“Come with me if you want to live.”
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Who doesn’t love a good twist? A shocking third-act reveal can recontextualize an entire movie and make repeated viewings into a kind of scavenger hunt for overlooked clues.
In 1984’s Terminator, Arnold Schwarzenegger plays the T-800, a robot sent from the future to kill the would-be leader of the human resistance. In Terminator 2, he plays a version of the same machine, but this time he’s been sent back to protect his original target.
Schwarzenegger finally corners him in a shopping mall, takes aim with a shotgun — and blasts the real threat: a new breed of Terminator called the T-1000.
But even with its would-be twist ruined, Terminator 2 became a massive hit critically and commercially. As it turns out, it’s got a lot more going for it than just one shocking reveal.
For one thing, Terminator 2 is built on a subtler sort of twist. The original Terminator played out like a horror movie, with the T-800 menacing Sarah Connor at every turn.
Terminator 2 is a more straightforward action movie, packed with state-of-the-art special effects and explosives action sequences, both of which still hold up wonderfully today.
But more than either robot, Terminator 2 is about Sarah Connor, played by Linda Hamilton as a determined, tough-as-nails trauma survivor carrying the fate of the world on her shoulders.