Terminator 2: Judgment Day
Terminator 2: Judgment Day 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 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.
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 $94–102million budget, making it the most expensive film ever made at the time. The advanced visual effects by Industrial Light & Magic, 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 $519–520.9million 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, Terminator Salvation, Terminator Genisys, and Terminator: Dark Fate, as well as a 2008 television series.
Plot
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 John, 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 help him rescue Sarah from the T-1000.
The T-800 and John intercept Sarah as she attempts to escape the hospital. Initially horrified that the T-800 resembles the Terminator sent to kill her in 1984, she joins them and escapes the pursuing T-1000. Sarah uses the T-800's 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 prompts her to decide to kill Dyson. She attacks him in his home but cannot bring herself to go through with it and relents. John arrives and reconciles with Sarah while the T-800 explains to Dyson 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. John also throws the 1984 Terminator's arm and CPU into the vat. 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.
Cast
- Arnold Schwarzenegger as the Terminator: a reprogrammed Model 101 Series 800 "T-800" Terminator that is composed of human tissue over a metal endoskeleton
- Linda Hamilton as Sarah Connor: a self-trained soldier who is dedicated to preventing the rise of Skynet
- Edward Furlong as John Connor: Sarah's son who is destined to lead the human resistance in opposition to Skynet
- Robert Patrick as T-1000: an advanced, shape-shifting prototype Terminator composed of liquid metal
- Earl Boen as Dr. Peter Silberman: Sarah's doctor at Pescadero State Hospital
- Joe Morton as Miles Bennett Dyson: director of special projects at Cyberdyne Systems Corporation
Other cast members includes Ken Gibbel as an abusive orderly; 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. Michael Edwards portrays the John Connor of 2029, and Hamilton's infant son Dalton Abbott portrays John in a dream sequence. Co-writer William Wisher cameos as a man photographing the T-800 in the mall, and Michael Biehn reprises his role as resistance soldier Kyle Reese in scenes that were removed from the theatrical release.
Production
Development
The Terminator had been a surprise hit, earning $78.4million against its $6.4million budget, confirming Arnold Schwarzenegger's status as a lead actor and establishing James Cameron as a mainstream director. Schwarzenegger expressed interest in a sequel, saying, "I always felt we should continue the story... I told that right after we finished the first film". Cameron said Schwarzenegger had always been more enthusiastic about a sequel than he was, because Cameron considered the original a complete story.Discussions to make a sequel stalled until 1989, in part owing to Cameron's work on other films such as Aliens and The Abyss, but also because of a dispute with rights holder Hemdale Film Corporation. Hemdale co-founder John Daly, against Cameron's wishes, had attempted to alter the ending of The Terminator, nearly resulting in a physical confrontation. A sequel could not be made without Hemdale's approval as Cameron had surrendered 50% of his rights to the company to get The Terminator made. Cameron had also sold half of the remaining stake to his ex-wife Gale Anne Hurd, producer and co-writer on the first film, for $1 following their 1989 divorce. By 1990, Hemdale was being sued by Cameron, Schwarzenegger, Hurd, and special-effects artist Stan Winston for unpaid profits from The Terminator.
Schwarzenegger, aware Hemdale was experiencing financial difficulties, convinced Carolco Pictures to purchase the film rights to The Terminator, having worked with the independent film studio on the big-budget science fiction film Total Recall. Owner Mario Kassar described the rights acquisition as the most difficult deal Carolco ever conducted. He accepted a $10million offer for Hemdale's share, considering it a sum fabricated to ward him off, and paid Hurd $5million for her share. Prior to development, the total cost of the acquisition rose to $17million after factoring in incidental costs.
Kassar told Cameron that in order to recoup his investment, the film would proceed with or without him, and offered Cameron $6million to be involved and write the script. The film would become a collaboration between several production studios: Carolco, Le Studio Canal+, Cameron's Lightstorm Entertainment, and Hurd's Pacific Western Productions. The studio also had an existing U.S. distribution deal with TriStar Pictures, which stipulated that the film be ready for release by May 27, 1991, Memorial Day.