Celebrating the 35th birthday of Terminator 2: Judgement Day
35 years ago, a movie was released in theatres that many still believe to be the greatest blockbuster of all time. At the time the most expensive movie ever made, it had a story and special effects that blew the minds of its 1990’s audience. On 3rd July 1991, Terminator 2: Judgement Day arrived.
The original 1984 Terminator was made on a relatively small budget, and became a surprise massive hit. A sequel, in the 1980’s landscape, was inevitable. Where the first movie had some impressive effects for its time and the money spent, Director James Cameron, armed with a much larger budget, was able to approach the sequel with greater ambition. Ground breaking special effects, a thrilling story, and frenetic action blew audiences away, and Cameron once again defied box office expectations. Against that record $102m budget, the movie drew a monumental $520m worldwide.
Terminator 2 in many ways is an expensive remake of the first movie. The structure of the plot is basically the same, and some scenes almost mirror scenes from the original. Rather than stray away from the winning formula of the original, Cameron chose to instead dial everything up. Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton), in the original movie a waitress living a regular life and struggling day to day to get by, has been fundamentally changed by the traumatic events that occurred when the first Terminator was sent back to kill her. Since the events of the previous film, she has given birth to the leader of the human uprising, John Connor (Edward Furlong), attempted to prepare him for what is to come, and been committed to a mental ward, as everyone, including her own son, thinks she is insane. When a new Terminator, a T-1000 played by Robert Patrick, is sent back in time, this time to kill her son, she is vindicated, but has little time to enjoy it, as with the help of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s T-800, Sarah and John must run for their lives, relying on Sarah’s years of preparations to help them.
Terminator 2: Judgement Day succeeds by expanding the world, and fleshing out the details of judgement day. What really elevates it, though, is the addition of the missing blockbuster ingredient. Humour. The script for T2 brings the one liners that Arnold became famous for, and he showed that he was more than up to the task, showing a remarkable talent for comic delivery and timing. While the action scenes and dramatic tension draw the attention, without that humour it’s unlikely Terminator 2 would be as revered.
Much like the T-1000, the Terminator franchise has been relentless. Since Terminator 2, there have been four subsequent movies, including the direct threequel, Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, as well as attempts to change course with Terminator Salvation (2009), and Terminator Genisys (2015), before returning to movie canon with 2019’s Terminator: Dark Fate. There was also a TV series in 2008, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, and more recently a cartoon, 2024’s well received Terminator Zero. None of these new projects, however, have been able to match T2, and have in fact paled in comparison.
Terminator 2 won four Oscars, for Best Visual Effects, Best Sound, Best Sound Effects Editing and Best Make-up. It brought to the screen innovative CGI effects courtesy of Industrial Light and Magic, and was unique in that it had the first main character to be partially rendered by CGI. It is arguably James Cameron’s greatest film, and it cemented Arnold Schwarzenegger as a major Hollywood star, going from villain with a handful of lines in the first movie, to the star turn of the second.
Terminator 2: Judgement Day has had a number of cinematic showings this year to celebrate its 35th anniversary, with more to come. There doesn’t seem to be a specific campaign, however, so you’ll need to check your local listings for showings.
Cyberstopia 