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REVIEW: The Terminator (1984)

Directed by: James Cameron
Written by: James Cameron & Gale Ann Hurd
Starring: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Linda Hamilton, and Michael Biehn.

Reviewed by: Christopher S.

Plot summary:
A cyborg (Arnold Schwarzenegger) from the dark & desolate year of 2029 is sent back in time to 1984 by a computer system called Skynet to terminate Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton). Sarah holds the key to the future of mankind because her unborn son, John Connor, will become the Resistance's greatest leader and mankind's savior. The resistance retaliates and sends back a soldier named Kyle Reese (Michael Biehn) to protect Sarah. Who will reach Sarah first?

Background Information:
James Cameron, a little known director at the time, got the idea for The Terminator while he was in Europe filming a movie. The movie he was filming, I'm guessing, was probably Piranha II. Cameron had this vision of a metal endoskeleton coming out of some flames. From that point on, he wrote the script backwards because he knew that he couldn't afford to have the film take place in the future; since it would be highly expensive and he didn't have a gigantic budget to work with. He decided to make the story take place in the present with the hero and villains both coming from the future. The budget of the film was around $6.4 million, which wasn't a whole lot back in '84 & definitely isn't a lot now. William Wisher & Gale Ann Hurd, who would later become Cameron's wife for awhile, co-wrote some of the movie.

Lance Henricksen, Jürgen Prochnow, and O.J. Simpson were considered for the role of The Terminator. O.J. was ruled out immediately because he was thought to be "too nice of a person" and "wouldn't seem right as a ruthless killer". If only they could've traveled about 10 years into the future... Finally, they settled on a man named Arnold Schwarzenegger, a somewhat known actor who had played Conan the Barbarian and was a world famous bodybuilder known for his charisma. Henricksen would end up playing a supporting role as Vukovich.

Michael Biehn wasn't initially cast as Reese due to his Southern accent during an audition for the stage production of "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" prior to the filming of The Terminator. Things were worked out and he was cast as one of the greatest movie heroes of all time.

***The following review contains spoilers. If you haven't seen the movie, we don't suggest continuing***

I'll just start off by saying that The Terminator has always been one of my favorite movies since I was a kid. I first saw this great movie in 1990 when I was 7 years old. I was immediately drawn into the dark, futuristic world of near-extinction for mankind. To this day, The Terminator is one of my favorite movies. I like all three sequels and the short-lived television series(although T-3 and Salvation could've been a lot better and we both unnecessary. Loved TSCC) and have been reading books that take place after T-2. In my opinion, this is one of the best sci-fi/action movies ever made.

This movie did quite well with special effects for having such a small budget. I was pretty impressed with what I saw. To this day, I still think the effects are pretty cool. It's obvious that it's not Arnold during the "eye removal scene" in front of the mirror, but it's still a pretty neat effect. The late, great Stan Winston created the design of the Terminator.

I loved the music score of this film! The theme by Brad Fiedel is one of the most memorable themes ever created. In fact, it's the ringtone on my cellphone. Plus, the hip 1980's music at Tech-Noir is great. It makes me wish I lived in 1984 Los Angeles so I could hit up Tech-Noir, not pay, and break the bodyguard's hand after walking by the chick that takes your money and stamps your hand. The chase music has the definitive 1980's synthesizer sound to it and makes the chase scenes quite suspenseful. More on the chase scenes later.

Speaking of suspense, this movie has a decent amount. For example, the scene where Arnold is going to cap Sarah in the bar. The red dot is in her face...then BAM BAM BAM, Reese is emptying his shotgun into The Austrian Oak. When you see Reese cocking his shotgun, you know the place is going to get shot up, and a battle is going to ensue right in the middle of the bar.

The flashbacks to the future are pretty cool. Actually, would they be called flash-forwards since Reese is in the past after coming from the future? Well the future is his past. Argh. Time travel movies make me think a whole lot. Anyways, the future scenes are pretty cool. They're short but sweet. They get to the point. They show Reese's world and the harsh realities that the people still alive face. The part where that chick gets blown up by a ground HK is pretty sweet too.

The chase scenes are some of the best I've seen even to this day. They are very suspenseful, because you want Reese and Sarah to get away despite how persistent the Terminator is. He just calmly yet aggressively rides his motorcycle or his car and shoots at them. He gets pipe bombs thrown at him but manages to dodge them all. What a great driver!

The acting was superb. Biehn was convincing as a man out of his time, who disconnected from the physical and mental pain to protect a woman he fell in love with just from her picture. Hamilton played a good Sarah Connor, a girl who didn't know what to believe until there was tangible proof before her eyes. Arnold flawlessly played the role of a ruthless, killer cyborg from the future. One of his best performances, in my opinion.

I also liked the dark tone of this movie. Most of it was set during the night, which is one reason why it was "dark" (literally). It's also a dark movie because the Terminator is so ruthless. He kills Dick Miller, and then steals guns from him. He steals peoples' cars. He just asks this lady if she's Sarah Connor. She says yes. He shoots her a lot...in broad daylight. Then he leaves. Before that, he runs over some kid's Ertel toy truck. What a dick. He then tries to bust Rick Rossovich's head open but misses and completely tears his pillow up. He then just throws the guy around until he's dead. He then shoots the guy's girlfriend, whom he thinks is Sarah. Later, he kills Sarah's mom(assumed due to the damage done to her cabin) and a shitload of cops. That's definitely dark-toned and ruthless. The Terminator just doesn't give a fuck like 2-Pac.


Things I Liked

    Reese, my favorite movie hero
    Plot/Story
    Acting
    Dark tone
    Effects
    Score
    Rick Rossovich getting thrown around
    "Don't make me bust you up, man!"
    "Fuck you asshole!"

Things I Disliked
The fact that Reese dies
That they didn't include the deleted scenes in the movie. I thought the deleted scenes were great, especially the Sarah Fights Back scene where she decides she wants to blow Cyberdyne away. Powerful performances from Biehn and Hamilton.

Characters/Actors of Note

Arnold Schwarzenegger: Arnold starred as the Terminator. He came back in time to kill Sarah Connor. He was silent for 95% of the movie and killed 29 people, I do believe. Most were cops. One was Dick Miller. Another was Brian Thompson. A few were not the right Sarah Connor. In the end, he failed due to Sarah crushing him in a hydraulic press. He would become a huge star and a household name after The Terminator was made despite him only speaking 17 sentences of dialogue in exactly 16 lines. Arnold would star in such great movies as Commando, Terminator 2, Predator, Total Recall, The Running Man, and True Lies. He'd also star in some not-so-great films such as Junior, Batman & Robin, and Jingle All the Way opposite cinematic draw and legendary actor Sinbad.. Arnie would later go on to become The Governator of California and wreck a motorcycle, receiving stitches in his lip. Then he'd have a love child with one of his maids.

Michael Biehn: Kyle Reese. Soldier of the future. Gave his life to protect Sarah. The definitive good guy of a movie. He has always been my favorite movie hero. He wouldn't go on to do much after The Terminator, which baffles me because I thought his portrayal of Reese was amazing, and showcased great acting talent on Biehn's part. Memorable Biehn films include: Aliens, The Abyss, Planet Terror, and Navy Seals(best golf scene ever filmed that's right up there with the volleyball scene from Top Gun). He also reprised his role as Kyle Reese in T-2 but the scene was deleted, which I thought was stupid because I felt it was a pretty powerful scene. I think it was cut due to some people seeing T-2 who hadn't seen the first Terminator film. They should've seen the the first movie first.

Linda Hamilton: Sarah. Waitress. Gets dates canceled on her. Has an iguana named "Pugsley". Her life would change forever on Thursday, May 12th, 1984. The ordinary, timid waitress would be no more. She'd become a fighter and would begin the fight to prevent the creation of Skynet. A storm was coming and she was preparing. The Terminator & Terminator 2 were the only good movies she was in. I did dig Beauty and the Beast. Decent show.

Lance Henriksen: Traxler's sidekick. Funny guy. Is one of the cops that the Terminator kills. "HEY!" Lance is a good actor who was also in Aliens as well as Near Dark, Stone Cold, Alien 3, Pistol Whipped, Pumpkinhead, and a great Tales From the Crypt episode entitled "Cutting Cards".

Paul Winfield: (Lt. Traxler) Good cop. Gets killed by the Terminator. Believes Reese in a deleted scene. I'm not too familiar with his work outside of The Terminator but I liked him as Lt. Traxler. He was in a good amount of movies. He died on March 7th, 2004. R.I.P. Paul.

Earl Boen: (Dr. Silberman) Douchebag. Thinks Reese is a "loon" according to technical terminology. Leaves the police station as the Terminator enters. Very lucky man. Earl Boen did voice acting for the hit children's cartoon "Bonkers" and reprised his role as Dr. Silberman in T-2 & T-3. Silberman believes in Terminators now.

Bill Paxton: Bill was the Punk Leader with the tire track on his face and the guy who used the line "Fuck you, asshole!" that Arnold would later use as a response to a janitor that reminded me of an even hairier Burt Young. Bill wasn't killed but got thrown against a gate. Mr. Paxton would go on to have a very successful movie career. He was in Aliens, True Lies, Predator 2, Frailty, and his greatest role ever in Commando. Bill Paxton is the only guy to be attacked/killed by an Alien, Predator, and a Terminator. If the Terminator actually killed him, he'd be the only man killed by all three entities. That's still pretty cool though.

Brian Thompson: Punk who gets a fist rammed into his stomach. Cuts The Terminator. Pays. He'd go on to play in a bunch of shitty movies except for Cobra, where he'd play The Night Slasher and Fright Night 2. He's been killed by Schwarzenegger & Stallone. Quite the lucky guy. He played the Alien Bounty Hunter on The X-Files so that was pretty cool too.

Rick Rossovich: Matt. "Don't make me bust you up man!", the most memorable line of any movie...ever. The Terminator wastes this wiener quickly, who climbs up on the bed in his underwear like he's The Hulk. Rick would play in Navy Seals, a memorable episode of Tales From the Crypt called "The Switch" which was directed by Arnold Schwarzenegger, and that forgettable show about bike cops Pacific Blue show that had AC Slater in it.

Bess Motta: Ginger. She was always listening to her Walkman. She should've been listening for the Austrian Oak breaking into her apartment and killing her boyfriend. This chick was in aerobics videos. Check out them calf muscles.

Dick Miller: Alamo Gunshop Worker/Owner. Was going to close early that day because he thought Strudel was going to buy all of those guns off him. Wrong. He got capped and then robbed. Dick Miller is in every movie. Notable films include Gremlins, Gremlins 2, A Bucket of Blood, and a cameo in Night of the Creeps.


Summary
The Terminator is one of the best action/sci-fi movies ever made. It spawned three sequels and a television series plus numerous books, toys, video games, and comics and continues to interest people everywhere, even after being nearly 30 years old. It's a timeless classic and should be a part of everyone's movie collection. I don't care if you like action films or not. Buy this movie. VHS, DVD, laserdisc, or Blu-ray. Buy it.

As an added note, I think the machines will rise someday. Then they will create a virus that makes the dead walk so we will have to contend with Terminators and the walking dead. I hope John Connor (not the bland Christian Bale version) & Peter Washington are real.