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Terminator 2: Judgment Day poster

Terminator 2: Judgment Day

year 1991decade 90sdirector James Camerongenre Actiongenre Science fictiongenre Thriller

137 minutes

Cast

Selected cast credits · Film reference

Arnold Schwarzenegger The Terminator (T-800)
Linda Hamilton Sarah Connor
Edward Furlong John Connor
Earl Boen Dr. Peter Silberman
Joe Morton Miles Bennett Dyson
Jenette Goldstein Janelle Voight
Xander Berkeley Todd Voight
S. Epatha Merkerson Tarissa Dyson
Leslie Hamilton Gearren Sarah Connor double (T-1000 impersonation scenes)
Don Stanton Pescadero guard
Dan Stanton T-1000 imitating the guard
Michael Biehn Kyle Reese (scenes removed from theatrical release)

Terminator 2: Judgment Day | The Rewatchables

host Bill Simmonshost Chris Ryanhost Van Lathan
Explore episodeClose episode

Producer credits not yet identified.

Roger Ebert's review

In the discussion (3)
Approx. transcript time · 00:24:36Read transcript
  • Roger Ebert gave the film three and a half stars.
  • Ebert did not review Terminator 1, which was not screened for critics.
  • Ebert is quoted saying Schwarzenegger's genius as a movie star is finding roles that build on rather than undermine his physical and vocal characteristics.

Most Rewatchable Scene

Biker bar entrance; Galleria-to-truck chase; asylum breakout; Dyson home invasion; Joe Morton's death scene; liquid nitrogen truck; Arnold's farewell

In the discussion (19)
Approx. transcript time · 00:31:36Read transcript
  • Naked Arnold walking into the biker bar ('I need your clothes, your boots and your motorcycle' / 'You forgot to say please') is one of the great character intros; the bar fight could have run another minute.
  • Caught on TV during a soccer trip to Arizona: the stretch from John in the arcade as the T-1000 closes in, through the Galleria hallway shootout, the bike chase, the truck and Arnold's one-handed reload on the motorcycle, is called one of the most thrilling 20-minute sequences in movie history.
  • Audiences assumed Arnold was the villain; a final trailer reportedly hinted he was back for good, but in the theater it was a shock that he was the good guy.
  • A sister murmured in the theater about why they were making the supposed bad guy look cool with the glasses.
  • The Henry lever-action .410 was bought because of the movie ('That's how we do in Louisiana') and used to hunt about a hundred rabbits.
  • Nothing in Cameron's script is wasted: John's bank-machine hacking pays off at Cyberdyne and his video-game skill foreshadows leading the resistance.
  • The thermonuclear nightmare is called maybe the least rewatchable scene ever: for an 11-year-old when nuclear fear was real it was the most terrifying depiction on film, yet it was rewatched five times the night before.
  • Rewatching with a son who had just seen Terminator 1, the twist that Arnold is the protector landed as a fun reveal.
  • Springing Sarah from the asylum has many great moments: the T-1000 rising from the floor pattern and imitating a guard, Sarah's revenge on the orderly who licked her, 'Come with me if you want to live', the T-1000 walking through the bars as the theater screamed, and the puddle re-forming into his body.
  • The T-1000 has no Achilles heel; they waste ammunition just to slow him down, and had he been built faster rather than liquid, with a jet pack or teleporting, there would be no movie.
  • The attack in Joe Morton's house is called the single most frightening home-invasion scene of all time, so harrowing it almost crosses a line; after it Sarah is no longer the hero and emotions shift to Furlong and Schwarzenegger.
  • John shows leadership throughout: rescuing his mother against her orders, refusing to kill Dyson ('that's not what we do'), and getting Dyson's son out of the room; the film is about John becoming the resistance leader.
  • The scene where Joe Morton dies, holding the detonator, is one of the most memorable moments; the film has three of the best action scenes in any movie, with helicopter, motorcycle and big-rig stunts never tried before.
  • Seen at a Baton Rouge mall theater, the audience knew Joe Morton was not going to survive the moment he appeared, and he 'went out like a G'.
  • The liquid nitrogen truck explosion is a quick pick; shooting the frozen T-1000 was a huge mistake that let him reboot.
  • Arnold's death ('I know now why you cry, but it's something I can never do') should be corny but is choking.
  • The Galleria plus the LA river chase is chosen as among the most rewatchable scenes in action-movie history; big TVs reveal the stunt double on the bike, which is preferred to CGI. — Chris Ryan
  • Arnold reportedly worked about a month on the one-handed reload and once accidentally gave Edward Furlong a mild concussion; actors throwing themselves into meaningless skills is a Rewatchables theme.
  • Cameron keeps the geography clear, from the asylum layout to the truck landing in the bike chase, making it experience rather than spectacle; an obvious dummy on the car outside the hospital doesn't matter because the viewer is in the scene.

What’s Aged the Best?

Liquid-metal T-1000; hidden good-guy twist; Robert Patrick; cutting the Cyberdyne plot from Terminator 1; catchphrases; "It's in your nature to destroy yourself"; rat-boy John Connor; police as villains

In the discussion (17)
Approx. transcript time · 00:47:53Read transcript
  • The idea of an improved Terminator 2.0 made of liquid is fantastic.
  • Hiding that Schwarzenegger was the good guy during the run-up to the movie aged well.
  • Young Robert Patrick running and quickly murdering people with metal hands is a three-way tie for aged best.
  • Would Usain Bolt beat Robert Patrick? Why didn't the T-1000 morph into a sprinter like Michael Johnson or Carl Lewis?
  • Patrick reportedly took sprinting technique so seriously that he was catching the motor scooter and was told to slow down.
  • Robert Patrick is certainly one of the great movie athletes. — Chris Ryan
  • Patrick's later career (Cop Land, a key Sopranos role, action films) looked like an effort to escape the Terminator image; he reprised the role for one scene in Last Action Hero.
  • Teaching Arnold slang ('no problemo', 'hasta la vista, baby', 'chill out, dickwad') is a borderline rewatchable scene that shouldn't work but does.
  • This is one of the only movies helped by narration; narration usually signals script trouble, but her voice works here.
  • The narration is great and ties to the alternate ending.
  • Narration usually sucks but works when sparse, as in Stand by Me, Shawshank and Goodfellas. — Van Lathan
  • Destroying Cyberdyne was an idea cut from the first Terminator and left in its deleted scenes; Cameron banked it as the nucleus of T2, making that cut an aged-best decision.
  • 'Hasta la vista, baby' and 'I'll be back' became iconic pop-culture lines repeated even by a mother at the shopping cart.
  • The last aged-best pick is the Terminator coldly telling John 'it's in your nature to destroy yourself'.
  • The line hit close to home and made the movie a tough watch for a self-described neurotic, anxious Van; his father would side with the Terminator ('nah, he right'). — Van Lathan
  • Rat-boy John Connor, with the Public Enemy shirt, motocross bike, arcade scams and foster-parent friction, is a great conception of the future resistance leader; finding Furlong outside the Pasadena boys club was one in a million.
  • The police as the bad guys aged best: the film has a healthy skepticism about the police, and it flipped the heroic-cop mentality of Colors from two years earlier.

What’s Aged the Worst?

Edward Furlong's uneven performance; forgotten good-guy reveal; "Why do you cry" line; Furlong aging during the shoot

In the discussion (7)
Approx. transcript time · 00:55:01Read transcript
  • Furlong's performance is an uneven basketball box score, with a few threes, turnovers and LaMelo-like flashes, occasionally delivering a great pocket pass.
  • Furlong gives glimpses of what could have been one of the best if the consistency held, but creatively and personally could not get out of his own way. — Van Lathan
  • Two years earlier Leo from Growing Pains could have played John and taken it to another level; around 1985, River Phoenix or Christian Slater. Furlong was about 13 playing 10 and does not hurt the movie.
  • The Arnold-is-the-good-guy reveal aged worst in that nobody remembers how huge it was; nephews are instead surprised Arnold is the villain in the first film.
  • The 'why do you cry' exchange is corny and would have been cut despite its later payoff.
  • Furlong aged during the shoot: his voice broke and a growth spurt forced reshoots, looping, and standing in a hole to keep his height below Linda Hamilton's.
  • Little else aged badly; the movie is called pretty flawless and the others have nothing to add.

Recasting Couch

Leonardo DiCaprio as John Connor; Michael Biehn as the T-1000

In the discussion (4)
Approx. transcript time · 00:56:18Read transcript
  • A recasting-couch pick moved into aged-worst: two years earlier, Leo could have played John; earlier still, River Phoenix or Christian Slater.
  • DiCaprio as John would work by making him 13 and nudging the war to 2000, countered that the first film fixed the date.
  • Michael Biehn as the T-1000, out of respect for an under-appreciated glue-guy actor who was the hero of the first film and was off shooting Tombstone while everyone returned.
  • The pick is called porn for Chris, president of the Biehn fan club, and Biehn's appearance in The Mandalorian is celebrated.

Casting What-Ifs

Michael Biehn as the T-1000; Billy Idol; Blackie Lawless; Charlie Korsmo as John Connor; Denzel Washington as Miles Dyson

In the discussion (4)
Approx. transcript time · 00:58:54Read transcript
  • Michael Biehn was the first choice for the T-1000 in a role reversal, dropped as too confusing for viewers; it would have been too messed up for Sarah, though it could have been cool.
  • Cameron considered Billy Idol, dropped after a motorcycle accident left him unable to run, and W.A.S.P. singer Blackie Lawless, who was too tall.
  • Charlie Korsmo from What About Bob? was supposed to be John Connor but was filming that movie; he may not have read as a delinquent.
  • The Miles Dyson role was offered to Denzel Washington, who passed because all the character does is look scared and sweat; the panel debates whether pre-Philadelphia Denzel was already too famous.

The Joey Pants “That Guy” Award

Sarah Connor's doctor; twin security guards

In the discussion (2)
Approx. transcript time · 01:02:01Read transcript
  • The award has to go to Sarah Connor's doctor, who was also in the first film and whose name the speaker does not know.
  • The twin security guards, who popped up in the 90s, are added. John Connor's arcade friend is raised as the kid from Big, but that is checked as a different actor and the nomination is left unsure.

Half-Assed Internet Research

Rights purchase; true production cost; Fontana steel mill; Linda Hamilton's twin sister; elevator hearing damage; miniature Los Angeles; special edition footage; Rodney King proximity; dog-food sound effect; Stanton twins; Cameron-Hamilton relationship; crew T-shirts; Furlong eye injury

In the discussion (14)
Approx. transcript time · 01:06:18Read transcript
  • The film was delayed by CGI limits and a rights dispute: Hemdale owned half and didn't want a sequel, Carolco did, and Mario Kassar paid the struggling Hemdale $5 million for the franchise before it made 520.
  • 80s action producers seemed like arms dealers; Mario Kassar and Andrew Vajna were covered on the First Blood episode.
  • The shoot itself cost about $51 million inside a roughly $100 million budget because of payments to Arnold, Cameron and rights holders.
  • A national search picked the dormant Kaiser steel mill in Fontana, California for the climax.
  • Linda Hamilton's twin sister Leslie was used whenever two Sarahs appear.
  • Hamilton damaged her hearing firing the gun in the elevator after forgetting her earplug.
  • The nuclear nightmare used a large-scale miniature Los Angeles.
  • The special edition added 15 minutes, including Michael Biehn as Kyle Reese in a dream sequence.
  • The biker bar scene was filmed across the street from the Rodney King beating, on that same night, as Cameron told it.
  • The sound of the T-1000 passing through the bars was an inverted can of dog food oozing out.
  • The twin security guards were Don and Dan Stanton, also in Gremlins 2.
  • Cameron and Hamilton began a relationship during the film while he was divorcing Bigelow; they later married and divorced.
  • Cameron's perfectionism made crew members wear 'Terminator 3: not with me' shirts.
  • In one motorcycle take Schwarzenegger accidentally hit Furlong in the eye with the shotgun, stopping filming.

Apex Mountain

Arnold Schwarzenegger; Linda Hamilton; Edward Furlong; Robert Patrick; Robert Patrick's running; insane asylums; summer blockbusters as an event; Terminator franchise

In the discussion (12)
Approx. transcript time · 01:11:06Read transcript
  • Arnold Schwarzenegger is a yes, with agreement: after four straight hits and this, he could have been believed in anything, even as governor.
  • A son remarked while watching that Schwarzenegger was the best bodybuilder, a big movie star and then governor.
  • Linda Hamilton, Furlong, Robert Patrick and Robert Patrick's running are all yeses.
  • James Cameron is a no because his peak is still Titanic; Avatar is offered only to be contrary.
  • 1991 is an insane-asylum year with this and Silence of the Lambs, taking the title from One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.
  • Chin-ups are raised with Cape Fear from the same year; the answer is ambiguous.
  • No actor has sprinted better; Cruise runs in every movie but never did it like this.
  • Pre-CGI sci-fi is a no, with Aliens and Star Wars ahead.
  • Arcades may peak here after Tron and The Last Starfighter, the last time one worked in a movie, offered with 'I guess'.
  • One-liners get a maybe, with The Matrix's 'I know Kung Fu' as a rival.
  • This is Apex Mountain for summer blockbusters as an event; Speed as the first intentional summer blockbuster and Jaws as the unintentional first are debated, and T2 with Jurassic Park is the first movie onslaught of film plus prepackaged promotion.
  • T2 is also Apex Mountain for the Terminator franchise, since later time-travel sequels got convoluted and reboots never got back there.

Picking Nits

John's age; Sarah's age in 1984; single protector sent back; no police casualties at Cyberdyne; Terminator's self-termination

In the discussion (6)
Approx. transcript time · 01:16:20Read transcript
  • John is supposed to be 10 but feels like 13; 10-year-old boys are not that resilient and worldly.
  • Sarah being 18 in 1984 as a waitress with her own place seems a reach.
  • Why not send 25 people back to protect John? Rebutted: Cameron framed a Western of good gunfighter versus bad gunfighter, the film never opens up timeline logic, and it should just be enjoyed; the rebuttal is dubbed purist Chris Ryan.
  • No cops died in the Cyberdyne shootout, with Arnold's scan reading zero human casualties.
  • The Terminator movies may have invented the first-person-shooter view.
  • If Arnold can't self-terminate, why would he let Sarah Connor terminate him, and was his mission to protect John for life or only from the T-1000? He could have faked looking away and been shoved in.

Probably Unanswerable Questions

Sarah Connor's future; flipped liquid nitrogen truck; T-1000's regenerated clothes; Dyson's death and the future

In the discussion (6)
Approx. transcript time · 01:20:20Read transcript
  • Salvation, with Sam Worthington and Christian Bale, is preferred to Dark Fate, which is okay. — Van Lathan
  • Sarah Connor would not date again. — Chris Ryan
  • Jokes about her future include a blog railing at the government, a tamale stand in Mexico, fitness instruction and Orange Theory; the verdict is rough hang.
  • A flipped liquid nitrogen truck would have gone much worse in real life, and Terminator movies never have LA traffic.
  • How does the T-1000 regenerate with cop clothes when time travelers arrive naked? Nobody understands it.
  • Why didn't Dyson's death erase the future Terminators, the Marty McFly question? Terminator 3 and Dark Fate make Judgment Day inevitable, but T2's ending, and especially the alternate ending, suggests it was averted.

What Piece of Memorabilia Would You Want From This Movie?

Henry rifle; Public Enemy t-shirt; robot arm in the glass case

In the discussion (2)
Approx. transcript time · 01:23:51Read transcript
  • The actual Henry rifle, one of the coolest weapons in movie history; the family bought one. — Van Lathan
  • The Public Enemy t-shirt and the robot arm from the glass case for the living room are also wanted, the arm joked to hold a Tatum jersey.

More from the conversation

Spotify archive promo and ads, then a recap of First Blood and The Terminator episodes and the vintage T2 trailer cold open.
Approx. transcript time · 00:00:00Read transcript
The movie was caught on television over the break; it has been 30 years since release, and it is called the second-greatest sequel of all time behind Godfather 2.
Approx. transcript time · 00:02:14Read transcript
Watching right after The Terminator shows how the two films bookend each other; T2 improves the original and is described as closer to Cameron's original vision once budget and effects constraints were lifted.
Approx. transcript time · 00:02:40Read transcript
Asked whether it is sci-fi or horror, the answer is that the T-1000 was more frightening on this rewatch than in childhood.
Approx. transcript time · 00:03:08Read transcript
Godfather 2 is a better film, but T2 is argued to be the best sequel of all time and the best action movie of all time because it broke new ground and later Terminator movies copy it more than the original.
Approx. transcript time · 00:03:34Read transcript
It is called easily the most important action movie of all time; expectations were enormous after seven years and with Arnold the biggest star in the world, and the film exceeded them.
Approx. transcript time · 00:04:30Read transcript
Reading Premiere Magazine about the planned effects, then seeing the T-1000's bullet holes seal up in the theater, was an incredible 'how did they do that' moment.
Approx. transcript time · 00:04:56Read transcript
The effects hold up and feel more tactile than many modern green-screen superhero movies because of the mix of practical and special effects.
Approx. transcript time · 00:05:49Read transcript
The summer of 1991 on MTV was dominated by the Guns N' Roses video and T2 promotion; with Smells Like Teen Spirit arriving in September it felt like the turn from the 80s to the 90s.
Approx. transcript time · 00:06:40Read transcript
The soundtrack/event-film synergy of that era is gone; pop culture is now too big for a single film to take over, and Last Action Hero is cited as the end of that era.
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A story about a hard-to-impress father who was emotionally moved by the end of T2.
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The 1990-91 film landscape (Home Alone, Ghost, Dances with Wolves, Pretty Woman, Hunt for Red October, Total Recall, Silence of the Lambs, Cape Fear, JFK) marks the modern infrastructure of movie consumption and pre-release coverage.
Approx. transcript time · 00:09:16Read transcript
Moments of collective audience awe: the T-1000 walking through the psych-ward bars, the first dinosaurs in Jurassic Park, The Matrix, and Captain America lifting the hammer in Endgame; Buffalo Bill in Silence of the Lambs is added.
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The film made over half a billion dollars, pushed Cameron and Arnold to another level, and is compared to the flu game against Utah plus the last shot of the 1998 Finals; it set up Cameron's Titanic.
Approx. transcript time · 00:13:07Read transcript
The computers-ruining-everything theme is read through 2020-21; Sarah Connor now resembles a conspiracy theorist after the Capitol and QAnon, though films once gave agency to people who knew a hidden truth.
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An anecdote about a Lockheed contact describing unmanned planes echoes Arnold's Skynet explanation ('Skynet becomes self-aware August 29th').
Approx. transcript time · 00:15:29Read transcript
The Joe Morton sequence is among the most harrowing stretches in action movies.
Approx. transcript time · 00:16:46Read transcript
The T-1000 effects cost $5 million, took 35 people about 10 months, totaling 25 man-years, and were central to selling the movie.
Approx. transcript time · 00:17:12Read transcript
Arnold's 1984-91 run is listed (Conan 2, Terminator, Red Sonja with Brigitte Nielsen, Commando, Raw Deal with Jim Belushi, Predator, Running Man, Red Heat, Twins, Total Recall, Kindergarten Cop, T2), with four monsters in a row.
Approx. transcript time · 00:17:38Read transcript
Arnold's salary is given as $15 million plus a slightly used $14 million Gulfstream jet.
Approx. transcript time · 00:18:04Read transcript
Linda Hamilton's physical transformation was a key selling point of the movie.
Approx. transcript time · 00:18:29Read transcript
Her transformation is one of the biggest reasons the movie worked: Sarah is like Ripley meeting Schwarzenegger, internalizing years of being the only person who knows the truth, institutionalized and apart from her son.
Approx. transcript time · 00:18:55Read transcript
Hamilton trained for three months, three hours a day, lost 12 pounds and did judo and military training.
Approx. transcript time · 00:18:55Read transcript
Sarah goes from being protected by Kyle Reese to the most dangerous woman in the world; the chin-ups on the upturned bed is called one of the most iconic scenes and a hero shot better than Arnold's introduction.
Approx. transcript time · 00:19:50Read transcript
Unlike the tall Sigourney Weaver, Hamilton reads as a normal 5'4" woman transformed; she is terrifying breaking into Joe Morton's house.
Approx. transcript time · 00:20:41Read transcript
1991 is framed as a female-empowerment year (Sarah Connor, Thelma and Louise, Clarice, Julia Roberts in Sleeping with the Enemy), later leading to Demi Moore's G.I. Jane payday.
Approx. transcript time · 00:21:09Read transcript
It was an era of movie stars filling the poster, when people went to see Geena Davis, Susan Sarandon or Julia Roberts films regardless, unlike today's IP cycling.
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Jodie Foster won Best Actress; Davis and Sarandon were nominated and may have split the vote; Laura Dern and Bette Midler were the other nominees. Linda Hamilton is said to have been completely screwed out of a nomination.
Approx. transcript time · 00:22:26Read transcript
A Sleeping with the Enemy comment is saved for a future episode, which is said to be on the list.
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An earlier action-hero championship-belt piece called this Arnold's 'a-fucking-pex' across sci-fi, action comedy, summer blockbuster and special effects.
Approx. transcript time · 00:23:17Read transcript
Production facts stated: Cameron co-wrote with William Wisher, was paid $5 million to direct, a $100 million budget, $520 million gross, Arnold's biggest grosser, Oscars for sound effects, editing, sound, makeup and visual effects, and the highest-grossing R-rated film until The Matrix Reloaded in 2003.
Approx. transcript time · 00:23:42Read transcript
Arnold is an underrated actor who is also funny, surveying scenes and using his body.
Approx. transcript time · 00:25:03Read transcript
True Lies is argued to be a tour de force from Schwarzenegger; watching T2 again confirms he is a good actor who executes a role asking very little.
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His subtle work with John and his growing grasp of the human condition make the goodbye to the robot legitimately moving.
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Great action movies need good acting (Speed with Keanu, Sandra Bullock and Hopper; Raiders with Harrison Ford; Stallone's First Blood monologue).
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Modern action stars: Chris Hemsworth's Thor and Robert Downey Jr.'s Iron Man are cited as succeeding while Solo's lead did not deliver; Hollywood shifted around Nicolas Cage to teaching actors action rather than action stars acting; Keanu in John Wick delivers; The Rock and Vin Diesel are called more limited.
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Arnold's acting is why comedies like Twins and Kindergarten Cop worked where Rhinestone failed for Stallone.
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The break announcement leads into Angry Orchard and MLB postseason ads before the categories.
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Sign-off: the rafters line is praised, the panel thanks each other, and the show promises another classic Monday.
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