The Terminator Film Review

The Terminator Film Review

Initial Thoughts

                Yeah, what a classic film this was am I right? It was huge when it first came out back in 1984 and it’s still huge today.  Earning a respectable 8.1 on IMDB, and an astonishing 100% on rotten tomatoes I bet that not a lot of people today know why it’s so good, well that’s what I am here to find out!

                So strap on your pistol belt and load your machine guns, this is Arnold Schwarzenegger in The Terminator.

Story: 25 out of 25

                The idea seems very un-original in today’s standards; in fact the storyline is very similar to the storyline in the 2011 film I Am Number Four. A young teenager who is fleeing from an obviously superior force, In fact in some ways the two plot lines are almost identical, which is why I love the storyline, in both films, so much.

                One major idea of the storyline in the first terminator film is the idea of total helplessness, and in a different manor then other suspense/action films such as Alien. For example in Alien there is a team and each member of the team is powerful in some way and from the looks of the characters, they are able to defend themselves if left by themselves. However in Terminator, Sarah Conner is totally useless to defend herself, even near the end when she all alone, she is still running for her life (granted in a more “manly” manor).

                So how exactly does this “Total Helplessness” make the story better? Well it also has something to do with the direction the plot line takes, for example in I Am Number Four the main characters where wandering all over and it seemed like they could be attacked at any angle and that they could end up anywhere. It is sort of like a Role Playing Game (for all of you gamers out there) it could go anywhere, do anything, and become anything. The story and plot are still there, but they are just hidden and told in such a different way that it feels like the film could be taking place in real life, it seems real.

                So in short, the films storyline and suspense writing was done in such a way that it made it feel like the characters and situations could be actual events (well aside from the fact that it comes from the future).

Characters: 20 out of 25

                Honestly Arnold is one of the worst actors I have ever seen (which is why he is my favorite), and the goofiness of his terrible acting is having no expression on his face 90% of the time, which in turn, makes most of his serious scenes seem funny and make him seem more robotic in every film he does. These traits make him perfect for the role of a terminator, and honestly I like his performance more in the first film better than the other films. His character in the first film only had a few lines of dialogue, and the majority of his development was based off of actions and the way he process situations. Seeing the world through the terminators eyes and seeing his thought process is really interesting and makes him seem even more robotic and determined, it makes the fact known that he will kill Sarah Conner at all costs, and that nothing else matters besides that. In the other films, you know he will protect John Conner, but he seems to get distracted by many other worldly problems, such as emotions, which makes him seem more human, instead of robot.    

                The other characters are well done, but the terminator himself was the character I really wanted to focus on.

Special Effects: 20 out of 25

                …Yeah I know they didn’t have the technology that we have today, but to be fair the special effects, for the time, were really top notch. And for the most part, they still are, when the clip scenes from the future appear the HK’s (Hunter Killers) look very realistic, the gun shots and stunts are very well done, and there is one major reason for that, at the time, they didn’t have the technology like green scene or anything like that so they needed to find ways of creating the props and scenery with real life objects so it is quite possible that those HKs were real objects. It makes you think differently when you think of it that way doesn’t it?             

                The action sequences are directed and shot very well, creating some very intense suspense and action, and does a fantastic job of showing how invisible the terminator really is, after all it takes; multiple gunshot wounds, getting in a fatal car crash, getting hit by a semi-truck, being burned alive, and being crush by a 10-20 ton pressing machine to finally kill the beast! And the entire time you are wondering if he will finally die or if he will keep on fighting.

                Intense, realistic, and extremely suspenseful, the action in this film is really what defined it as being a top of the line action/shoot-em-up film.

Sci Fi Elements: 20 out of 25

                I never really considered this a science fiction film (and I don’t really know why) but it is probably one of the most successful and most famous sci fi film franchises ever. And for good reason, unlike other science fiction films such as Alien where everything takes place in some other galaxy, this film franchise takes place right here, take futuristic characters and placing them in the present, which is quite different from placing characters from the present in a futuristic or past time period (Back To The Future, Etc). And it even forced the characters to use our technology, which showed the struggle that they had with adapting to their new environment (especially Kyle, not so much The Terminator), this gives something that the audience can relate to, being placed in a new and un-familiar environment, such as moving to another country, or moving to a new school, etc.

                One of the most famous science fiction film franchises ever known and for good reason.

And so The Terminator gets a very well earned…

85/100

Classic

Yes it is quite obvious that this film is a classic, with an extremely interesting storyline and characters, mixed with great new science fiction elements and blood pulsing action all the way through, this film is clearly a movie for any occasion and so I say if you haven’t seen it yet, go see it right now! And if you have, now you know why it was and still is so successful!