Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)

Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)

In director James Cameron's action-oriented sequel - this was the follow-up film to his original hit film The Terminator (1984) :

• in a classic film entrance sequence via time-travel, electrical arcs of blue-white light snapped and sparked behind two parked tractor-trailers in an all-night truck stop; a global or spherical time-machine delivered the figure of a naked man, a Terminator (Arnold Schwarzenegger) - a replica of the Terminator model T-800 from the original film - with a muscle-bound frame and a perfect physique; he scanned his surroundings without any emotion, and his computerized brain registered the results of a digitized, electronic scan of the Harley-Davidson motorcycles parked outside a bikers' hangout called The Corral

• in an amusing scene, he calmly strolled stark-naked into the country-western cafe to do further scans and make a MATCH for clothing, requesting calmly from the bearded pool player: "I need your clothes, your boots, and your motorcycle" before assaulting him and other resistant bikers. He engaged in a brief bar fight to obtain his needs
• in the next scene, a direct cut, the Terminator was already outside - from a boots-eye view. To the tune of George Thorogood's "Bad to the Bone," the camera panned up showing him fully dressed after 'borrowing' leather clothes from a bruised biker; he snatched a shotgun and sunglasses from another biker before cruising away
• there was a second, similar back-to-back entrance of the T-800's android rival, a second Terminator time traveler; it was a newer T-1000 model (Robert Patrick) sent from the future; a blue-white glare and more crackling electrical arcs appeared in the air; a second, menacing, lean naked cyborg appeared, and soon after attacked an investigating policeman; h e then changed into the man's uniform and sat in his squad car, searching on the computer for the object of his mission - John Connor (Edward Furlong), living with his foster parents in Reseda, California
• shortly later, in a suspenseful chase scene in the LA storm drain channel, a mini-bike, a semi-tractor-trailer big-rig cab and a Harley Davidson motorcycle raced against each other
• the film's innovative special effects were best demonstrated by the single-minded T-1000 - a technologically advanced cyborg made of "morphing" liquid metal; he morphed into a black and white tiled floor) during the exciting scene of the rescue of young John Connor's mother Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton) from a mental institution
• the Terminator continually revealed his humorous ability to pick up slang words and to feel some emotion:
  • "Hasta la vista, baby"
  • "Chill out, dickwad"
  • "No problemo"
• Sarah continually had visions of an apocalyptic "judgment day" that would occur in late August 1997 (in the future); she experienced the fiery effects of a nuclear holocaust on a children's playground, when white light ignited everything like match heads as she saw her dream self burst into flames and her skin burned away; her own figure exploded down to skeletal remains

• in the laboratory showdown-standoff at Cyberdyne, the Terminator held off hundreds of police officers while Dyson met a heroic death by destroying the artifacts from the future
• the film included multiple battles between the two killer cyborgs
• in the finale at the steel foundry, the T-1000 was blasted into melted liquid droplets as a liquid nitrogen truck crashed and exploded; soon enough though, the T-1000 reconstituted itself (in an astounding special F/X sequence) from the shattered droplets; it stood up and emerged from the flaming wreckage
• soon after, the seemingly-indestructible opponent android - T-1000 Terminator, finally was eliminated; the T-800 launched a grenade into the belly of the creature. It exploded and ripped a gaping hole in the android, causing it to let out inhuman, screeching, inside-out screams; losing its balance, it toppled over into the molten steel vat where it flopped around in its death throes, transforming itself into various mutations - Janelle (Jenette Goldstein) with her blade arm, the hospital security guard, and the chrome motorcycle cop; u nable to re-form itself in the extreme temperature of the liquid steel, it finally dissipated and dissolved into the fiery vat
• after defeating the shape-shifting, metallic T-1000 android, the lovable anti-hero - the Terminator T-800 model decided to destroy his own CPU: "There's one more chip. And it must be destroyed also"; he explained to Sarah Connor: "I cannot self-terminate. You must lower me into the steel"; he said goodbye to tearful surrogate son John Connor: "I have to go away...I must go away, John...I'm sorry...It has to end here...I know now why you cry, but it's something I can never do"; they hugged each other, and the Terminator shook Sarah's hand and then he stepped out onto the chainfall and told both of them: "Goodbye"; slowly, the Terminator machine nobly and suicidally descended and sank into the steaming hot molten steel for the good of humankind; his metal hand was the last thing to disappear - it formed a "thumbs up" in the final seconds; the Terminator's TermoVision showed glitched read-outs and then collapsed to a bright red, solid line that turned off like a television set - it signaled his technological death