Production notes

The Terminator (1984) had been a surprise hit, earning $78.4 million against its $6.4 million budget, confirming Arnold Schwarzenegger's status as a lead actor and establishing James Cameron as a mainstream director. Schwarzenegger expressed interest in a sequel, saying, "I always felt we should continue the story ... I told [Cameron] that right after we finished the first film". Cameron said Schwarzenegger had always been more enthusiastic about a sequel than he was, because Cameron considered the original a complete story. Discussions to make a sequel stalled until 1989, in part owing to Cameron's work on other films such as Aliens (1986) and The Abyss (1989), but also because of a dispute with rights holder Hemdale Film Corporation. Hemdale co-founder John Daly, against Cameron's wishes, had attempted to alter the ending of The Terminator, nearly resulting in a physical confrontation. A sequel could not be made without Hemdale's approval as Cameron had surrendered 50% of his rights to the company to get The Terminator made. Cameron had also sold half of the remaining stake to his ex-wife Gale Anne Hurd, producer and co-writer on the first film, for $1 following their 1989 divorce. By 1990, Hemdale was being sued by Cameron, Schwarzenegger, Hurd, and special-effects artist Stan Winston for unpaid profits from The Terminator. Schwarzenegger, aware Hemdale was experiencing financial difficulties, convinced Carolco Pictures to purchase the film rights to The Terminator, having worked with the independent film studio on the big-budget science fiction film Total Recall (1990). Owner Mario Kassar described the rights acquisition as the most difficult deal Carolco ever conducted. He accepted a $10 million offer for Hemdale's share, considering it a sum fabricated to ward him off, and paid Hurd $5 million for her share. Prior to development, the total cost of the acquisition rose to $17 million after factoring in incidental costs. Kassar told Cameron that in order to recoup his investment, the film would proceed with or without him, and offered Cameron $6 million to be involved and write the script. The film would become a collaboration between several production studios: Carolco, Le Studio Canal+, Cameron's Lightstorm Entertainment, and Hurd's Pacific Western Productions. The studio also had an existing U.S. distribution deal with TriStar Pictures, which stipulated that the film be ready for release by May 27, 1991, Memorial Day.

With a scheduled release date, Cameron had six to seven weeks to write the sequel. He approached his frequent collaborator and The Terminator co-writer William Wisher in March 1990. They spent two weeks developing a film treatment based on Cameron's vision to form a relationship between John Connor and the T-800, a concept Wisher believed was a joke. Their treatment diverged from the "science fiction slasher" theme of the original, focusing on the unconventional family bond formed between Sarah, John, and the T-800. Cameron said this relationship is "the heart of the movie", comparing it to the Tin Man receiving a heart in The Wizard of Oz (1939). Cameron's concept featured Skynet and the resistance each sending a T-800—both played by Schwarzenegger—into the past, one to kill John and the other to protect him. Wisher believed a fight between two identical Terminators would be boring. The pair briefly considered a larger "Super-Terminator", but found it uninteresting and adopted an early idea Cameron had for The Terminator—a liquid-metal Terminator resembling an average-sized human in contrast to Schwarzenegger's large frame. The first half of their concept concluded with the destruction of Skynet's T-800, forcing it to use the T-1000, its ultimate weapon. Although he once considered removing the T-1000 altogether, Cameron solidified it as the only antagonist. Cameron and Wisher had the T-1000 take on the appearance of a police officer, allowing it to operate with less suspicion. Wisher found it challenging to depict the T-800 as "good" without making it non-threatening at the same time. The pair decided to give it the ability to learn and develop emotions, becoming more human over time. They kept the T-800's dialogue brief, relying on the audience to infer a lot of meaning through "small bites". Its catchphrase, "Hasta la vista, baby", was something Wisher and Cameron said after their telephone calls. Wisher developed the first half of the treatment at Cameron's home over the course of four weeks, while Cameron worked on the latter half. Many pages were removed, including a "convoluted" subplot about Dyson, and a massacre of a camp of survivalists helping Sarah. Cameron, who did not consider the budget while writing, had to cut some elaborate scenes, including a nine-minute opening that showed a time-travel machine being used in 2029. Wisher and Cameron also frequently conferred with special-effects studio Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) to determine which ideas were achievable. Cameron and Wisher analyzed the first film to help envision each character's development and evolution. Cameron believed Sarah's knowledge of the future would isolate her, forcing her to associate with survivalists and become a self-sufficient commando. She was written to have become an emotionally cold and distant character comparable to a Terminator, especially when deciding to go after Dyson. Instead of the story beginning with Sarah, John is placed with a foster family to increase tension. John's character was inspired by the 1985 Sting song "Russians", with Cameron recalling, "I remember sitting there once, high on E ... I was struck by [the lyrics] 'I hope the Russians love their children too'. And I thought ... The idea of a nuclear war is just so antithetical to life itself'. That's where [John] came from". They spent three days refining the script before flying to Cannes, where Terminator 2 was announced in early May 1990. Schwarzenegger initially struggled with portions of the script, once asking "What is 'polyalloy'?" He also expressed concern about his character's non-lethal depiction, which conflicted with his action-hero persona and portrayal of the character in The Terminator. Cameron explained he wanted to defy audience expectations. Schwarzenegger requested: "Just make me cool".

Schwarzenegger became interested in reprising his role after finding the character more complex and sympathetic than in the previous film. To accurately portray a fearless and emotionless machine, he trained extensively with stunt coordinator Joel Kramer to remain unaffected by fire and explosions around him. Schwarzenegger earned $12–15 million for his involvement. Carolco had been blamed for the increase in exorbitant salaries paid to actors, having paid Schwarzenegger around $11 million for Total Recall (1990). They justified the expense as the value of their leads' wide appeal in markets outside the U.S. To lessen the immediate financial burden, Carolco paid most of Schwarzenegger's salary with a financed $12.75 million Gulfstream III jet. Cameron refused to recast Hamilton's role but developed plans to work around her absence if she chose not to return. Negotiations were protracted but concluded promptly after Cameron informed Carolco the script could not be finished until he knew if Hamilton would be involved. Hamilton received roughly $1 million, which she described as "quite a bit more" than her earnings for The Terminator, but expressed disappointment at the pay disparity between her and Schwarzenegger. Hamilton requested that Sarah exhibit a "crazy" demeanor, explaining that after years of living with the impending doom of humanity, she believed Sarah would have transformed into an untamed entity, a warrior combined with a psychologically unstable woman. She continued: "[The T-800] is a better human than I am, and I'm a better Terminator than he is". Cameron considered giving the character a facial scar but determined that applying it daily would be difficult. Hamilton undertook extensive preparation for her role, working with a personal trainer for three hours a day, six days a week, and maintaining a strict low-fat diet, losing about 12 pounds (5.4 kg) of body weight. She also received judo and military training from Uziel Gal. Between training, filming, and spending time with her infant son Dalton, Hamilton averaged only four hours of sleep per day. She described her experience as "sheer hell" but enjoyed showing off her new physique. Hamilton's twin sister, Leslie, was also cast in scenes where two versions of Sarah appear on-screen simultaneously. Patrick, who was 31 and living in his car, was one of several actors considered for the T-1000 role. Cameron wanted a lithe actor resembling a newly recruited police officer to contrast with Schwarzenegger. According to Cameron, "If the [T-800] series is a kind of human Panzer tank, then the [T-1000] series had to be a Porsche". Casting director Mali Finn believed Patrick had the "intense presence" they wanted. Patrick auditioned by acting like an emotionless hunter and later participated in a screen test to judge the way lighting worked with his skin and eyes. For his character, he drew inspiration from Schwarzenegger's performance in The Terminator and observed hunting creatures—reptiles, insects, cats, and sharks. Patrick's facial expressions were based on those of an eagle, keeping his head tilted down to imply constant forward movement. He also employed a mixture of military posture with martial arts to express a fluid motion that differed from the T-800's rigid movements. The role demanded that Patrick be lean and fast, requiring peak physical shape. He learned to sprint without displaying heavy breathing and exhaustion, and received specialized training from Gal. Weapons master Harry Lu taught Patrick to operate and reload weapons, such as the T-1000's Beretta 92FS, without looking and eventually without blinking. Singer Billy Idol was originally cast for the role before seriously injuring his leg in a motorcycle crash. In a 2021 retrospective, Cameron said Idol had an interesting aesthetic but in hindsight, he probably would not have cast him. Singer Blackie Lawless of the rock band W.A.S.P. was also considered but deemed too tall. Furlong, among hundreds of other prospects, secured the role of young John Connor at his last audition. Cameron believed that early candidates for the role were either overexposed in other media or came from advertisement backgrounds, which trained them to be happy and perky. Furlong had no acting experience and was discovered by Finn at the Boys & Girls Club in Pasadena. Cameron described Furlong as having a "surliness, an intelligence, just a question of pulling it out". He was required to take acting lessons, learn Spanish, and be able to ride a motorcycle and repair guns. Charlie Korsmo stated that he was offered the role, but was contractually obligated to appear in What About Bob? (1991). Joe Morton believed his casting as Miles Dyson had to do with Cameron wanting a minority character to be integral to the changing of the world. Morton avoided interacting with the cast so that their on-screen relationships would seem believably distant. The role of Dyson was reduced after the preferred casting choice, Denzel Washington, declined it because the role mainly required him to act scared.

The planned three months of pre-production were reduced to meet the release schedule, leaving Cameron without the time he wanted to prepare all aspects before filming began. Over a week, he spent several hours each day choreographing vehicle scenes with toy cars and trucks, filming the results, and printing the footage for storyboard artists. There was no time to properly test practical effects before filming, so if effects did not work, the filmmakers had to work around them. Principal photography began on October 8–9, 1990, with a $60 million budget. Scenes were filmed out of sequence to prioritize those requiring extensive visual effects. Schwarzenegger found this difficult because he was meant to convey subtle signs of the T-800's progressive humanity and was unsure what was fitting for each scene. Cinematographer Adam Greenberg, who also worked on The Terminator, described the greater scope of the sequel as the most daunting prospect. Where he had been able to shout instructions to his crew on the original film, he used one of 187 walkie-talkies to conduct efforts over an expansive area. The production was arduous, in part because of Cameron, who was known for his short temper and uncompromising "dictatorial" manner. The crew made T-shirts bearing the slogan "You can't scare me—I work for Jim Cameron". Schwarzenegger described him as a supportive but "demanding taskmaster" with a "fanaticism for physical and visual detail". Even so, by the 101st day of filming, Schwarzenegger and Hamilton were frustrated by the high number of takes Cameron performed, spending five days just on close-ups of Hamilton in the Dyson home. To stay on schedule, Cameron worked through Christmas and persuaded Schwarzenegger to cancel a visit to American troops in Saudi Arabia with U.S. President George H. W. Bush to film his scenes.

The production was filmed in many locations in and around Los Angeles. The now-destroyed Corral bar in Sylmar is where the T-800 confronts a group of bikers. Location manager Jim Morris chose Corral because it was raised above ground, allowing the scene to take place over different levels. The 1991 police beating of Rodney King took place at the same location a week after filming, being captured on the same videotape a spectator used to capture the filming of the biker bar scenes. On one occasion, a woman who was oblivious to ongoing filming walked into the bar. When she asked Schwarzenegger, who was wearing only a pair of shorts, what was going on, he replied: "It's male stripper night". Executives suggested cutting the scene to save money, but Cameron and Schwarzenegger refused. The T-1000's arrival in 1995 was filmed at the Sixth Street Viaduct, and John's hacking of an ATM was filmed at a bank in Van Nuys. His foster parents' residence is in the Canoga Park neighborhood, deliberately chosen for its generic appearance. The Terminators' confrontation with John takes place inside Santa Monica Place mall, although exterior shots were captured at Northridge Fashion Center because there was less traffic. In the subsequent scene, Patrick's training allowed him to outrun John on his dirtbike, so the bike's maximum speed was increased. The T-1000 continues its pursuit using a truck, in a scene filmed at the Bull Creek spillway. Other locations include the Lake View Terrace hospital, standing in as Pescadero State Hospital and the Petersen Automotive Museum was used as its garage. In a 2012 interview, Hamilton said she suffered permanent partial hearing loss after not wearing earplugs during the hospital elevator scene, where the T-800 fires a gun, as well as shell shock from months of exposure to violence, loud noise, and gunfire. Elysian Park serves as the site of Sarah's apocalyptic dream, and scenes at the Dyson home were captured at a private property in Malibu. The Cyberdyne Building's destruction was filmed at an abandoned office in San Jose, scheduled for demolition. To bring a heightened sense of authenticity, real members of the Los Angeles Police Department's SWAT division were featured in the scene, although Cameron embellished their tactics to be visually interesting. In a spontaneous decision during Morton's death scene, Cameron opted to detonate nearby glass to examine its visual impact. The final highway chase was filmed along the Terminal Island Freeway near Long Beach, of which a 2.5-mile (4.0 km) stretch was closed to traffic every night for two weeks. Scenes set during the future war of 2029 were filmed in the rubble of an abandoned steel mill in Oxnard, California, in a one-half square mile (1.3 km2) space that was enhanced with burned bicycles and cars from a 1989 fire at the Universal Studios Lot. Terminator 2's ending was filmed in the closed Kaiser Steel mill in Fontana, which Greenberg made appear operational mainly through lighting techniques. Despite appearing to be actively smelting steel, the mill was frigid and dangerous because of the moving machinery and high catwalks. The T-800's thumbs-up during its death was added during filming (Hamilton considered it too sentimental). Six months of filming concluded on March 28, 1991, about three weeks behind schedule.

Terminator 2 was edited by Conrad Buff IV, Richard A. Harris, and Mark Goldblatt, who said although there was more time to edit than on The Terminator, it was still relatively small given the greater scope of the sequel. They described the complexity of scenes such as the final battle between the Terminators, which required a seamless combination of live-action, practical effect shots, and CGI. After having to rush editing at the end of The Abyss, Cameron limited filming on Terminator 2 to five days a week so he could help edit the film on weekends from the start of filming. Several scenes were deleted, in part to reduce its running time. These include Kyle Reese appearing to Sarah in a dream and encouraging her to continue fighting, Sarah being beaten in the hospital, the T-1000 killing John's dog (a scene the animal-loving Patrick was not a fan of), John teaching the T-800 to smile and discussing whether it fears death, the T-1000 malfunctioning after being frozen in the steel mill, and additional scenes with Dyson's family. Schwarzenegger unsuccessfully rallied to retain his favorite scene, in which John and Sarah modify the T-800's CPU, allowing it to learn and evolve, and Sarah attempts to destroy the CPU, but John protects the T-800. The scene was replaced with dialogue indicating that the T-800 already possesses the ability to learn. The scripted ending depicted an alternative 2029 that was filmed at the Los Angeles Arboretum in Arcadia, in which an aged Sarah narrates how Skynet was never created while John, now a US Senator, plays with his daughter in a Washington, D.C., playground. To make the film more evocative and memorable, Cameron changed this scene to one in which the characters look out at the road ahead. The production ran until about two days before the film's theatrical release. Delays were caused mainly by the rendering of shots at Consolidated Film Industries, the most difficult of which was the T-1000's death. Co-producer Stephanie Austin said the production crew worked 24-hour shifts and slept on site. The 137-minute-long release print was delivered to theaters the night before its release. There were two private pre-release screenings: one for family, friends, and crew at Skywalker Ranch, and another in Los Angeles for studio executives. Austin said, "People were stamping their feet and clapping for ten or fifteen minutes", at which point the crew knew they had succeeded. During test screenings, the ending was well received, and was described as a "touching" favorite scene. The minimum estimated cost to produce Terminator 2 had been $60 million, dwarfing the budget of the first film. Cameron and Schwarzenegger said the final budget, excluding marketing, was about $70 million, and the cost of making the film was about $51 million. According to Carolco executives Peter Hoffman and Roger Smith, the film cost $75 million before marketing, saying Terminator 2 was only "modestly" over budget. Including marketing and other costs, the film's total budget is reported to have been between $94 million and $102 million. Kassar said he had secured 110% of the budget from advances and guarantees of $91 million, including North American television ($7 million) and home-video ($10 million) rights, and $61 million from theatrical, home-video and television rights outside the U.S. The distribution deal with TriStar Pictures earned it a set percentage of the budget—an estimated $4 million. News sources labeled Terminator 2 the most expensive independent film ever and predicted it would "bankrupt Carolco".

A 10-month schedule and about $15–$17 million of Terminator 2's budget was allocated just for special effects, including $5 million for the T-1000 alone, and a further $1 million for stunts, at the time one of the largest-ever stunt budgets. Four main companies were involved in creating the 150 visual effects. ILM special effects supervisor Dennis Muren managed the computer-generated imagery (CGI) effects, Stan Winston Studio the prosthetics and animatronics. Fantasy II Film Effects developed miniatures and optical effects, and 4-Ward Productions was responsible for creating a nuclear explosion effect. Pacific Data Images and Video Image provided additional visual effects, the former doing digital wire removal and the latter creating the "Termovision" POV. The cost and time involved in producing CGI meant that the effect was used sparingly, appearing in 42–43 shots, alongside 50–60 practical effects. Portraying the T-1000 was a risky endeavor, as CGI was in its infancy and there was no backup plan in place if the CGI did not work as intended or could not be composited effectively with Winston's practical effects. The computer systems needed to animate and render the T-1000 CGI cost thousands of dollars alone, but creating the character also relied on a variety of practical appliances, visual illusions, and filming techniques. A team of up to 35 at ILM was required for the five minutes of screen time the T-1000's effects appear, and the process was so complex that rendering 15 seconds of footage took up to ten days.

The Terminator composer Brad Fiedel returned for the sequel, working in his garage in Studio City, Los Angeles. Film industry professionals regarded his return with concern and skepticism as they believed his style would not suit the film. Fiedel quickly realized he would not receive the finished footage until late in the production after most effects were completed, which made it difficult to commit to decisions such as use of an orchestra because, unlike ambient music, the score had to accompany the on-screen action. Fiedel and Cameron wanted the musical tone to be "warmer" due to its focus on a nobler Terminator and young John. Fiedel experimented with sounds and shared them with Cameron for feedback. While The Terminator score had mainly used oscillators and synthesizers, Fiedel recorded real instruments and modified their sounds. He developed a library of sounds for characters such as the T-1000, whose theme was created by sampling brass-instrument players warming up and improvising. Fiedel said to the players, "You're an insane asylum. You're a bedlam of instruments." He slowed down the resulting sample and lowered the pitch, describing it as "artificial intelligent monks chanting". Cameron considered the "atonal" sound "too avant-garde", to which Fiedel replied, "you're creating something that people have never seen before, and [the score] ought to sound like something people have never heard before to support that". Tri-Star asked Schwarzenegger to arrange a tie-in music video and theme song for the film. He chose to work with rock band Guns N' Roses because they were popular and there was "a rose in the movie and bloody guns". The band offered the use of "You Could Be Mine", the debut single from their album Use Your Illusion II (1991). The music video, featuring Schwarzenegger as the T-800 pursuing the band, was directed by Stan Winston, Andrew Morahan, and Jeffrey Abelson. Patrick unsuccessfully lobbied to use "Head Like a Hole" by Nine Inch Nails as the tie-in song, in part because his brother, Richard Patrick, was their tour guitarist. Wisher suggested using "Bad to the Bone" by George Thorogood & the Destroyers as the T-800 puts on the biker clothes. Although Cameron did not like the idea, Wisher said he later found that Cameron had used the song but had forgotten it was his idea. "Guitars, Cadillacs" by Dwight Yoakam also features in Terminator 2.

Terminator 2: Judgment Day was released to critical acclaim. Many reviews focused on the state-of-the-art physical, special, and make-up effects, which were roundly praised as "revolutionary" and "spectacular", particularly those calling the T-1000 a "technological wonder". Several publications wrote that Cameron's ability to realize cinematic action blockbusters was unmatched. Janet Maslin said that at his best, despite occasional lapses into melodrama, Cameron's work is akin to that of director Stanley Kubrick. Both Maslin and The Austin Chronicle commented on the kindness and compassion in the film. The Austin Chronicle contrasted it to the lack of a moral message in The Terminator and Travers described it as a "visionary parable" but they, alongside others, criticized Terminator 2's "muddled" message about protecting the value of human life and peace by using extreme violence to prevent the use of nuclear weapons, war, and technological reliance. Reviewers generally agreed the narrative early in the film is stronger than the one near the end. Owen Gleiberman said the first hour has a genuine "emotional pull" and according to Roger Ebert, the initial concept of a boy finding a father figure in a Terminator that is learning to be human is "intriguing", but Gleiberman said the narrative weakens once Hamilton's character joins the group. Travers and Corliss wrote it stumbles after hours of relentless action and a "conventional climax". Despite this observation, Gleiberman praised the final battle between the T-1000 and the protagonists. Empire's review and Terrence Rafferty found the film's narrative less satisfying and idea-driven than that of The Terminator. Gleiberman said despite it being an effective and witty thriller, Terminator 2: Judgment Day comes across as an expensive B movie when compared with "visionary spectacles" such as the Mad Max series and RoboCop (1987). Kenneth Turan said Terminator 2's action scenes succeed without the extreme gore and violence of RoboCop. Ebert and Maslin, among others, appreciated the twist on Schwarzenegger's public action-hero persona by making him a hero who does not kill his enemies. David Ansen and Glieberman found humor in the T-800's non-lethal methods and efforts to become more human-like. Maslin and Hinson agreed that, as in The Terminator, Schwarzenegger's role is perfect for his acting abilities. Hinson said Schwarzenegger portrayed more humanity as a machine than he did when portraying normal people. In contrast, Empire suggested that the change was a concession to Schwarzenegger's young fans, and Peter Travers chose the T-800's death as a "cornball" scene that is out of place for the actor and film. Several reviewers praised the T-1000 character for the combination of Patrick's "chilling" expressionless performance and the advanced special effects, which create an implacable, "showstopping" villain. Empire called the character "one of the great monsters of the cinema". Gleiberman said the character's absence from much of the film's second act is to the film's detriment, and Hinson wrote that the T-1000 lacks any "soul" and thus a way for the audience to identify with it. Critics generally agreed Hamilton portrays a "fierce" female hero with an impressive physique that lets her outshine another action hero, Sigourney Weaver's Ellen Ripley in Cameron's Aliens (1986). Other publications found Sarah Connor's narrations about peace to be "heavy-handed", overused, and "unintentionally amusing". Furlong was praised for giving a natural performance at a young age, and Hinson wrote that despite limited screentime, Morton made an impression. Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film a rare average grade of "A+" on a scale of A+ to F, making it the only film in the series to receive a grade higher than "B+".

At the 1992 Saturn Awards, Terminator 2: Judgment Day received awards for Best Science Fiction Film, Best Director (James Cameron), Best Actress (Linda Hamilton), Best Performance by a Younger Actor (Edward Furlong), and Best Special Effects, as well as nomination for Best Actor (Arnold Schwarzenegger). It also won Favorite Motion Picture at the 18th People's Choice Awards. For the 45th British Academy Film Awards, Terminator 2 received awards for Best Sound (Lee Orloff, Tom Johnson, Gary Rydstrom, Gary Summers) and Best Special Visual Effects (Stan Winston, Dennis Muren, Gene Warren Jr., Robert Skotak), as well as a nomination for Best Production Design (Joseph Nemec III). The 64th Academy Awards earned Terminator 2 four awards: Best Makeup (Winston and Jeff Dawn), Best Sound (Orloff, Johnson, Rydstrom, and Summers), Best Sound Effects Editing (Rydstrom and Gloria S. Borders), and Best Visual Effects (Muren, Winston, Warren Jr., and Skotak), as well as nominations for Best Cinematography (Adam Greenberg) and Best Film Editing (Conrad Buff IV, Mark Goldblatt and Richard A. Harris). It was the first film to win an Academy Award when its predecessor had not been nominated. It received six awards at the 1992 MTV Movie Awards, including: Best Movie, Best Action Sequence ("L.A. Freeway Scene"), Best Breakthrough Performance (Furlong), Best Female Performance (Hamilton), Best Male Performance (Schwarzenegger), and nominations for Best Song From a Movie ("You Could Be Mine"), Best Villain (Robert Patrick), and Most Desirable Female (Hamilton), as well as a Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation (Cameron and William Wisher Jr.).

Terminator 2 is considered a highly influential film, setting a benchmark for sequels, action set pieces, and visual effects. Cameron and special-effects supervisor Dennis Muren said the groundbreaking special effects in Terminator 2 demonstrated the possibilities of computer-generated effects and that without it, effects-focused films such as Jurassic Park (1993) would not have been possible. Various publications have referenced Terminator 2's influence on special effects, describing it as the most important special-effects film since Tron (1982), marking the start of the era of reliance on CGI effects for films such as Jurassic Park and The Matrix (1999). In 2007 the Visual Effects Society, an entertainment-industry organization of visual-effects practitioners, named Terminator 2 the 14th-most-influential visual-effects film of all time, and the T-1000 is listed by Guinness World Records as the "first major blockbuster movie character generated using computers". According to The Guardian, the film's "groundbreaking" effects led to "CGI laziness", a reliance on computer graphics over practical effects, stunts, and craft. A 2014 Entertainment Weekly article said Terminator 2 contributed to the contemporary Hollywood high-budget science fiction epic film, and a reliance on turning films into franchises targeted at young audiences and broad demographics. Den of Geek described it as one of the most influential blockbusters since the thriller Jaws (1975). Several filmmakers and creative leads have named it as an influence on their work, including Steven Caple Jr., Ryan Coogler, Kevin Feige, and Hideo Kojima, and it was the favorite film of Russian political prisoner Alexei Navalny. With a $94–102 million budget, Terminator 2: Judgment Day was the most expensive film made in its time, and, as of 2023, it remains Schwarzenegger's highest-grossing film. Alongside her appearance in The Terminator, Hamilton's Sarah Connor became regarded as one of the greatest and most influential cinematic female action heroes and an iconic character. Patrick's T-1000 is considered one of the most iconic cinematic villains. He made cameo appearances as the T-1000 in Wayne's World (1992) and Schwarzenegger's Last Action Hero (1993). In Last Action Hero, Stallone replaces Schwarzenegger as the T-800 on the Terminator 2 poster. The T-800's line "Hasta la vista, baby" is considered an iconic piece of movie dialogue and is often quoted. Schwarzenegger also used it in speeches during his political career. Terminator 2: Judgment Day has been referenced in a variety of media, including television, films, and video games. The biker bar scene was recreated for a 2015 advertisement, which featured Schwarzenegger, for the video game WWE 2K16—the bar patrons were replaced with WWE wrestlers. In 2023, the Library of Congress selected Terminator 2: Judgment Day for preservation in the National Film Registry as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

Since its release, Terminator 2: Judgment Day has been assessed as one of the best action, science fiction, and sequel films ever made. Terminator 2 and The Terminator are generally considered the standout films in the Terminator franchise, with each taking turns in the top spot. Some publications have listed Terminator 2 among the greatest films made. In 2001 the American Film Institute (AFI) ranked Terminator 2 number 77 on its 100 Years ... 100 Thrills list, recognizing the "most heart-pounding movies", and the 2003 list of the 100 Best Heroes & Villains ranked the T-800 character as the forty-eighth-best hero. The 2005 list of the 100 Best Movie Quotes listed the T-800 dialogue line "Hasta la vista, baby" as the 76th-best quotation, and the 2008 AFI's 10 Top 10 named Terminator 2 as the eighth-best science fiction film. To mark Schwarzenegger's 75th birthday in 2022, Variety listed Terminator 2: Judgment Day as the best film in his 46-year career. Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes offers a 90% approval rating from the aggregated reviews of 175 critics, with an average score of 8.5/10. The website's critical consensus says: "T2 features thrilling action sequences and eye-popping visual effects, but what takes this sci-fi/action landmark to the next level is the depth of the human (and cyborg) characters". The film has a score of 75 out of 100 on Metacritic based on 22 critics' reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews". During Terminator 2's 30th anniversary in 2021, Cameron, among others, said despite using older models of cars, the film's visuals still compare well with contemporary films. Cameron also said Terminator 2 remains relevant because artificial intelligence had become a ubiquitous reality rather than a fantasy. In 2006 Terminator 2 was listed at number 32 on Film4's 50 Films to See Before You Die list, and is included in the film reference book 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die. Rotten Tomatoes lists it as one of 300 essential movies and at number 123 on its list of 200 essential movies. Popular Mechanics and Rolling Stone jointly listed it alongside The Terminator as the third-best time-travel film ever made. Rolling Stone's reader-voted list of the best sequels ranks Terminator 2 second, behind The Godfather Part II (1974), and Empire readers ranked the film 17th on its 2017 "100 Greatest Movies" list.