Wow, my holiday camp job has been and gone, I spent 2 months as a BT apprentice and now i'm looking ...
Wow, my holiday camp job has been and gone, I spent 2 months as a BT apprentice and now i'm looking for work again. Phew, time to pay Ciao some more attention. Hope u all missed me guys ;-p
Member since:30.03.2001
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With Terminator 3 soon to be released I’ve taken a trip down memory lane and decided to remind myself and those who read my opinions, exactly what the first two Terminator films were like starting with this one, the first, The Terminator.
--------- Intro; ---------
Originally released in 1984, my year of birth so don’t expect too much knowledge of the time here, The Terminator can be looked at as one of the defining sci-fi/action flicks of the decade as well as one of the highest, if not the, of the career of Arnold Schwarzenegger who was in great shape even at 36 years old and is apparently just as good at 55 for T3. I’m definitely far better suited to review T2 however, in the interest of fairness I will give this my best shot with a new layout for my film ops so here goes.
------------------------- Main Cast/Director; -------------------------
The Terminator – Arnold Schwarzenegger Sarah Conner – Linda Hamilton Kyle Reese – Michael Biehn Lt Traxler – Paul Winfield Lt Traxler’s Partner – Lance Henriksen Director – James Cameron
------------- The Film; -------------
The opening scene of the film sets the tone, as it should do, and is a fight from Los Angeles – 2029 A.D. It is the stereotypical sci-fi/action fight scene with lots of metal/chrome and lasers and is followed by a caption which reads; ‘The machines rose from the ashes of the nuclear fire. Their war to exterminate mankind had raged for decades, but the final battle would not be fought in the future. It would be
fought here, in our present. Tonight…..’
The interesting things during the title sequence is the music. The same theme with drum beat which I can’t quite describe with words, was used in this film as in the second and has been upgraded, apparently, for the latest release. A small note but that music always plays in my head whenever I think of the Terminator films.
The time and date is shown as Los Angeles 1984 (later added that is Thursday May 12th) 1:52am and we see lightening beside truck followed by a naked man who turns out to be the Terminator (Schwarzenegger) followed quickly by the first kill where he rips the heart of a punk rocker out while trying to take his clothes.If Cyberdine (the futuristic computer network which designed, built and programmed the Terminator) was so advanced why not give their Terminator cyborg human clothing to make him fit in better when he finally arrives on his mission to terminate Sarah Conner?
Kyle Reese (Michael Biehn) appears with the same lightning effect but with far less dignity than the Terminator, probably due to the fact he is a mere hardened guerrilla fighter and not a Terminator and is soon being chased unsuccessfully by the police to the sweet sound of that 80’s love machine, the synthesiser.
Cut to the lovely Sarah Conner (Linda Hamilton) with her atrocious 1980’s dress sense and hairstyle off for a days work. Unbeknownst to her the slightly worse dressed Terminator is hot on her trail in a freshly stolen car. Then one of the many all-time Arnie classic lines. His first lines in the film are listing guns for purchase to a store owner during which he says ‘Uzi nine millimetre’ in a way that sounds special due to Arnie himself.
Just for the sake of it here to make sure we know The Terminator is the bad guy our second kill is here. Yes it is Sarah Conner Arnie but it’s the wrong one. But still a bullet to the head and four more won’t hurt her.And back to Kyle Reese who’s having much less luck getting transportation and has a flashback to one of the battles with the robots complete with synthesiser in full action mode. Then he wakes up and drives off, how convinent.
During a susequent car chase The Terminator digs in his heel status by exactly copying the voice of the cop who’s car he has stole and then Reese explains to Conner why he and The Terminator are here and what/who they are. Strangely if you have the DVD or VHS, watch how The Terminator strangely develops a lazy eye while driving the cop car in this particular part, only slightly amusing if you ask me.
Anyway, Why? A nuclear war years from now which wipes out America. The survivors fight the machines who started the war because the machines got too smart. They saw all humans as a threat not just the enemies. Reese explains that one man lead the fight against the machines when the human race was all but extinct, that man – John Conner, Sarah’s unborn son. This explains why The Terminator is here to kill her.
In a highly advanced scene for it’s time I believe, we see The Terminator performing repairs to itself by cutting through it’s artificial skin and repairing itself. The ‘eyeball’ scene is also very graphic but even further enhances the image of The Terminator and is a great piece of work in it’s own right.
The film also contains one of the most famous scenes of all time. The Terminator, with shades and a new leather jacket, walks into the police station and asks for Sarah Conner. When he finds out he can’t see her he sizes up the reception area, leans forward and says ‘I’ll be back’. Who hasn’t heard that line? But, to complete the scene he does come back. Through the front window and reception in a car killing the cop on the desk.
A love andle between Conner & Reese is soon set up for us, hell it wouldn’t be an 80’s action film without some form of romance. However due to the lack of real dialogue thus far in the film this scene is somewhat long-winded so thankfully it cut’s to a retrospect scene, from Reese’s perspective because to everyone else it’s in the future.
Eventually the Terminator is chasing them again and this time we are headed towards the climax of the film. Needless to say that my original version of this op was so long-winded and gave away way too much of the plot (I apologise again & again to everyone who pointed this out) so i'll leave it there. Just keep your ears open for a classic line from Conner near the end of the film.
-------------- Criticisms; --------------
A film containing very little dialogue up until Kyle & Sarah get romantic and too much emphasis on a story in the past which we know nothing of other than the little we are told. This wouldn’t have been so much of an annoying thing if they’d kept it one way or the other. If the whole film had moved at the pace of the first half this would have been fine but it chopped and changed for the films second half. This means there was too much dialogue shoved at us after building the characters on their actions and short, quick dialogue rather than long-winded conversations between each other.
----------- Overall; -----------
Overall The Terminator is actually a thoroughly enjoyable film to sit and watch. While it is far from an amazing piece of work and some of the acting just plain stinks, as a whole the entertainment value is very high. Unlike some sci-fi/action flicks like The Matrix, The Terminator has a very believable storyline and this was the case even in 1984. Computers were all the rage as was robotics and the possibility of robots such as The Terminator existing was very real. With hindsight over the film and it’s sequels it’s always good to look at the humble beginnings and wonder whether a sequel, let alone 2 were planned all along. Very much worth the time and effort in not just for the background on the Terminator series..
Thanks for reading, Craig.
P.S - Terminator 2 ; Judgment Day. I'll post my op on Friday at some point so check it out. T3 will be done whenever the film gets to my local cinema.
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
Production Year: 2007 - Science Fiction - Director: Francis Lawrence - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring: Alice Braga, Charlie Tahan, Dash Mihok, Will Smith, Salli Richardson, Willow Smith
Advantages: Uncommonly good storyline for an action film, super special effects, imaginative design, excellent value DVD Disadvantages: Many won't enjoy it for its occasionally-graphic violence
tom1clare 07.03.2004 (10.03.2004)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Terminator
Advantages: Some visually entertaining if unengaging special effects Disadvantages: Terrible dialogue, direction, plot and acting, Unoriginal, dull and unengaging.
Burning_Darkness 28.07.2009 ·
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Terminator Salvation
Jul 24th, 2003
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