Terminator, The
[DVD Info]

One night in L.A., two naked men appear on earth after an electricity storm. After stealing some clothes and arming themselves, they both look for a girl named Sarah Conner in the phone book. Two women named Sarah Conner have been killed, shot execution style and Sarah J. Conner (Linda Hamilton) is next on the list. The killer, a cyborg called the Terminator (Arnold Schwarzenegger), comes to her apartment and kills her roommate, mistaking her for Sarah. The Terminator overhears a message from Sarah asking to be picked up at a local bar because she thinks she’s being followed. Terminator goes to the bar to kill her but she’s apprehended by Kyle Reese (Michael Biehn) who shoots Terminator multiple times and they get away. Reese explains that he and the cyborg are from the future and the Terminator is trying to kill her to rid the future of her son who is a revolutionary. How can she escape something that will search the ends of the earth to kill her and is seemingly unstoppable?

Even in the future people drive cars from the 1970s.
911 is always busy when you need it most.
In the future everyone knows how to jimmy cars.
In the year 2027 people watch flame TV. All flames. All the Time. Uninterrupted.

"I don't know! I didn't build the fucking thing!" ~Reese.

Nothin' really...

So yeah…I was one of the 3% of people that has never seen The Terminator before. In all…I was rather impressed! As always, special effects from the 80s really don’t stand the test of time. 80s lightening is the worst. It’s so cheesy. Also, the animated effects of the Terminator walking in his skeletal form were TERRIBLE. It was very Ray Harryhausen (The guy who did the special effects for the monsters in Clash of the Titans among others) and cheesy. I expected no less though. By the way…combining Terminator with synthesizer is awesome…it’s an unbeatable combination. Hehe. Anyway, this was a really good action flick that had a lot going for it. The love scene between Sarah and Reese seemed to happen a little fast. I know that that’s just part of the story…but it seemed forced and out of nowhere. Also…it seemed to end rather abruptly…they should have gone more into life afterwards. But that’s why there are sequels right? One more thing bothered me. These are spoilers so if you don’t wanna know…don’t read it. So… the Terminator is going into the past to kill Sarah who has a child, John, who revolutionizes the future world. The child, John, is Reese’s kid. She gets impregnated in their one night of passion and then he dies. So…is the past and future always going in a continuous circle? When he dies, she makes those tapes and goes to Mexico to hide out before the nuclear war and then time continues and forty years later Terminator and Reese go back into the past and the whole thing starts again. It’s just weird to think that your life would repeat the exact same way over and over again. Could you make a different decision and change the future or is your life fated to be stuck on repeat mode? After so many repeats wouldn’t you have some sort of memory of it? Hmmm… Arnold was awesome! He had some great lines and played a cyborg really well (it must be because he’s Austrian). This definitely lives up to its cult status. Bravo. Because of this, the jury gives this flick:

(Impressed)

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