T2's villain wasn't CGI?

Not always... They had an amputee play him when he was being frozen near the end there and his leg and hand breaks off.... They shattered a frozen mould of him for the next shot.... A few times he is played by acting twins... So for instance, there's two Sarah Connors at the end, and John has to decide whose the evil twin?... Well turns out Linda Hamilton has a twin sister, and she played the evil T1000... And same for the portly redheaded security sheriff's deputy in the psyche ward.

...also they used special rubber chrome squibs when he gets shot by bullets... Those hits are not CGI surprisingly.

https://www.shutterstock.com/editorial/image-editorial/t1000-bullet-hit-shirt-terminator-2--9870208bl

The villain was CGI, but essentially everything else in the film was done with old school effects and actual filming locations.

Compare this to many, many modern movies where the stage is basically the size of oh about a basketball court and is surrounded by either green screens or high res displays with a few props, where the situation is essentially the inverse of T2: the only real thing is the actor and nearly everything else is CGI.

Hell even a lot of the shots of the wounded T1000 were done with sculpted mannequins and prosthetics and such.

Even in a what is probably the best current modern action movie series of John Wick, (though I have yet to see 4 so maybe this has changed) basically my only real gripe with it is that it uses CGI blood in action sequences instead of squibs.

EDIT: Also somewhat ironically... the latest couple of James Bond movies seem to still be using actual practical effects and real actual locations for action sequences, but apparently James Bond is now woke or gay or something because they bothered to attempt to actually make Bond have a character arc and seem somewhat like an human being with emotions, so theres that.

He was, and very well done, in an age where CGI was not something to fall back on like it is now. It was used in conjunction with stunts and practical effects. It can be used for an element like the liquid metal, but once you start doing cgi car and helicopter chases, your brain knows that none of it is real and you may as well be watching a cartoon. When there's practical effects and stunts, your brain knows to be impressed.