Terminator 2: Judgment Day

It turns out the Ultimate Edition of T2--released a scant two years ago--was actually only the penultimate. This two-disc Extreme DVD edition of the second film in James Cameron's sci-fi man (and woman) vs. machine saga--starring California gubernatorial hopeful Arnold Schwarzenegger as a killing machine (somewhat kinder and gentler in this sequel) sent from the future--comes fully-equipped with exclusive features, the most trumpeted being director Cameron's first audio commentary (along with co-screenwriter William Wisher). An engaging companion, Cameron regales the audience with fascinating revelations about the film's groundbreaking special effects and hilarious anecdotes (apparently, hell hath no fury like actress Linda Hamilton, who wreaks havoc during a fight scene on one unfortunate costar who was pulling his punches). Under the heading of perhaps "too much of a good thing" is the optional Interactive Mode features, which offer running technical and trivia factoids at the top and bottom of the screen (for those who want to know everything about, say, obtaining theatrical and video rights to certain songs). The movie itself is presented in an expanded edition that contains scenes deleted from the theatrical version (according to web scuttlebutt, the theatrical cut is also on the disc as an Easter egg, but I've not managed to access it yet), and boasts a noticeable improvement in both video and audio qualities over previous releases. And that's just disc one! Disc two contains a new documentary about the film's influential special effects, interactive DVD-ROM features, and a high-definition version of the film playable on fully loaded PCs with Windows Media Player 9 (this will require a speed demon computer with plenty of memory, and also requires you to jump through a few technical and administrative hoops to set up and play). Overall, this set fulfills DVD's potential to watch familiar films in exciting new ways; at least it will do until the Ultimate Extreme edition comes along. Highly recommended. (K. Lee Benson)[Blu-ray Review—May 26, 2009—Lionsgate, 152 min., R, $29.99—Making its second appearance on Blu-ray, 1991's T2: Judgment Day sports a great transfer with 6.1 DTS-HD Master Audio or 5.1 Dolby Digital EX sound. Featuring both the theatrical and extended versions of the film, Blu-ray extras include two audio commentaries (the first by director James Cameron and co-writer William Wisher; the second with 26 cast/crew members), a picture-in-picture viewing option with behind-the-scenes video and galleries, a “Trivia Data” track featuring pop-up facts, a “Production Data” pop-up track, a “Linked Data Modules” option that lets viewers watch behind-the-scenes clips during the film, a “Source Code” option that enables text viewing of the script during the film, a “Schematics” option that lets viewers see storyboards along with the film, a “Query Mode” offering a T2 quiz during the film, a “Processor Tests” option for playing mini-games during the film, two deleted scenes with optional commentary (4 min.), and trailers. Also included is the BD-Live function. Bottom line: a fine Blu-ray upgrade of a sci-fi action classic.][4K Review—Dec. 26, 2017—Lionsgate, 137 min., R, 4K: $22.99—Making its first appearance on 4K, 1991's Terminator 2: Judgment Day features a decent transfer and a DTS-HD 5.1 soundtrack. Extras include the theatrical, special edition, and extended special edition versions of the film, audio commentaries (one by director James Cameron and co-writer William Wisher; the other by 23 cast/crew members), the production featurette “T2: Reprogramming the Terminator” (54 min.), a 1999 “making-of” featurette (31 min.), and deleted scenes (4 min.). Bottom line: although definitely better than Blu-ray, the 4K transfer here is not amazing, so this is recommended only for those specifically collecting 4K titles.]