One of the best movies ever made, and a contender for the title of ‘best science fiction action movie’ is 32 years old today. Time flies, right?
‘Time’ is the important word in this conversation because the movie that’s celebrating is Terminator 2: Judgement Day. T2 hit theaters across the world on July 3, 1991. Widely regarded as the best Terminator movie of all time, and one of the best James Cameron movies, T2 is a titan of the sci-fi, action, and time travel genres.
The movie follows Linda Hamilton’s Sarah Connor, in the aftermath of the events of the first movie, as she tries to protect herself and her son from robot assassins from the future. Again. The difference this time is that Arnie’s T-800 is now on her side, defending her and her son from the technologically superior T-1000 played by Robert Patrick.
Since the release of T2, the Terminator movie series has been in a precarious position. Schwarzenegger has returned now and again, as has Linda Hamilton, but an increasingly confusing timeline and repetitive plots have prevented any new movies in the series hitting the same heights as the first two.
The most recent attempt, Terminator: Dark Fate, restored creative control to James Cameron and ignored the continuity created by the likes of Salvation and Genisys. Despite this, it failed to make waves at the box office.
This looks to have put an end to the Terminator series for now, despite that fact that AI is more relevant than ever before. Still, for a blast from the past (from the future) you can get the birthday cake and candles and celebrate T2’s birthday today with a rewatch.
For more on the classics, check out our picks for the best Arnold Schwarzenegger movies, the best time travel movies, and the 101 best movies of all time. Or, see what’s new on Netflix this month, and keep up to date with all the new anime coming too. You can also read our interview with T2’s Robert Patrick, to get a deep dive on the movie.