1991
Directed by James Cameron
Ah, the age old debate. Which Terminator film was better? I like to pretend that there were only two Terminator movies. I would like to think I didn't see a trailer for the remake, in which James Cameron pleads desperately with the audience to go see Terminator: Genisys (spelled incorrectly for some artistic reason I'm sure) in a super pathetic way.
Skynet has sent yet another cyborg into the past, T-1000, this time to kill John Connor. Luckily, future John sent back a cyborg as well to protect his past self because obviously he knew it would work, since it already happened. But wouldn't Skynet know it didn't work if John still existed in the future? Oh right, I forgot my rule. Don't think too hard about time travel movies. Anyway, John fears that T-1000 will also try to kill his mother. He and his trusty cyborg decide to rescue her from a mental hospital, which she was sent to for warning people about the upcoming apocalypse and bombing computer factories.
How bad ass was Linda Hamilton in this? Her performance alone was worth the price of admission; it was fascinating watching her transform from an ordinary girl in the first film to a unstoppable warrior in this. T-1000 was also a fantastic villain. I actually didn't find the special effects to be too overpowering. Even with the CGI, you still had some very human scenes to balance out all the explosions and fight scenes.
There are many valid criticisms of this movie (yes, we all want to punch young John in the face), but I still had a blast with this one.
RATING: *****
Interesting Facts:
Linda Hamilton's twin sister was used in the shots when there are two Sarah Connors.
The special effects shots total sixteen minutes of the film.
I LOVED HER ARMS! Ok, had to get that out. This is one of my favorite movies--I too found her transformation to unstoppable warrior really cool.The whole movie was fun and I liked it much better than the first--but I am a huge Terminator fan and really ended up liking them all.
ReplyDeleteOh, and I also wanted to punch young John O'Connor in the the face, Amanda.
ReplyDeleteI should really check out the sequels.
ReplyDeleteTerminator 3 was one of those movies that made we want to weep for the state of the world and for everyone who was forced to denigrate themselves by making it. The scene where Arnie puts on gay-stripper leather because he thinks he's blending in was akin to finding an elderly relative in a state of confused distress and pondering the cruelty of letting someone extend their life in this undignified manner.
ReplyDeleteDude chill
DeleteDude chill
DeleteOkay, on second thought, maybe I won't check out the sequels. I still don't find John as annoying as Ralphie.
ReplyDeleteHe he! Nice comeback. And no.. please do not check any sequels .. they are awful.
ReplyDeleteI'm not even a fan of this one..I (I think to your slight surprise) thought the first one was quite a good story.. This one , to me, was just a rehash with flashier effects..
So many sequels are unbearably bad that when I see something like this, I get excited. But I basically agree with what you said.
ReplyDeleteOh, dear, I am the only one who thinks Edward Walter Furlong did a very acceptable job? Com'on he was 11-12 years old! You wouldn't expect to find a Jack Nicholson or a Matthew McConaughey with that age!
ReplyDeleteI think one of the good points about the Terminator saga is that each film represents a specific generation: its fears, its technology, ...
- The Terminator: this was all about the cold war and the arms race. The machines didn't start the war. They were just a consequence of the arms race. The film is filled with a sense of impending doom. Very eighties. Very punk.
- T2: After the Cold War, the feeling changed into a sense of endless prosperity. Even the future could be changed by an individual's (or group of individuals') actions. The American Dream was on the rise again. Here the enemy is the technology itself represented by an evil mainframe that can control everything.
- T3: the Millennial movie. The enemy now is not a computer or a physical machine, is the Internet itself. The invisible threat, the unstoppable force that could change everything. It is also a metaphor of terrorism. After 2001, the mood changed once again into an atmosphere of terror. But contrary to that of the eighties, this was an undirected fear. The enemy was not an external country but inconspicuous individuals within our own borders.
I don't remember the other two well but I am sure you could find this kind of elements there, too. Each Science Fiction work tells more about the time it was done than about the future it describes.
Great point about science fiction. I guess compared to other child actors he is decent, but he was still a little brat.
DeleteI'd perhaps but in to say it is the character that I find to be .. what did I say ? "an annoying little shit" rather than the actor.
ReplyDelete