, during which they warn him before opening fire.[19]
Following her escape from the state hospital, Sarah appears to embrace John but is actually checking him for injuries, forgoing any emotional attachment for the practicality of ensuring his survival and bringing about his destiny as a future leader.[33] The T-800 is portrayed as a better parent than Sarah, offering him undivided attention while Sarah remains distant and focused on the future rather than the present.[213] Philosophy professor Richard T. McClelland notes that Sarah's acceptance of the T-800 as John's surrogate father is such that she leaves it in control of John when she drives away to kill Dyson.[214] Sarah's dream about the nuclear holocaust that will kill six billion people, including her son, incites her to kill Dyson before he can complete the work that will bring about Skynet, but when the moment comes, she is unable to fully forsake her humanity and murder him with no emotion. Cameron described this as a question of humanity's worth if we abandon it to win the battle for its existence.[4][72] In contrast with the bleak, nihilistic themes of the first film, Terminator 2 emphasizes the concept of free will and the value of human life. Schwarzenegger quoted the film's line "no fate but what we make", saying people have control over their own destinies.[4][54]
Terminator 2 also comments on the use of violence. On its release, reviewers were critical of Terminator 2: Judgment Day's message about preserving peace through violence. Owen Gleiberman stated that "reckless indifference" to human life is intrinsic to the film but the T-800 maiming people rather than killing them potentially condemns victims of violence to a life of pain.[ah] Cameron described the film as the "world's most violent anti-war movie", and said it is about people struggling with their own violent natures.[72][77] In particular, Cameron had been concerned by the original antagonist T-800's status as a cultural icon and power fantasy as a lethal, unstoppable force of strength and power, and chose to redefine it in Terminator 2, retaining the power fantasy without taking lives.[72] Cinephilia said it is not morally possible to recover from killing people, so Terminator 2 is about redeeming the T-800 and Sarah.[19]
Analysis[edit]
According to Professor Jeffrey A. Brown, there was a growth of female-led action films in the wake of Aliens's success. Brown believes this reflected the increase in women assuming non-traditional roles and the division between professional critics—who perceive a masculinization of the female hero—and audiences who embrace characters regardless of gender.[215] The hyper-masculine heroes played by Schwarzenegger, Stallone, and Jean-Claude Van Damme were replaced with independent women who are capable of defending themselves and defeating villains in films such as Terminator 2 and The Silence of the Lambs.[216] Brown said these female characters often perform stereotypical male actions and have muscular physiques rather than feminine, "soft" bodies.[217] He considers Hamilton's undershirt to be symbolic of typically male action heroes such as John McClane and John Rambo, as well as women displaying masculine traits such as Rachel McLish in Aces: Iron Eagle III (1992).[218]
Despite the emphasis on strong femininity, Hamilton's character remains secondary to Schwarzenegger's. Sarah's efforts to defeat the T-1000 fall short until the last-minute intervention of the T-800. Author Victoria Warren said this allows the female character to be strong enough to be admired but not strong enough to undermine the male protagonist's masculinity.[219] Professors Amanda Fernbach and Thomas B. Byers said the rigid form of the T-800 represents reactionary masculinity that is in direct opposition to the gender-bending T-1000, which represents a post-modern, fluid nature that is outside traditional norms and in opposition to patriarchy and the preservation of the traditional family.[220]
Author Mark Duckenfield said Terminator 2: Judgment Day can be seen as an unintended allegory for the decline of United States industries against successful Japanese technology firms, with the cutting-edge T-1000 representing Japan against the older, less-advanced T-800. The U.S. industries, which were sometimes seen as villains during the economic boom of the 1980s, are seen as more sympathetic in the face of obsolescence, just as the T-800 is presented as friendlier and still powerful but no longer overwhelmingly so. Duckenfield considers the final scene, which takes place in a steel mill—a place of American industry—symbolic.[221] According to Warren, Terminator 2 reflects Cold War American values that emphasized principles of American culture, in particular individualism and rejection of government intervention. The institutions that the film's protagonists should be able to rely on, such as the government, the police, and technology, are the ones attempting to stop them because they do not believe in the protagonists' doomsday prophecy.[222]