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. — Bill Simmons
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. — Bill Simmons
The 'why do you cry' exchange is corny and would have been cut despite its later payoff. — Bill Simmons
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. — Bill Simmons
Little else aged badly; the movie is called pretty flawless and the others have nothing to add. — Bill Simmons
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
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. — Bill Simmons
Teaching Arnold slang ('no problemo', 'hasta la vista, baby', 'chill out, dickwad') is a borderline rewatchable scene that shouldn't work but does. — Bill Simmons
This is one of the only movies helped by narration; narration usually signals script trouble, but her voice works here. — Bill Simmons
The narration is great and ties to the alternate ending. — Bill Simmons
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. — Bill Simmons
'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'. — Van Lathan
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. — Bill Simmons
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.
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. — Bill Simmons
A sister murmured in the theater about why they were making the supposed bad guy look cool with the glasses. — Bill Simmons
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. — Bill Simmons
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. — Chris Ryan
Rewatching with a son who had just seen Terminator 1, the twist that Arnold is the protector landed as a fun reveal. — Van Lathan
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. — Bill Simmons
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. — Van Lathan
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'. — Bill Simmons
The liquid nitrogen truck explosion is a quick pick; shooting the frozen T-1000 was a huge mistake that let him reboot. — Chris Ryan
Arnold's death ('I know now why you cry, but it's something I can never do') should be corny but is choking. — Chris Ryan
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. — Bill Simmons
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.
Ebert did not review Terminator 1, which was not screened for critics. — Bill Simmons
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. — Bill Simmons
Arnold turns industry skepticism and two Conan movies into an iconic action-star identity that plausibly would not exist in the same form without this role. — Bill Simmons
Cameron created the concept from a nightmare and launched his career, but the hosts believe his talent would have broken through elsewhere. — Bill Simmons
The combination of Terminator, Beverly Hills Cop, Fletch, and the Lakers makes mid-1980s Los Angeles a defensible local summit.
Titanic is chosen as Cameron’s strict apex, though the cheap 1980s hotel sex scene gets a joking category peak. — Chris Ryan
The simple one-way naked time-travel rule is praised against later films’ increasingly elaborate mechanics, but the discussion stops short of a firm all-movie victory. — Chris Ryan
Top Gun beats this film for sunglasses, while Tech Noir may be the apex of Pico-area 1980s nightclubs. — Bill Simmons
An abandoned liquid-metal Terminator, the theatrical pitch, minimal Arnold dialogue, performance preparation, studio notes, Cameron’s rights loss, and the death count
An early outline had a second, liquid-metal Terminator that available effects could not realize; Cameron saved the concept for Terminator 2. — Bill Simmons
Lance Henriksen reportedly arrived at the pitch in Terminator costume and makeup to demonstrate the threat. — Bill Simmons
Biehn studied Polish resistance fighters, while Hamilton filmed running scenes on a badly injured ankle. — Bill Simmons
The studio suggested a K-9 android for Reese, which Cameron rejected, and asked for more Sarah/Reese romance, which produced the hotel scene. — Bill Simmons
Arnold trained with guns daily for a month and received praise for realistic weapon handling. — Bill Simmons
Cameron sold away rights early, missed royalties from several sequels, and later described the loss as the price of a Hollywood education before copyright reverted. — Bill Simmons
Cameron voices the answering-machine date cancellation, and the estimated body count varies from 39 to 42 depending on Tech Noir. — Bill Simmons
Orion executive Mike Medavoy proposed OJ Simpson as the Terminator and Arnold as Kyle Reese; Cameron rejected Simpson as too likable at the time and the pursuit image as racially wrong. — Bill Simmons
Sylvester Stallone and Mel Gibson reportedly declined the Terminator, while Tom Selleck was considered because the machine was originally imagined as an ordinary man able to blend in. — Bill Simmons
Sting is the one Kyle Reese alternative treated as credible and exciting, though Michael Biehn is defended. — Bill Simmons
Future-war effects, dated chronology and hair, exposed nudity, a personal scooter association, the Harlan Ellison dispute, Ginger’s food and pet choices, and John Connor’s weak message
The red future lasers and stop-motion endoskeleton look dated, although the handmade work remains charming and the machine-dominated future feels newly plausible.
The once-distant 2029 setting is now close, intensifying jokes about missing lasers and walking robots.
Sarah’s heavily sprayed hair is criticized while her later Mexico headband reveals a more timeless look; Arnold’s opening nudity is also called dispensable. — Bill Simmons
Sarah’s Honda scooter ages badly for one host because he later crashed the same model. — Bill Simmons
Harlan Ellison’s claim that the story borrowed from his Outer Limits work led to a settlement and acknowledgement that Cameron bitterly rejected. — Bill Simmons
Ginger’s enormous post-sex sandwich, celery with peanut butter, milk, and dark-kitchen routine feel like a vanished 1980s horror convention. — Chris Ryan
The iguana exemplifies dated offbeat screen pets, while future John’s formal message omits affection and useful practical information for his mother. — Chris Ryan
The title, Arnold’s casting and dialogue, the gun-shop scene, supporting actors, synth score, romance, practical effects, and the unkillable-villain structure
The two-word title is praised as perfect, direct, sequel-friendly 1980s naming.
Arnold as a robot is called A-plus casting, and the gun-shop inventory scene turns his delivery, scale, and Dick Miller’s salesmanship into repeat-viewing pleasure.
Bill Paxton’s brief punk appearance, including his distinction as a Terminator/Alien/Predator victim, is a treasured cameo. — Bill Simmons
“Fuck you, asshole,” the address demand, and especially Cameron refusing Arnold’s requested “I will be back” rewrite preserve his signature vocal comedy.
Brad Fiedel’s synth pulse is picked as an enduring musical trigger despite its inexpensive-sounding era-specific tools.
Kyle’s claim that he crossed time for Sarah gives the romance enormous stakes, while the explicit hotel scene remains narratively essential because it conceives John Connor.
Stan Winston’s practical effects and Arnold’s effortless disposal of a visibly strong Rick Rossovich sustain the machine’s threat.
