The Terminator (Special Edition) (DVD)

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The Terminator (Special Edition) (DVD)

Overall rating (21): Overall user rating The Terminator (Special Edition) (DVD)

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I'll be baaack - in another 2 sequels

4 Sep 28th, 2005

Advantages:
I'll be back !   -  great scary early Arnie classic

Disadvantages:
synthesiser score a little distracting

Recommendable: Yes 

Detailed rating:

Did you enjoy it?

Story

Characters / Performances

Special Effects

Soundtrack

more


davidm385

About me: Middle aged father of one with a passion for movies, computers and games and sport.

Member since:26.09.2005

Reviews:9

Members who trust:1

Review rated by 15 Ciao members on average: helpful

Dialogue Quote
============

The Terminator: I'm a friend of Sarah Connor. I was told she was here. Could I see her please?

Desk Sergeant: No, you can't see her she's making a statement.

The Terminator: Where is she?

Desk Sergeant: It may take a while. Want to wait? There's a bench over there
[points to bench]

The Terminator: [looks around then looks back at him] I'll be back!

Plot
===

And so begins a commercially successful career of one Arnold Strong (whcih was his billing in his first movie), or Governer Schwarzenegger to you and me! This 1984 James Cameron movi is now pretty well regarded as a sci-fi classic, and rightly so. The movie centres around Sarah Connor, (played by Linda Hamilton) who has a run of the mill single girl life in LA. Her world is shattered when she is hunted by a walking talking killing machine - a Terminator (or course played by Arnie). The early sequences show him going to a phone booth and ripping out the page at the Sarah Connor listing. he then ruthlessley and methodically starts to kill the Sarah connor's in the list, in the orderin the directory. This of course makes news (even in LA) and Sarah gets spooked after the first two or three make the TV.

She is not alone - from future (as we find out in the plot) the human resistance sends a lone protector, Kyle Reese played by Michael Biehn who's job it is to protect and save our Sarah. Why? It is because she is the mother to be of the leader of the human resistance - John Connor who sends Kyle back through time to protect her. If the time travel stuff is starting to spin your head please don't worry, the movie makes a better job of explaining it than I do.

Kyle and Sarah go on the run, and after hearing Kyle's story Sarah falls for him, they kiss, soft dissolve.......

In the end the Terminator tracks them down and there ensues some classic moments and high octane action, which ends with the tragic death of Kyle,a nd Sarah surviving by.....well you can watch for that. Suffice to say that the end sequence has a heavily pregnant Sarah driving off into the distance, not knowing the future.

Opinion
======

There then follows a sequence of chases, supported by loads of shooting and destruction. Arnie is quite superb as the relentless machine as he mows down cop after cop in the police station scene. the special effects are excellent and ground breaking for the time, with the Terminator vision quite innovative, allof which is supplemented by the work of Stan Winston (a genius in stop motion animation) and the first endo-skeleton terminator (the classic all silver skull with the glowing red eyes). The action is well paced and moves the story along well, and is never really gratuitous. My single gripe, and it is as much down to the low budget atthetime, is the soundtrack which is a synthesiser score, and not orchestrated, and this makes it a little cheap even if it is in keeping with the movies theme.

Overall an excellent movie with groundbreaking effects and a story with loads of potential for the sequels.

DVD Features include:

Artwork Stills
Deleted Scenes - very interesting along with Cameron's commentary as to why they were cut
Documentary
Photos
Publicity Materials
Script Stills
Trailers
TV Spots

 

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Comments about this review
kitty17

kitty17

25.02.2006 13:25

Good helpful review, Ellie.

rd123

rd123

21.01.2006 13:17

AS BELOW

sandemp

sandemp

29.09.2005 14:04

Sorry for the lower rating, but hard as it may be to beleive, but there are people that haven't watched the film and you've given the ending away....I would also have liked to read at least a little of what you thought of the special features and whether you thought it was worth buying this on disc rather than just recording it off the TV

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The Terminator (Two Disc Special Edition) [DVD] [1985]

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The Terminator (Two Disc Special Edition) [DVD] [1985] The Terminator [Special Edition]-DVD
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Review Ratings
This review of The Terminator (Special Edition) (DVD) has been rated:

"very helpful" by (40%):
  1. happygoluckygirl
  2. micksheff
  3. DarkDave
and 3 other members

"helpful" by (53%):
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  2. rd123
  3. jillburke
and 5 other members

"somewhat helpful" by (7%):
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