Terminator 2: Judgment Day
Hacker ApprovedRanked 5 of 29 science fiction films by recommenders
Recommended for its pioneering effects, strong story and lasting status as a classic. Critics say the 4K remaster is over-denoised, smudged and looks worse than the 1080p release.
Recommended for its pioneering effects, strong story and lasting status as a classic. Critics say the 4K remaster is over-denoised, smudged and looks worse than the 1080p release.
28 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 21
- criticize it
- 7
- approval share
- 75%
Recommended in 6 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it carries the badge
- 21 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 3 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 6 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Pioneering effects for its time
“This was a fantastic read. I had no idea how much of Terminator 2 had to be invented from scratch.”
Comment from 10 Jul 2026 in “The tech of 'Terminator 2' – an oral history (2017)” “It's incredible how much of the technology had to be invented just to make Terminator 2 possible.”
Comment from 11 Jul 2026 in “The tech of 'Terminator 2' – an oral history (2017)” “used the available tech in a way that was visually interesting”
Comment from 23 Jul 2026 in “Neill Blomkamp's new zombie AI 'film' is just slop warmed over” - Comment from 12 Jul 2026 in “Don't You Mean Extinct?”
- Comment from 18 Jun 2026 in “I need your clothes, your boots, and your motorcycle”
Well written, strong story
“it's inarguable that Terminator, Aliens, The Abyss, and Terminator 2 are all better written than the Avatar films”
Comment from 27 Oct 2026 in “Genie 4” “It's actually a really great story, which is kinda unusual for a sequel.”
Comment from 10 Jul 2026 in “The tech of 'Terminator 2' – an oral history (2017)” “it works so well with John asking "are we learning yet" in a next scene.”
Comment from 11 Jul 2026 in “The tech of 'Terminator 2' – an oral history (2017)” Enduring classic that aged well
“Terminator 2 was a huge cultural phenomenon.”
Comment from 10 Jul 2026 in “The tech of 'Terminator 2' – an oral history (2017)” “That movie has aged incredibly well!”
Comment from 18 Jun 2026 in “I need your clothes, your boots, and your motorcycle” “It's too bad because it's a classic.”
Comment from 12 Jul 2026 in “I love LLMs, I hate hype” Nostalgic favorite for fans
“pretty much just testifying that this is exactly what I remember, and I was young at the time.”
Comment from 10 Jul 2026 in “The tech of 'Terminator 2' – an oral history (2017)” “T2 is the best movie ever made and got praise from nuclear physicists.”
Comment from 11 Jul 2026 in “The tech of 'Terminator 2' – an oral history (2017)” “T2 is one of my favorite movies of all time”
Comment from 10 Jul 2026 in “The tech of 'Terminator 2' – an oral history (2017)” - Comment from 23 Aug 2026 in “The Art and Beauty of Blade Runner (2015)”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
4K remaster denoised, looks worse
“they 4K remasters are significantly worse looking than previous 1080p home media releases”
Comment from 13 Jul 2026 in “The tech of 'Terminator 2' – an oral history (2017)” “de-noised to hell making it significantly worse looking than the previous 1080p master”
Comment from 13 Jul 2026 in “The tech of 'Terminator 2' – an oral history (2017)” “The preview they released is so smudged though, like they tried to denoize it.”
Comment from 10 Jul 2026 in “The tech of 'Terminator 2' – an oral history (2017)” - Comment from 11 Nov 2025 in “The 'Toy Story' You Remember”
- Comment from 10 Jul 2026 in “The tech of 'Terminator 2' – an oral history (2017)”
Upscaled with mismatched colors
“other movies like Terminator 2 are done lazily and have completely different colors”
Comment from 11 Nov 2025 in “The 'Toy Story' You Remember” “It's upscaled using 2010 tech and amazing deficient”
Comment from 10 Jul 2026 in “The tech of 'Terminator 2' – an oral history (2017)”
Other science fiction films people recommend
The four most recommended other science fiction films, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Blade Runner | 54 | 11 | 83% | 10 | 34 yrs3 owners | Approved |
| Colossus: The Forbin Project | 35 | 2 | 95% | 9 | — | Approved |
| Jurassic Park (1993 film) | 32 | 7 | 82% | 8 | — | Approved |
| The Fifth Element | 24 | 3 | 89% | 5 | — | Approved |
| Terminator 2: Judgment DayThis page | 21 | 7 | 75% | 6 | — | Approved |
What people said
28 of the 31 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“it's inarguable that Terminator, Aliens, The Abyss, and Terminator 2 are all better written than the Avatar films”
“the explanation is actually reasonable”
“gets me every single time”
“I hated the background storyline in Terminator 2, it made no sense to me”
“I was nowhere near as convinced”
“used the available tech in a way that was visually interesting”
“they 4K remasters are significantly worse looking than previous 1080p home media releases”
“de-noised to hell making it significantly worse looking than the previous 1080p master”
“It's too bad because it's a classic.”
“wow, that looks really cool in a high-tech way”
“I thought Terminator 2 did this.”
“It's incredible how much of the technology had to be invented just to make Terminator 2 possible.”
“T2 is the best movie ever made and got praise from nuclear physicists.”
“it works so well with John asking "are we learning yet" in a next scene.”
“T2 is one of my favorite movies of all time”
“The preview they released is so smudged though, like they tried to denoize it.”
“all these movies (Alien, Terminator 2, and Jurassic park) were very well done”
“It's upscaled using 2010 tech and amazing deficient”
“Terminator 2 was a huge cultural phenomenon.”
“pretty much just testifying that this is exactly what I remember, and I was young at the time.”
“This was a fantastic read. I had no idea how much of Terminator 2 had to be invented from scratch.”
“It's actually a really great story, which is kinda unusual for a sequel.”
“T2 and Abyss were trailblazers.”
“That movie has aged incredibly well!”
“Goodfellas and Terminator 2 spring to mind.”
“when the sequel is complete trash, it's easy to ignore entirely. Terminator 3 being the obvious example.”
“The 4k looks like dogshit, with or without HDR enabled.”
“other movies like Terminator 2 are done lazily and have completely different colors”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.