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.

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.

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.

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.