TERMINATOR 2: JUDGMENT DAY

TERMINATOR 2: JUDGMENT DAY. James Cameron, dir., prod., co-author. USA: Tri-Star (release), 1991. Gale Anne Hurd and Mario Kassar, co-exec. prod. Stan Winston, make-up and Terminator effects. Industrial Light and Magic, computer graphic images. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Linda Hamilton, and Robert Patrick, stars.

Sequel to THE TERMINATOR (q.v.), in which Schwarzenegger's machine has been reprogrammed as protector of the savior of humanity in one possible (very grim) future. The state-of-the-art SpFx allow for a villanous terminator cyborg that appears either Modern or postPostmodern—and who usually looks like a very clean-cut Los Angeles cop—opposing Schwarzenegger's scruffy biker. In its quieter moments, the film raises serious questions about humans and our technology, families, macho, fate, freedom, ethics, and survival; see also for hand motif.