THE TERMINATOR (1984)

THE TERMINATOR (1984)

Tagline: The thing that won't die, in the nightmare that won't end.

(Sci-Fi, Action, Thriller) [R]

Come with me if you want to live.

This one is about a man named Kyle Reese that is sent from 2029 to 1984 to protect a woman named Sarah Connor from a near-invincible killing machine (also sent from the future) whose directive is to kill her. As it turns out her unborn son if born will head up a resistance to a group of A.I. machines known as “SKYNET” that throw the world into a dark and desolate future endeavoring to wipe out all mankind. Can Sarah Connor and Kyle Reese stop the unstoppable?

I ended up seeing this movie with my dad when I was a kid in the theaters. I would have been 11 at the time. I was freakin blown away. I loved not only the concept that there was an almost invincible robot in this movie, but the score was just a mind-blowing adrenaline rush. Everything I did for a month started with the same iconic sounds that played during every tense seen in the movie. Going to get some cool-aid from the fridge and open it…” dun dun dun, dut dun nun”! Walk to the couch and look out the wind…”dun dun dun, dut dun nun”! Oh yeah! Anyway, I loved this movie so much that it took me quite a while to actually embrace the second movie in the series for how awesome it is. You mean, this menacing titan of sinister tech is the good guy now? Bloody hell, who wrote this crap? Needless to say, I came around.

The acting in this movie is stellar and really Linda Hamilton (who plays Sarah Connor) kinda carries this thing more and more as the film moves along. I was actually familiar with her as an actress prior to this from watching CHILDREN OF THE CORN. Arnold Schwarzenegger was solid in this, which is kind of hilarious in a way because this series has pretty much defined his career and he referred to this film as “a s—t movie” before even shooting it. Michael Biehn is also very good as Kyle Reese (the movie's main hero) and has gone on to have a very successful  Hollywood career with 108 roles and counting. We also get brief Bill Paxton and Dick Miller sightings.

As I mentioned earlier the score was iconic and the production overall felt expensive but really had some budget constraints. Director James Cameron’s idea to shoot at times where they would be able to get away with not having permits actually mirrors some of the early photography I did for my comic. We did the first photoshoot in a parking lot in front of some stores. We even had a real gun which apparently wigged out some of the tenants after it started getting dark. So yeah, security ended up asking us to leave. Anyway, Cameron did an epic job of getting the most out of his crew and was already used to having to do stuff like that. He also worked on the effects for BATTLE BEYOND THE STARS and ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK before getting to this thing. 

Even though this movie gives you a certain sense of dread and helplessness, I never thought of it as a straight-up horror flick like some do. The pacing certainly does have all the aspects of one though. With a bit of a slow burn storytelling-wise, the movie does a good job of keeping you engaged because you never know really what is going to set off the “terminator”. He might want your clothes and let you live, but kill you over a slice of pizza he can’t even eat. It’s just all very epic and entertaining.

I guess you could say by today’s standards some of the stuff looks slightly dated, but it’s not enough for me to give this thing any less than a 7 out of 7.

GRAPHICS ARE THE PROPERTY OF CINEMA ’84 AND ARE USED FOR REVIEW PURPOSES ONLY. 

*Note - I am pretty sure the gif is from T2, but the effects in the original are pretty good as well. 

Please check out the link below by clicking on the picture. Because no one should die buttonless.