The experience of watching Terminator 2: Judgment Day is very different in 2026 than it was in 1991. In 2026, Skynet is real, and although it has yet to gain sentience, launch a nuclear strike, and drive humanity to the brink of extinction, the prospect seems a little more likely whenever the CEO of an AI company opens their mouth. We’re closer to living in a Terminator future than we’ve ever been, and the bombed-out nuclear wasteland of 2029 teased in the movie’s opening no longer seems impossible.
Compare this to the shock and excitement with which Terminator 2: Judgment Day was received upon its release 35 years ago today — for those moviegoers who hadn’t had the big twist spoiled for them by the trailer or the tie-in Guns N’ Roses music video, that is. But knowing that Arnold Schwarzenegger’s T-800 Terminator is one of the good guys this time did little to decrease the public’s enthusiasm. Terminator 2: Judgment Day was an absolute must-watch in the summer of 1991, a mega-budget effects movie that still represents blockbuster filmmaking at its absolute peak.
