What filmmaking techniques does Terminator 2: Judgment Day use?

CineCode breaks down 4 techniques in Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991): Liquid Metal CGI, Premise Inversion, Machine Learning as Arc and Practical Destruction.

Who directed Terminator 2: Judgment Day?

James Cameron directed Terminator 2: Judgment Day, released in 1991. CineCode also covers The Terminator (1984), Aliens (1986), The Abyss (1989), True Lies (1994), Titanic (1997), Avatar (2009).

What films are similar to Terminator 2: Judgment Day?

Films that share techniques with Terminator 2: Judgment Day include The Dark Knight (2008), Braveheart (1995), Mad Max: Fury Road (2015), Blade Runner 2049 (2017).

Action · Science Fiction

Terminator 2: Judgment Day

James Cameron, 1991

The same cyborg model that was once sent to kill Sarah Connor is reprogrammed and sent back to protect her teenage son. The threat this time is a more advanced Terminator made of liquid metal. It's a blockbuster that used CGI nobody had seen before. Its premise says technology decides our future, and the story argues against that.

2 Cinematography 2 Narrative

At a glance

Terminator 2: Judgment Day is a 1991 action and science fiction film directed by James Cameron. This breakdown covers 4 techniques (2 cinematography and 2 narrative), each with the scene where you can see it. If you like how it is made, The Dark Knight uses several of the same techniques.

Cinematography

Liquid Metal CGI

Using computer graphics to create a character made of a material that flows, reforms and takes any shape. The effect pushed the technology of its time to the limit.

How this film uses it

Industrial Light & Magic created the T-1000's liquid metal effects. Rendering 15 seconds of footage took up to 10 days. Nobody had seen a shape-shifting machine like this on screen before, and the look of it was invented here. It went on to influence 20 years of visual effects.

Where to see it

The T-1000's first reformation after being frozen and shattered. This is the image that defines what it can do.

Narrative

Premise Inversion

Taking a setup the audience thinks it knows and flipping it, such as a sequel turning the old villain into the protector. The film then follows the flipped idea with complete logic.

How this film uses it

The first Terminator set up the T-800 as an unstoppable killer chasing Sarah Connor. T2 opens with the same model arriving in the same way, so you are afraid of him on purpose. Then the film flips it and reveals he is the protector. Cameron pretty much uses what you already know to fool you.

Where to see it

The opening sequence. You watch 2 Terminators arrive and can't tell which is which until the reveal.

Narrative

Machine Learning as Arc

Following an artificial character as it slowly comes to understand human feeling or questions its own mind. Its growth is the distance between its original programming and what it becomes.

How this film uses it

The T-800 goes through a sped-up version of how a person grows up emotionally. He learns to understand jokes, physical pain and the value of human life. In the end, he chooses to sacrifice himself. Nothing in his programming tells him to. He does it because he has watched people and understood what it means. The ending works because Cameron shows you that learning.

Where to see it

The T-800 telling John that he now understands why humans cry. This is the emotional center of the film.

Cinematography

Practical Destruction

Staging large-scale destruction for real with actual structures, explosions and extras, and using no digital simulation. The chaos on screen has real weight and scale.

How this film uses it

Cameron shot the Cyberdyne attack at an abandoned office building in San Jose that was due for demolition. The helicopter flight under a freeway overpass was a real stunt flown by pilot Chuck Tamburro. The film mixed this physical work with CGI, so much of what the camera captures really happened.

Where to see it

The Cyberdyne raid and the helicopter chase. The helicopter flies under a real overpass.

Questions

Terminator 2: Judgment Day: quick answers

What filmmaking techniques does Terminator 2: Judgment Day use?: CineCode breaks down 4 techniques in Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991): Liquid Metal CGI, Premise Inversion, Machine Learning as Arc and Practical Destruction.
Who directed Terminator 2: Judgment Day?: James Cameron directed Terminator 2: Judgment Day, released in 1991. CineCode also covers The Terminator (1984), Aliens (1986), The Abyss (1989), True Lies (1994), Titanic (1997), Avatar (2009).
What films are similar to Terminator 2: Judgment Day?: Films that share techniques with Terminator 2: Judgment Day include The Dark Knight (2008), Braveheart (1995), Mad Max: Fury Road (2015), Blade Runner 2049 (2017).

Featured in