Movie Review – Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)

In 1984 James Cameron released his science fiction marvel, The Terminator.

We were introduced to a world where machines launched an all-out war against human beings.  The humans eventually won the war at a cost of several billion lives.  One-way time travel was invented, and to try to stop the humans, the machines sent a killer cyborg back in time to kill the mother of the future leader of the human resistance.  The Resistance was also able to send a soldier back in time, and The Terminator focused on the soldier stopping the Terminator from completing its mission.  The soldier won at the cost of his own life.

We know that there’s much more to the story.  It was just a matter of time before the technology would allow for James Cameron to give us a proper sequel.

Terminator 2: Judgment Day was released on July 3, 1991, and it quickly broke ticket sale records.  James Cameron would continue this massive blockbuster trend in later years with Titanic (1997) and Avatar (2009).

Terminator 2: Judgment Day returns Arnold Schwarzenegger in the title role as the Terminator.  He’s a Series 800 Cyberdyne Systems Model 101 cyborg, but instead of hunting John Connor this model has been reprogrammed by the Resistance to protect the child.  Linda Hamilton reprises her role as Sarah Connor, now an energetic woman locked in an insane asylum who still fears for the future war with the machines.  Robert Patrick plays the role of the Series 1000 Terminator, a liquid metal, shape-shifting machine sent back in time to kill the child version of John Connor.  Edward Furlong has the role of John Connor, a 10-year-old boy being hunted by the T-1000 Terminator.  Earl Boen reprises his role as Dr. Peter Silberman, Sarah Connor’s psychiatrist in the asylum.  Joe Morton has the role of Miles Dyson, the engineer at Skynet responsible for reverse-engineering the technology left behind from The Terminator.

Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) – (c) TriStar Pictures

Terminator 2: Judgment Day opens with a horrific vision of the future.  We’re told that the machines launched an all-out war against mankind on August 29, 1997.  The initial round of battle and nuclear fire cost billions of lives.  The battle against the machines would last for another thirty years before a man named John Connor would lead the Resistance to ultimate victory.

Like in The Terminator, the machines send an advanced cyborg back in time to kill the leader of the Resistance.  This time around the killer machine is sent to the year 1995 to kill John Connor as he’s just a 10-year-old boy.

Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) – (c) TriStar Pictures

The T-800 (Arnold Schwarzenegger) Terminator arrives in 1995 and walks into a bar frequented by bikers.  Standing naked in the bar, the Terminator walks up to a biker of equal size and demands his clothes and his motorcycle.  Naturally, the biker refuses and his friends try to fight the Terminator.  The Terminator beats them all quickly and efficiently, astonishing the onlookers.  As he leaves the bar in biker gear, the bar’s owner tries to stop the Terminator.  The Terminator snatches the man’s shotgun and then steals his sunglasses.  Then he rides off in search of John Connor.

Elsewhere in town, the T-1000 (Robert Patrick) Terminator also arrives back in 1995.  A police officer is investigating the electrical disturbance caused by the time travel.  The T-1000 quickly kills the police officer and assumes his identity.  He then uses the police car’s computer to look up John Connor’s address.

That day we meet young John Connor (Edward Furlong) as he’s living with his foster parents.  John clearly has no respect for either of his foster parents, and when his foster dad tries to get him to clean his room, John just rides away on his dirt bike with his fellow punk friend, Tim.  They stop by an ATM machine and John shows his friend a trick to steal pin numbers and get some free money.  He explains that his real mother taught him a bunch of “cool stuff” before she was locked away in an insane asylum.  Once they have the cash the boys ride off to the local shopping mall.  While riding to the mall, the T-800 spots John and follows him.

Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) – (c) TriStar Pictures

Over at the Pescadero State Hospital for the Ciminally Insane, patient Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton) is currently imprisoned by Dr. Silberman.  She tried to blow up a computer company while becoming more and more fearful of the upcoming war against the machines.  Sarah is no longer the weak and timid waitress from the first Terminator film.  She made some friends down in Mexico and went through training, developing her body and learning how to fight back against people and machines.  She has a counseling session with Dr. Peter Silberman (Earl Boen) and tries to show that her mental health is improving, but Dr. Silberman doesn’t believe her story.  Sarah goes ballistic as Dr. Silberman orders her to stay incarcerated longer and keeps her away from her son.

Posing as a policeman, the T-1000 visits the foster home of John Connor.  He’s not there but his foster parents, Todd and Janelle, give him a picture of John for his reference.  They recommend for him to look for John at the shopping mall.  Now having a photo of the boy, the T-1000 heads to the mall to search for John Connor.

Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) – (c) TriStar Pictures

John and Tim are at the mall’s arcade when the T-1000 arrives and begins questioning the kids if they’ve seen John.  Tim spots him doing this and warns John to quickly flee the area.  The T-1000 spots John running out the arcade’s backdoor and pursues him.  John rounds a corner and is stopped by the T-800.  Thinking that the T-800 is evil, he tries to run but is blocked by the T-1000.  The T-800 tells John to get down and then fires his shotgun at the T-1000.  The T-1000 is down but not out.  John flees the scene as the T-800 and T-1000 have a brief fight.

Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) – (c) TriStar Pictures

John Connor hops on his dirt bike and flees from the T-1000.  The T-1000 steals a powerful tow truck and follows John into a dry flood control channel.  The T-800 follows along on his motorcycle and rescues John before he’s flattened by the T-1000.  The T-800 then fires at the tow truck’s tires and causes it to crash into a barrier.  There’s a powerful explosion as sparks ignite the truck’s leaking fuel.  The T-800 isn’t convinced that the T-1000 is dead, so he quickly leaves the scene with John Connor.  Moments later we see the T-1000 calmly walking out of the fire and resuming his police officer form as if nothing ever happened.

The T-800 is ready to hide John Connor from the T-1000 Terminator when John makes him stop the motorcycle.  John quickly learns that *he* is really in command of the T-800 as he makes him perform a series of tasks.  John then calls his foster parents to warn them of the T-1000, but the T-1000 is already there.  It assumed the identity of Janelle and tried to get John to reveal his location.  The T-800 mimics John’s voice and talks to “Janelle.”  They trick “Janelle” and John is told that his foster parents are dead.

Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) – (c) TriStar Pictures

The T-800 is ready to hide John Connor from the T-1000, but John refuses to go after learning that his mother is next on the T-1000′s list of targets.  He makes the T-800 go to the mental institution so they can rescue Sarah Connor.  Before going inside the building, John makes the T-800 promise not to kill anybody.  He does so and then uses somewhat brutal yet non-lethal tactics to fight everybody in their way.

The T-1000 had already arrived at the asylum and assumed the identity of one of the institution’s guards.  Mimicking the guard, the T-1000 is able to roam the halls in search of Sarah Connor.

Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) – (c) TriStar Pictures

Inside the asylum, Sarah Connor picks the locks on her restraints and frees herself.  She then escapes from her room, beats up a guard, and then takes Dr. Silberman hostage.  She’s able to distract the asylum’s staff and then make a run for the elevator.  When the elevator doors open Sarah is terrified at seeing the T-800 Terminator.  Thinking he’s evil, she runs away and is restrained by the institution’s staff.  The T-800 rescues Sarah from the staff and then from the T-1000.

Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) – (c) TriStar Pictures

There’s cool morphing action as the T-1000 “bends” himself to get through a locked door.  He then changes his hands and tries to break into the elevator with Sarah, John and the T-800, but a shotgun blast to the face stops him.  The T-1000 quickly reforms itself and then jumps onto the elevator as it’s descending to the garage.  They fight him and then steal a police car for their getaway.  The T-1000 tries to chase the police car, but he’s not quite fast enough.  The T-800 along with Sarah and John Connor drive off into the night.

The gang stops at a deserted warehouse for the night.  Sarah Connor receives some stitches and then makes some repairs to the T-800.  She’s still in disbelief that not only has the Terminator returned, but this time supposedly it’s there to protect John Connor from a different Terminator.

They steal a different car the next day and then drive down to Mexico to stay with Sarah’s friends.  While driving, the T-800 tells Sarah about Cyberdyne’s history for the next few years including the achievements made by senior engineer Miles Dyson.

They arrive at the home of Sarah’s friends out in the desert.  The people are survivalists and have an underground stockpile of weapons.  While staying down there and working on their vehicle, John Connor begins to bond with the T-800 and Sarah begins to see the machine as the perfect father for the boy.  The T-800 learns from John’s teachings and starts using new expressions and phrases.

Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) – (c) TriStar Pictures

One afternoon Sarah has a haunting vision of the future.  She sees herself with a young child as a nuclear explosion destroys Los Angeles, killing herself and everybody else.  It’s the beginning of the war versus the machines.  She wakes and makes the decision to kill Miles Dyson.  If he’s dead, then the Cyberdyne’s technological advances will be stalled indefinitely.  She grabs some weapons and takes off to Dyson’s house in California.  John sees her leave and makes the T-800 take them to Dyson’s house, too.

Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) – (c) TriStar Pictures

Sarah attacks Miles Bennett Dyson (Joe Morton) that night.  She’s able to wound him, but after getting inside his home to execute him, she stops.  Sarah is unable to pull the trigger.  Just then John Connor and the T-800 arrive and they pull Sarah away from Miles.  The T-800 tends to Miles’s bullet wound and then tells Miles and his wife why they are there and what Miles is ultimately responsible for creating.

Miles Dyson takes the bad news rather well and quickly agrees to destroy his research material.  He shreds his files and destroys his home computers.  Miles then tells them that they’ll have to go to Cyberdyne to finish destroying the research material.

Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) – (c) TriStar Pictures

The gang arrives at Cyberdyne and quickly subdues the security guard sitting at the front desk.  His co-worker later finds him bound in the restroom and calls the police department.  The building’s silent alarm disables Miles’s key card, so the T-800 blasts their way into the engineering department.  John Connor works on breaking the code to access the CPU and robotic arm from the T-800 Terminator from 1984 while the rest of them destroy computers and wire that floor of the building with explosives.

Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) – (c) TriStar Pictures

While they’re inside the building, nearly every police officer in the county arrives and surrounds the Cyberdyne building.  The T-800 uses a minigun to slow the police and delay them from storming the building.  He uses precision to destroy vehicles and send the cops running, all without killing or wounding a single police officer.

Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) – (c) TriStar Pictures

A squad from the SWAT team still assaults the engineering floor, and Miles is mortally wounded.  Sarah, John and the T-800 escape down an elevator just before Miles dies and triggers the detonator.  The explosives detonate, causing a tremendous fireball that destroys the upper part of the building.

Downstairs, the police use tear gas and try to pin Sarah, John and the T-800 inside the building.  The T-800 calmly walks to their firing line and uses a tear gas grenade launcher to attack the police.  Nobody is mortally wounded and the T-800 backs the SWAT team’s van into the building.  Sarah and John jump into the back of the van and they drive away.

Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) – (c) TriStar Pictures

The T-1000 arrives at Cyberdyne just a moment too late.  He hijacks the police helicopter and pursues the SWAT team’s van along the interstate.  There are some impressive low-level flying scenes as the T-1000 uses the helicopter to chase John Connor.  The T-1000 fires a machine gun at the van and Sarah Connor uses one to exchange gunfire.  One of the bullets hits Sarah’s leg, wounding the woman.

Both the helicopter and police van crash, causing the occupants to steal alternate vehicles.  Sarah, John and the T-800 climb into a small and low-powered pickup truck with the T-1000 steals a tanker truck full of liquid nitrogen.  The chase resumes and the tanker truck quickly catches the pickup.  The T-800 climbs onto the tanker truck, fires a machine gun point blank into the T-1000, and then makes the tanker truck crash.

Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) – (c) TriStar Pictures

The pickup and tanker trucks both crash into a steel mill.  The T-800 is thrown clear of the tanker, but the T-1000 isn’t so lucky.  The liquid metal Terminator walks through the liquid nitrogen and quickly becomes frozen solid.  The T-800 fires a bullet into the frozen T-1000, causing it to be broken into a million tiny pieces.  Unfortunately, the heat from the molten metal in the steel mill causes the T-1000 pieces to melt and bond back together.  John and the T-800 help Sarah run as the T-1000 forms back into human form again.

Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) – (c) TriStar Pictures

Sarah and John head off in one direction as the T-800 stays behind to fight the T-1000.  The fight between the machines doesn’t last long and the T-1000 uses its shape-shifting ability to its advantage.  It ultimately pins the T-800′s arm in a large gear, trapping him.

Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) – (c) TriStar Pictures

Sarah Connor spots the T-1000 and makes John flee.  She uses a shotgun to fight the Terminator, but her efforts are useless.  The T-1000 tortures Sarah and tries to make her call John.  She refuses.  Just as the T-1000 is about to execute her, the T-800 arrives and fights him with a steel pole.  Again, the fight doesn’t last long as the T-1000 is too advanced against the T-800.  The T-1000 impales the pole through the T-800′s chest, ramming it through the machine’s power supply.

But all isn’t lost.

The T-800 is able to reroute power from a temporary source and it powers up again.  It removes the pole from its chest and grabs a grenade launcher.

Meanwhile, the T-1000 disguises itself as Sarah Connor and tries to trick John.  It works until the real Sarah Connor arrives and shoots the T-1000 again with her shotgun.  She runs out of ammo and all seems lost until the T-800 suddenly appears.  He fires a grenade into the T-1000′s chest.  It detonates and the T-1000 is very distorted.  The cyborg falls over a railing and lands in a vat of molten metal.  This superheated metal destroys the T-1000.

Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) – (c) TriStar Pictures

John Connor tosses the CPU and arm from the 1984 Terminator into the molten metal, destroying those pieces as well.  The T-800 says there’s one more CPU that needs to be destroyed.  He climbs onto an iron hook and has Sarah Connor lower himself into the molten metal.  Tears are flowing as the T-800 sacrifices himself for the future of the human race.

Terminator 2: Judgment Day ends with Sarah Connor having a more optimistic view of the future.  Of course, Sarah and John Connor are still fugitives from the police, and we know that Cyberdyne was not ultimately defeated.  Judgment Day was merely delayed.

So is Terminator 2: Judgment Day any good?

This movie is absolutely fantastic and is a must-see for lovers of science fiction, action, and just good solid movies.  Of course, you’ll get more out of Terminator 2 after watching The Terminator.

T2 adds more of everything to the storyline involving the Terminators.  We see more of the future war along with an older version of John Connor in command of the Resistance.  We learn more about Cyberdyne and its advancements from the Terminator’s arm and CPU.  We have a slightly more advanced Series 800 Model 101 cyborg sent from the future to protect John Connor.  This version has a learning computer.  And of course, in T2 we have an even more advanced Series 1000 Terminator who tries to kill John Connor.

Apparently James Cameron wanted to have the liquid metal version of the Terminator in 1984′s Terminator film.  However, special effects technology was not around back then to make a believable version of the cyborg for the movie.  By 1991 computers were making revolutionary advances in animation for movies, and the technology finally allowed for the T-1000 Terminator in the sequel.

I still remember when T2 was released and everybody being blown away by its special effects.  There must have been a dozen different television shows showing the making of the movie and replaying the scenes where the T-1000 would split apart and form itself again.

One of the best things about T2 is that CGI was still in its infancy stages, and a lot of the movie’s action scenes used good, old fashioned stunt work.  That quality and hard work is evident throughout T2.Terminator 2: Judgment Day‘s success inspired additional movie sequels, a TV series, and a kick-ass 4D show at the Universal Studios theme parks.

Terminator 2 – 3-D: Battle Across Time is a mini sequel directed by James Cameron and starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Robert Patrick, Linda Hamilton and Edward Furlong in their respective roles.

Entering Cyberdyne’s headquarters, we’re invited to an open house showing the latest the company has to offer.  The public relations director welcomes us and shows us a presentation covering the recent developments and future of Cyberdyne and its future with Skynet.  During the presentation, Sarah and John Connor break into the feed and tell us what Cyberdyne really intends to do.  We’re advised to leave the building in ten minutes or suffer the consequences.  The public relations director stops the interruption and the Cyberdyne propaganda finishes.  She assures us that we’ve seen the last of those people.

Inside the main auditorium we put on our 3-D “safety” glasses and we’re given an example of the latest Cyberdyne robots, the “Terminators.”  The presentation goes well until Sarah and John Connor break into the auditorium from the ceiling.  As they’re walking around, the company’s logo transforms into the T-1000 machine and then comes to life in the theater.  There’s a bit of gunfire until the T-1000 gains the upper hand and activates the Terminators to target Sarah and John.  Suddenly the time portal opens and out comes the T-800 riding a motorcycle.  John Connor hops onto the bike and him and the T-800 ride back through the portal to the future.

At this point T2 3-D transforms from a stage show with live actors into a 3-D show with some in-theater special effects.  We watch as the T-1000 chases John and the T-800 through the destroyed remains of Los Angeles.  They outrun the T-1000 but crash when one of the flying machines attacks.  Inside a building, the T-800 destroys three mini Hunter-Killer flying machines.  After that a Terminator endoskeleton arrives and is defeated by the T-800.

John and the T-800 break into Skynet and have to defeat a massive defense mechanism known as the T-1,000,000.  This thing resembles a giant spider as it tries to attack John Connor and the T-800.  The Terminator is able to re-activate the time portal to send John back to the past.  The T-800 then uses a bomb to destroy Skynet.

Terminator 2 3-D: Battle Across Time is an outstanding show and definite must-see attraction when visiting Universal Studios.

Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) – movie trailer

If you haven’t already, go see Terminator 2: Judgment Day.  It’s an outstanding film that is well worth your time.

T-800 Terminator – “I swear I will not kill anyone.”