I always thought that Arnold agreeing to not harm any cops at Cyberdyne during the shootout keeps this movie from being truly great like the original "Terminator." It dumbs the movie down to "A-Team" level of early-'80s TV action. It's also very unrealistic blasting away with a minigun and grenade launcher without harming anyone, but their patrol cars.
shareI used to hate the scene until my Army buddy explained to me that for the Terminator to reap that much destruction without a single casualty does more props for what an incredible kill machine he is, then if he just slaughtered everyone. It requires an infinitely greater skill level and actually illustrates how scary a Terminator truly is. Once I looked at it that way, I liked it fine.
shareGood point.
shareTactically it’s a very risky maneuver. Even though the T-800 had knee-capped all the SWAT team members in the lobby, there was no way he couldn’t have calculated there was still a chance one of them could have limped down to the elevators and shot Sarah or John.
shareA few more points about this very good thread, not considering the insulting ones:
Why “trust” a 10-yard old?..I think it’s safe to say John Connor is no ordinary 10-year old....he was raised to be a leader from a young age and he’s smart enough to hack an ATM....he has potential, to say the least....at most, he was aware of his potential, shown when he’s speaking about his mother to the T-800 and saying how she raised him, “spending a lot of time in Nicaragua...“; spending time with a “crazy ex-Green Beret guy, running guns”; finding guys to influence her son so he “could become this great military leader....”. Young John Connor doesn’t sound like a normal kid playing little league and spending summers going to camp with his friends...
And we don’t know if the T-800 did NOT kill anyone from the bar....the dude he threw out the window may have survived, or not; we can say he survives with some injuries and bruises, at best....the dude that was stuck with the knife in the shoulder blade?....if no one pulls it out soon, that dude could bleed out or die of shock or something, we don’t know but we didn’t see anyone run to his aid.....and the biker he threw to the kitchen? We can assume after being disarmed, then surrendering , and then after throwing his keys to the T-800 that he was spared, but we can’t confirm such....it seems, to me at least, that the Cameron may have consciously, or perhaps unconsciously but doubtful because it’s Cameron, avoided showing the T-800 as a murderous machine from the beginning of this movie to potentially make it plausible that even a young John Connor could change it and make it obey his orders....
Just my depreciated two cents...
I respectfully disagree with the notion that a 10-year old making these decisions is not plausible; again, I’m of the belief that Connor is special, even at such a young age....
Nonetheless, great discourse when it respectfully stayed on topic...
Good flick too, I enjoyed it very much....
Cheers....good times!
I don't get why 10 year old John had to tell him at all. Why didn't adult John already have that instilled in the terminator? How did he not? Seems like it would be an unavoidable aspect of reprogramming a killing machine.
shareWhile I somewhat agree, maybe he didn't have time to program it that way. He probably was on a deadline with the whole sending Reese back and then finding out about the T-1000 and sending the Terminator back. He also didn't even program it with language skills either.
shareIt was at least an INTERESTING TWIST here folks, hence why I appreciated it.
shareHe's working for the HUMAN RESISTANCE, why would he kill people? John and Sarah actively don't want people to die.
shareYou'd have a point....if it weren't for the fact that his not killing the cops is directly connected with the primary, overarching theme that guides the entire movie.
shareArnold himself complained to James Cameron about how he's not allowed to kill anybody even though he's playing the Terminator:
https://www.quora.com/What-problem-did-Arnold-Schwarzenegger-have-with-the-script-of-Terminator-2/answer/Vitmorshare
I could tell there was something bugging him, right? We were pals at this point. Post-Terminator, we rode motorcycles together.
And he said, ‘Jim, I have a big problem with the script.’ I said, ‘Well, what is it?’ And he said, ‘I don’t kill anybody.’ I said, ‘I know, right? They’ll never see that coming. Nobody will guess it.’
He said, ‘I know, but one thing is a surprise. Another thing is I don’t kill anybody and I’m the Terminator.’
This is happening on some terrace at Cannes and everybody’s looking. I’m like, ‘Let’s talk this out.’ I give him all the reasons how it’s going to work. He said, ‘I know, but everybody knows I kick in the door and shoot everybody. That’s what I do.’
I thought it was pretty damn funny seeing all the cops get kneecapped and hobbling to get out the way of the swat truck lol.
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