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#401 - The Terminator
James Cameron, 1984
A cyborg travels back in time from a future where humans and artificially intelligent machines are locked in constant war in order to murder the woman whose unborn son will become the leader of the human resistance.
With Terminator Genisys coming out later this week, I made a plan to re-watch all four Terminator films in the lead-up to its release (even the last couple, but you'll hear about that when I get to those). Obviously, this means starting off with the low-budget B-movie that started it all, 1984's The Terminator. It has been a favourite of mine since 2003, cracked both my Top 100 lists, and has stood the test of time as well as almost any other major favourite of mine. A lot of that has to do with the fact that, despite the quality of its most immediate sequel, it at least maintains some degree of logical consistency that handles well on its own yet only gets tampered with further with each new sequel. That doesn't make this single film immune to nit-picking, especially considering how the sort-of-slasher vibe generated by the eponymous antagonist leaves it open to all sorts of contrivances in order to extend its running time and keep the heroes alive. The effects work may also alienate people with its uncanny animatronics and later tendencies to lapse into stop-motion, as well as the fact that the acting is little more than serviceable on the part of the human actors.
Even so, there's still plenty of things that I like about this film. The unapologetically dated 1980s production informs a present filled with neon, New Wave music, and feathered hairdos while the future is full of lasers and robots, providing a consistently great aesthetic. This also extends to the effects work, which might prove uncanny to modern audiences but the late great Stan Winston and his team show some serious skill nonetheless. Arnold Schwarzenegger's work as the Terminator is deservedly iconic, whether he's delivering his few lines in his accented monotone or robotically stalking his prey (no matter how many instances there are of his character dropping the ball for the sake of the narrative - when your target is trapped in an overturned truck within walking distance, why would you instead hijack another truck and try to ram them?). As I stated, the human characters are solid enough (especially considering how much of the focus is on the Terminator) and though they're not amazing enough performers in their own right, it's hard to imagine anyone else doing these characters justice. Linda Hamilton and Michael Biehn are believable as Sarah Connor and Kyle Reese respectively and sell their somewhat implausible relationship well enough, while Paul Winfield and Lance Henriksen make for good support as a pair of bickering detectives. They deliver exposition at a good pace and weave in some memorable dialogue in the process.
The original score is arguably the most dated part of a film that felt incredibly dated when I first saw it well over a decade ago, but its clanging percussion-driven score and sinister synths actually define the film in a positive manner. It's just part of The Terminator's charm that extends beyond virtually every possible technical and narrative weakness and has made me decide to give out what is now an extremely rare rating on my part - the full five out of five. Occasional spot of goofiness aside, it's still an effective slice of sci-fi that is slightly more intelligent than its killer robot high-concept might suggest and has the people to back it up. While there's really no telling whether or not a film can ever truly be considered an all-time favourite, after twelve years I'd say that this one comes pretty close.
James Cameron, 1984
A cyborg travels back in time from a future where humans and artificially intelligent machines are locked in constant war in order to murder the woman whose unborn son will become the leader of the human resistance.
With Terminator Genisys coming out later this week, I made a plan to re-watch all four Terminator films in the lead-up to its release (even the last couple, but you'll hear about that when I get to those). Obviously, this means starting off with the low-budget B-movie that started it all, 1984's The Terminator. It has been a favourite of mine since 2003, cracked both my Top 100 lists, and has stood the test of time as well as almost any other major favourite of mine. A lot of that has to do with the fact that, despite the quality of its most immediate sequel, it at least maintains some degree of logical consistency that handles well on its own yet only gets tampered with further with each new sequel. That doesn't make this single film immune to nit-picking, especially considering how the sort-of-slasher vibe generated by the eponymous antagonist leaves it open to all sorts of contrivances in order to extend its running time and keep the heroes alive. The effects work may also alienate people with its uncanny animatronics and later tendencies to lapse into stop-motion, as well as the fact that the acting is little more than serviceable on the part of the human actors.
Even so, there's still plenty of things that I like about this film. The unapologetically dated 1980s production informs a present filled with neon, New Wave music, and feathered hairdos while the future is full of lasers and robots, providing a consistently great aesthetic. This also extends to the effects work, which might prove uncanny to modern audiences but the late great Stan Winston and his team show some serious skill nonetheless. Arnold Schwarzenegger's work as the Terminator is deservedly iconic, whether he's delivering his few lines in his accented monotone or robotically stalking his prey (no matter how many instances there are of his character dropping the ball for the sake of the narrative - when your target is trapped in an overturned truck within walking distance, why would you instead hijack another truck and try to ram them?). As I stated, the human characters are solid enough (especially considering how much of the focus is on the Terminator) and though they're not amazing enough performers in their own right, it's hard to imagine anyone else doing these characters justice. Linda Hamilton and Michael Biehn are believable as Sarah Connor and Kyle Reese respectively and sell their somewhat implausible relationship well enough, while Paul Winfield and Lance Henriksen make for good support as a pair of bickering detectives. They deliver exposition at a good pace and weave in some memorable dialogue in the process.
The original score is arguably the most dated part of a film that felt incredibly dated when I first saw it well over a decade ago, but its clanging percussion-driven score and sinister synths actually define the film in a positive manner. It's just part of The Terminator's charm that extends beyond virtually every possible technical and narrative weakness and has made me decide to give out what is now an extremely rare rating on my part - the full five out of five. Occasional spot of goofiness aside, it's still an effective slice of sci-fi that is slightly more intelligent than its killer robot high-concept might suggest and has the people to back it up. While there's really no telling whether or not a film can ever truly be considered an all-time favourite, after twelve years I'd say that this one comes pretty close.