Terminator 2: Judgment Day
Written, directed and produced by James Cameron
Starring: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Linda Hamilton, Robert Patrick, and Edward Furlong.
Released July 3, 1991
Budget: $98m
Box office: $520.9m
Gross: $422.9m
Plot:
Intro: LA 2029 Humans battling the machines. Voiceover 3 billion lives lost on April 29, 1997 - Judgement day.
S: all practical effects, no CGI
-the music!
-And then the Terminator coming through the flames at the end of the intro epic
In 1995, John Connor is living in Los Angeles with his foster parents. His
mother, Sarah Connor, had been preparing him throughout his childhood for his
future role as the human resistance leader against Skynet, the artificial
intelligence that will be given control of the United States' nuclear missiles and
initiate a nuclear holocaust on August 29, 1997, known thereafter as "Judgment
Day". However, Sarah was arrested and imprisoned at a mental hospital after
attempting to bomb a computer factory. In 2029, Skynet sends a new
Terminator, designated as T-1000, back in time to kill John. The T-1000 is an
advanced prototype made out of liquid metal (referred to as "mimetic polyalloy")
that gives it the ability to take on the shape and appearance of almost anything it
touches, and to transform its arms into blades and other shapes at will. The
T-1000 arrives, kills a policeman, and assumes his identity; he also uses the
police computer to track down John. Meanwhile, the future John Connor has
sent back a reprogrammed Model 101 Terminator to protect his younger self.
S: T101 entrance badass, little spoiled by “Bad to the Bone”
-T1000 intro very mincing. We also don’t know what kind of Terminator he is, yet
-Early 90’s point: foster dad smoking inside. Weird.
-John Conners friend is Danny Cooksey, who also played Bobby Budnick on Nickelodeon’s show Salute Your Shorts from 91-93.
The Terminator and the T-1000 converge on John in a shopping mall, and a
chase ensues after which John and the Terminator escape together on a
motorcycle. Fearing that the T-1000 will kill Sarah in order to get to him, John
orders the Terminator to help free her, after discovering that the Terminator must
follow his orders. They encounter Sarah as she is escaping from the hospital,
although she is initially reluctant to trust the Model 101. After the trio escape
from the T-1000 in a police car, the Terminator informs John and Sarah about
Skynet's history.[a] Sarah learns that the man most directly responsible for
Skynet's creation is Miles Bennett Dyson, a Cyberdyne Systems engineer
working on a revolutionary new microprocessor that will form the basis for
Skynet.
S:
-Sarah Conner is 29
-Note when T1000 is questioning foster parents, dogs barking in background.
-I like how both terminators are stalking/pursing John. We’re not sure of their intention, yet.
-brilliant how they used corporate coverup to eliminate any plot holes from the previous film.
*MALL:*
-The Afterburner video game (which was an awesome game) John is playing says “The End” as the terminators zero in.
-when the terminator pulls the shotgun from the flowers why does he have to cock it? Why isn’t it already loaded?
-I love the sound design of the liquid metal terminator
-The music, pacing, acting, and editing, make this first fight between the terminators perfect. Zero emotion.
*CHASE:*
-TOW TRUCK OFF THE BRIDGE!!
-Is it normal for all the broken down/abandoned cars in the drainage things?
-T101 doing the swing reload on the motorcycle = AWESOME.
-How does a heavy tow truck bumping a 10-12 year old on a dirt bike not knock him over?!
-Biggest complaint about the whole section: sometimes you can tell it’s stunt actors.
-Also, T1000 walking through flames = epic.
GETTING AWAY:
-followed by a LOT of exposition.
-foster parents on phone, dogs barking again.
-Sarah plays it REALLY smart when being questioned.
-90’s lingo: “Did you call MUWAH a dipshit?”
SARAH ESCAPE:
-I tried picking locks with paper clips bc of this movie. Never worked.
-T1000 coming off the floor, awesome.
-Guard has a full house, 2 aces and 3 diamonds.
-Sound design, how the footsteps change when T1000 changes from guard to original form.
*MENTAL HOSPITAL ESCAPE*
-Iconic line: “I swear I will not kill anybody” then shoots the guard, “He’ll live”
-Sarah’s fear seeing the T101 = excellent
-T1000 going through the bars 10 years BEFORE The Rock and his CGI scorpion king in the Mummy Returns. James Cameron ahead of his time.
-When did John get all the ammo?
-like most sound design, but T1000 sounds like he’s got a silencer, and shooting a shotgun and 45 in an elevator, they’d be deaf.
-Lots of exposition, Dyson, sky net and cyberdyne.
Sarah gathers weapons from an old friend and plans to flee with John to Mexico,
but after having a nightmare about Judgment Day, she instead sets out to kill
Dyson in order to prevent Judgment Day from occurring. Finding him at his
home, she wounds him but finds herself unable to kill him in front of his family.
John and the Terminator arrive and inform Dyson of the future consequences of
his work. They learn that much of his research has been reverse engineered
from the damaged CPU and the right arm of the previous Terminator who
attacked Sarah back in 1984. Convincing him that these items and his designs
must be destroyed, they break into the Cyberdyne building, retrieve the CPU
and the arm, and set explosives to destroy Dyson's lab. The police arrive and
Dyson is fatally shot, but he rigs an improvised dead man's switch that
detonates the explosives when he dies. The T-1000 relentlessly pursues the
surviving trio, eventually cornering them in a steel mill.
S:
MEXICO:
-in the car, lots of exposition, 90’s slang galore: no problemo, chill out dickwad.
-Background and building Sarah Conner as more than helpless waitress from T1
-Sarah realizes T101 is the best father John could have.
-Sarah’s dream sequence was amazing. All practical effects. So well done. (Movie Magic show)
DYSON HOUSE:
-Why couldn’t she kill Dyson? No fate quote? Not taking the boys father away? She knows someone else will make skynet happen anyway?
-lots more exposition.
CYBERDYNE:
-A child can use a backpack computer to “hack” a computer engineering company lock? Ok.
-Why does the T1000 need a helmet?
-T101 WITH A MINI GUN!!
-Mp5, iconic 90’s cop/bad guy gun.
-T101 hallway walk, mixture of real and fake. (Movie magic show)
CHASE:
-Impressive helicopter pilot skills
-Love this is all full sized, real vehicles, not CGI/green screen. All practical.
-Awes9me progression of T1000 freezing and breaking.
-Hasta la vista, baby.
The T-1000 and Model 101 fight and the more advanced model seriously
damages and shuts down the Model 101. However, unbeknownst to the T-1000,
the Model 101 brings itself back online using an alternate power source. The
T-1000 nearly kills John and Sarah but the Model 101 takes it by surprise and
blasts it into a crucible of molten steel with a grenade launcher, dissolving and
destroying it. John tosses the arm and CPU of the original Terminator into the
vat as well. As Sarah expresses relief that the ordeal is over, the Terminator
explains that to ensure that it is not used for reverse engineering it must itself be
destroyed too. It asks Sarah to assist in lowering it into the vat of molten steel,
since it is unable to "self-terminate". Although John begs and eventually orders
the Terminator to reconsider, it makes the decision to defy him, bids them
farewell and hugs a tearful John before it is lowered into the vat, giving a final
thumbs-up as it disappears into the vat. John and Sarah drive down a highway
and Sarah says in a voice over, “The unknown future rolls toward us. I face it for
the first time with a sense of hope. Because if a machine, a Terminator, can
learn the value of human life, maybe we can, too."
S:
-Love all the little details with the T1000 during the fight. Morphing, silver shimmer when he crushes the T101s arm.
-amazing fight choreography
-Again, shotgun isn’t loaded?! Why is Sarah just now loading it?
-When The T1000 crushes T101 face, how awesome and real it looked.
-John being a dumbass and falling for the T1000 impersonating his mom?
-Sarah shoots T1000 to the edge and runs out. Why not run and drop kick him over the fucking edge?
-T101 being more “human” “I need a vacation” and “Terminated”
-The thumbs up and computer shut down… classic and a dad move.
-Heartstring ending. Epic theme music.
-For a “happy” ending, they forget Sarah is an escaped criminal, they blew up cyberdyne, sure they MAY HAVE saved the future (which, future movies show us they didn’t) but they’re still wanted criminals.
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