The Terminator

It’s been several years since I’ve revisited this film. I remember watching it on cable edited for TV at my cousins house as a kid. When I first really started collecting physical media, this was one of the first if not the first blu rays I bought. I got it out of the $5 blu ray bin at Walmart. I still have that blu ray copy and I watched it again for this watch. Speaking of, when is Cameron gonna remaster this for 4K? It’s over due.  What a revolutionary film. Sci-fi was forever changed with this film, and later with the sequel. James Cameron throughout his career has pushing the limits of genre defining films and technology/special effects. This movie has got such a moody vibe and I LOVE it. I think it’s because most of the film takes place at night, and the film has this sci-fi synthe score. Why does nobody ever talk about the Terminator theme? It’s so iconic.  Talk about an original film! It would have been so cool to experience this in the theaters. I remember my dad telling me he saw this when it came out. Lucky guy. The plot and lore to this movie (and the sequel…. And even Salvation) is so cool. A futuristic war between human and Robot AI? A cybernetic organism traveling back in time to kill someone very important while at the same time a member of the human resistance is sent back in time to protect said individual? So rad. So cool. It’s also got this horror tone splashed throughout the film that I love I don’t think people really talk about that or recognize that.  This film is filled with so many iconic scenes, moments, and lines of dialogue. The futuristic war scenes, the Tech Noir club scene, the police station scene- all of it is so memorable. Also talk about a film that just has countless memorable lines of dialogue.  Sadly not all the practical effects and special effects in general hold up. There’s a lot that look pretty dated. Still, I’m sure for the time they were VERY impressive. What I will say has held up is the sound design. Man it’s so impressive! All the lasers and gunshots really sound great. This film is in desperate need of a Atmos track. Another small issue I have and it really is small, is that the pacing the first hour or so goes so rapidly fast (which is awesome), but then it doesn’t move at the same pace the rest of the film. Now let me iterate that the film never slows down, it always stays interesting and on track. But it just does not keep the same momentum the first hour had. There’s also some goofs and gaffs you can point out in the film like them speeding up the film during the car chase to make it seem like they’re driving faster, or Arnold clearly wearing a mask during the eye surgery scene. Oh well, it was the 80’s.  Something I noticed is the exposition scenes are really done well. They don’t feel like they’re baby feeding scenes. They find clever ways to give you the information you need and keep it interesting.  This movie has got everything you could ask for. A great script, good characters, fun action, and a phenomenal villain that goes down in film history.  I really have debated on if it’s a 4.5/5 or a 5/5 and honestly you may see the score change, but I think I’m able to see past its few flaws and give it the best rating possible.