The Terminator. What an excellent movie. And believe it or not, I say that without a hint of sarcasm in my voice. Before viewing The Terminator for Art of Film, I had never seen the movie (or any of the sequels). I was familiar with a rough outline of the plot - a cyborg comes from the future to kill some chick who has no idea what's going on. But I had no idea what awaited me....
The first shot of Terminator reminded me instantly of Ed Wood's films. While I realize that the special effects involved in this movie were probably super exciting and believable for 1984 (especially according to this reveiw), by today's standards they were absurd beyond imagination. In the introductory sequence, a ferocious battle of laser ray guns raged between men and machine. My favorite shot from the scene showed a tank-like cyborg rolling over the ground, crushing countless human skulls as it went. Even after the first minute and thirty seconds of Terminator, it was surpassing my expectations.
After this memorable opening scene, the film returns to a more recognizable earth. We meet a garbage truck driver who encounters some bizarre lighting and charismatically utters the first lines of the film, saying "What the hell? Goddamn son of a bitch..." This is just the first example of a meticulously eloquent and caringly crafted script that includes such gems as "Come with me if you want to live," "I came across time for you, Sarah. I love you; I always have," and "You're terminated, fucker." Beautiful.
Just minutes into the film, good old Arnold arrives. After a few flashes of blue light and some gale-force winds, the Terminator (Arnold Schwarzenegger, duh) appears in the street, naked and curled up in the fetal position. At this point of the viewing experience, I was laughing so hard that it warranted my mother poking her head down the stairs with an "Oooh, is everything alright, Katie?" (anybody who knows my mother will find this hilarious). I was enjoying myself so much that I thought the movie couldn't possibly get better. That delusion only lasted about a scene until the Terminator encounters a group of "ruffians" (i.e. hooligans, punk-ass kids, etc.). Upon demanding their clothing (to gird his naked loins) and being refused, he proceeds to physically rip the heart out of one troubled young man's chest. It was absolutely epic.
The rest of the film followed in a similar fashion. It was extremely difficult to avoid becoming a "plausible" in a movie such as this. Although I am ethically and morally against the "plausibles," I found myself wondering things like "How does he know his way around this city?" and "Where did he get surgical tools, why did he lay them out on a desk in a nasty apartment, why are his heavy artillery guns hidden beneath the mattress, and why did he enter/exit through the window instead of the door of what is clearly 'his' apartment?" Unfortunately, in a movie such as this, those questions simply don't have answers.
Although I'm sure that most of this post seems extremely sarcastic, don't get me wrong - I thoroughly enjoyed watching The Terminator. I expected to loathe the experience, but I now find that it is one I wouldn't mind repeating. Whether I like it or not, I'm actually considering seeing the rest of the Terminator films. Yikes.
3 comments:
Kate once again you leave me speechless. How the heck did you find any enjoyment out of that movie? Honestly sometimes you really worry me, and if there's anything I can do to prevent you from watching a SEQUEL, please tell me! But I did find it funny that you found similarities to ED Woods' film, because that's the first thing I thought of when I saw the space ship looking thing go across the scene in the opening sequence.
haha Kate, I think that if you claimed you were being a "plausible" in this film you should have mentioned "how did they travel back in time?" or maybe "why isn't the Terminator dead?" or "why isn't the Terminator dead, again?" or .. j/k but seriously, he "dies" like four times. As for the Ed Wood- yeah I guess I could see that, more so in the metallic terminator skeleton walking in the end though- it seemed very wannabe robot.
very very welll thought out! my comments are crazy late i know but some points would be nice and what better movie to comment on. one of my favorites i cant believe you hadn't seen it till now! and a few of the sequals are a must see as well. as for the ride at disney...not so hot. anyways. the special effects are somewhat on the lamer side for parts of the film. but a man who can melt and look pertty cool while doing it i think that is a job well done to those tech guys. but yes cameron did a fine job of steping out of his box and creating a well loved masterpiece for a whole different set of viewers.
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