TERMINATOR 2: JUDGEMENT DAY (1991)

MORGAN'S RATING

He said he'd be back! Arnold Schwarzenegger returns as the Terminator in this explosive action-packed adventure spectacle. His mission: to protect John Connor, the boy destined to lead the freedom fighters of the future. His opponent: the T-1000, the most lethal machine ever created, sent back through time to kill young John. His ally: Sarah Connor, John's mother. Linda Hamitlon costars, reprising her role as the quint-essential survivor, a woman warrior whose warnings go unheeded by a world careening toward a nuclear holocaust she knows is enevitable.

Arnold Schwarzenegger (The Terminator), Linda Hamilton (Sarah Connor), Edward Furlong (John Connor), Robert Patrick (T-1000), Earl Boen (Dr. Silberman), Joe Morton (Miles Dyson), S. Epatha Merkerson (Tarissa Dyson), Castulo Guerra (Enrique Salceda), Danny Cooksey (Tim), Jenette Goldstein (Janelle Voight), Xander Berkeley (Todd Voight), Leslie Hamilton Gearren (Twin Sarah), Ken Gibbel (Douglas), Don Stanton (Lewis the Guard), Dan Stanton (Lewis as T-1000), Dean Norris (SWAT team leader), William Wisher Jr. (Galleria Photographer).

HE SAID "I'LL BE BACK" AND HE MEANT IT!

PRODUCTION INFORMATION

DIRECTOR: James Cameron (True Lies).

WRITERS: James Cameron and William Wisher Jr.

PRODUCER: James Cameron.

CO-PRODUCERS: Stephanie Austin and B.J Rack.

EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS: Gale Ann Hurd and Mario Kassar.

ORIGINAL MUSIC: Brad Fiedel.

DISTRIBUTOR: Carolco Pictures.

QUOTES

The Terminator: The Skynet Funding Bill is passed. The system goes on-line August 4th, 1997. Human decisions are removed from stategic defense. Skynet begins to learn at a geometric rate. It becomes self-aware at 2:14am. Eastern time, August 29th. In a panic, they try to pull the plug. Sarah Connor: And Skynet fights back.

FACTS

RELEASE DATE: July 3rd, 1991 (USA)

Sarah Connor: (narrating) Dyson listen while the Terminator laid it all down: Skynet, Judgement Day, the history of things to come. It's not everyday you hear that you're responsible for three billions deaths. He took it pretty well. Miles Dyson: I feel like I'm gonna throw up.

BOX OFFICE OPENING: $31.7 million (USA)

BOX OFFICE RESULT: $204.8 million (USA)

WORLDWIDE BOX OFFICE: $514.8 million

BUDGET: $100 million (USA)

- Given Schwarzenegger's $15 million salary and his total of 700 words of dialog, that translates to $21,429 per word. "Hasta la vista, baby" cost $85,716.

Sarah Connor: (narrating) Dyson listen while the Terminator laid it all down: Skynet, Judgement Day, the history of things to come. It's not everyday you hear that you're responsible for three billions deaths. He took it pretty well. Miles Dyson: I feel like I'm gonna throw up.

- The badge on the T-1000s uniform reads "Austin" (named after producer Stephanie Austin), although it is not fully visible in the film.

- A promotional trailer for the film included a scene not in the film: the T800 being constructed.

Sarah Connor: (narrating) Dyson listen while the Terminator laid it all down: Skynet, Judgement Day, the history of things to come. It's not everyday you hear that you're responsible for three billions deaths. He took it pretty well. Miles Dyson: I feel like I'm gonna throw up.

- The T800 carries a gun in a box of roses. Some of the soundtrack was written by "Guns 'n Roses".

- The T800's bike jump into the stormwater drain was performed by stuntman Peter Kent. The motorbike was supported by 1-inch cables, so that when they hit the ground, the bike and rider only weighted 180 pounds. The cables were later digitally erased.

The Terminator: Come with me if you want to live!

The Terminator: Stay here, I'll be back!

- The T800 loses its left arm, and hauls itself forward with its right. The same thing happened to the T800 in the original film.

The Terminator: Hasta la vista, baby!

The Terminator: I know now why you cry. But it's something I can never do.

- The T800 says "I need a vacation", which Arnold Schwarzenegger previously said in his Kindergarten Cop. This was not in the script, but ad-libbed.

The Terminator: If a machine, a terminator, can learn the value of human life, maybe we can too.

John Connor: You just can't go around killing people. The Terminator: Why?

- Academy Award Winner for Best Sound Effects Editing, Best Visual Effects, Best Make-Up and Best Sound, and nominated for Cinematography and Film Editing.

- Followed by a sequel: Terminator 3 (2003).

CRITICAL COMMENTS

"Box office smash has special effects to knock your socks off, and action to spare, but like so many sequels, lacks the freshness of the first film and gives us no one to root for."  -- Leonard Maltin

"The movie responds to criticism of excessive movie violence by tempering the Terminator's blood lust, but nobody, I think, will complain that it doesn't have enough action." -- Roger Ebert

" Brutally beautiful, darkly comic sci-fi...spectacular." -- Joe Brown, Washington Post.