Ask any "Terminator" fan about "Judgment Day" and you'll likely hear the same thing: superior sequel. The reason for this is obvious, it's more fun, it's more exciting, and it's special effects are mind blowing. That's all there is to it, the explanation for the success of "Terminator 2" is as shallow as that. This installment re-introduces Arnold's T-800 as a friendly machine, with a new more powerful enemy who is capable of transforming into any tangible object he desires. The concept itself teeters on going overboard, and if anyone else were directing, it's very likely that this film would have imploded in on itself numerous times over. Yet Cameron maintains a steady balance between apocalyptic forewarning, time travel paradoxes, and explosive stunt work and manages to create a compelling, if over-the-top narrative while creating genre defining special effects that manage to compliment the films sci-fi intrigue rather than distract from it.
The first secret success to "Terminator 2" is the implausibility. Cameron himself has spoken on how the franchise is quite a stretch. Arnold Schwarzenegger should have never worked for the role; a ridiculously bulky Austrian with a thick accent is the last kind of "infiltration unit" machines would typically use to blend in with humans, and yet, the audience bought it. Once Cameron got the audience to take the bait, he was free to exercise the limits of his imagination in the sequel. In this installment, we are now expected to believe another T-800 is sent back in time to protect John Connor, humanity's future saviour. The machine is identical, leading us to believe that all T-800's look the same and somehow the human resistance hasn't picked up on it. Furthermore, there is a new and more advanced machine, the T-1000, who has no robotic structure, he is made of liquid metal that mimics objects; anything from floor tiles to John Connor's foster mother. On paper Cameron seems like a scientist mad with power, unaware of the limits of reason. But in this future world, Cameron explicitly details a graphically horrific future visualized in a haunting dream sequence that appears plausible to the audience. The machines have become self-aware and see humanity as a threat and begin a nuclear holocaust of our race, as we see our beloved civilization crumble to the robots we designed, we suddenly feel as though Cameron's film isn't that far from possibility. It is here that the director gains his right to construct whatever he sees fit, because at this point, we're too terrified and oddly fascinated with his morbid future to say no.
The success in the concept is further fleshed out in the actual characters. John Connor, the previous film's unseen hero, finally shows his face as a smart talking, 90's pre-teen who is a classic rebel without a cause. His mother has been locked into a mental institution for her manic prophecies of the future, so his lack of guidance makes him unlikable and largely unrelatable. However, when the machines from the future arrive, it all changes, the characters evolve. It's not much of a secret that working with children or even teenagers can be a trying task, and often times children characters in films come off as self-centered, irritating, and mindless. Only a true actors director can cast the right kid and get the best out of him or her, and fortunately, Cameron is one of these. Now known for his brilliant casting, Cameron cast Edward Furlong in the John Connor role who was able to pour some of his own rebellious qualities into the role, making it feel much more natural. The success with Connor's character came from his outward curiosity rather than his selfish impulses. While John is initially skeptical of his mother, and demands that the Terminator do whatever he says, barking commands in it's face, his raw aggression often quickly translates to surprised intrigue when he discovers the machine will actually stand on one foot if ordered, and that his mother was right all along.
Furlong's Connor forms a bond with the emotionless machine in an attempt to make up for the lack of human intimacy compared to the Sarah and Kyle Reese romance of the previous film. Cameron instead tries to find compassion within the machine created to destroy us. Sarah Connor notes to herself the horrible yet comforting irony that her son's only friend is the same machine that will someday attempt to murder him. It's morbid territory, befriending the enemy, yet Cameron suggests an optimistic tone towards machines as we see Arnold shed an artificial smile and sign-off with a thumbs up. The film shifts between the bleak premeditation of mechanical uprising and fun "movie magic" giving the T-800 bot a hint of personality.
While the first film had a central character romance, it was an overall cold film that determined humanity was doomed to it's fate before the hands of our machines and Sarah's only hope was the buckle up and prepare. "Terminator 2" on the other hand romanticizes it's themes rather than characters. In a change of heart, Cameron's script informs humanity that we do have power over our future, we have free will that can determine our course of action. This uplifting sense of human passion and righteousness can defeat the cold, calculated precision of the machines may be a conventional science fiction arc, but it gives the film an uplifting boost of humanity that it would have lacked otherwise. While later sequels would go on to reverse the optimism of "Terminator 2", it manages to stand alone in it's projection of the future, even apart from it's predecessor.