The Terminator and Terminator 2: Judgement Day Dilemma.

It’s been a while since I wrote anything or had any inspiration to do so. I used to enjoy these reviews, and I am now starting to miss them and the community. I needed something to reignite my love for movies and put me back in the writing seat. Thankfully, Arnold Schwarzenegger came to the rescue, and I have recently enjoyed revisiting some of his classics, such as Total Recall and The Running Man. I also watched a couple of movies that I missed the first time around, which included Last Action Hero. I have enjoyed watching these films, and they have reignited my love for eighties action movies. However, it was The Terminator 1984 that finally made me want to put pen to paper. It’s hard to imagine that James Cameron’s science-fiction masterpiece is over forty years old, and Terminator 2: Judgement Day is coming in at thirty-five years! I’m actually speechless when I look at those dates, while feeling obsolete at the same time. James Cameron has created some of the highest-grossing movies in box office history, but I’m a little surprised he is spending so much of his time working on the Avatar franchise. I don’t dislike his latest project, but it is a stark reminder of how much the industry has changed. However, Aliens, The Abyss and his earlier work are still highly impressive. I decided to continue watching the Terminator movies and spin-offs with the idea of discussing the franchise in more detail in the future. However, a burning question arose from the flames, a question that many ask and one that I have foolishly answered on many occasions. Is the Terminator better than its sequel, Terminator 2: Judgement Day?

The question feels a little redundant to me today, but after watching Terminator 2: Judgement Day 1991, it was a question that I couldn’t stop thinking about. However, in time, the answer has become something else altogether. The Terminator is a film I don’t remember watching for the first time, but it is a film I remember everything about from that first viewing. Growing up in the late 1970’s and early 80’s, my childhood was mostly about Star Wars, The A-Team and Fingermouse. Okay, the last one sounds terrible, but children’s television in the eighties was definitely an altered state of consciousness, minus the drugs. However, as I made my way through the decade, I can now look back and see that my viewing tastes were about to be changed forever. The Terminator is one of the first movies I visualise when I think about the video rental stores that first started to appear in the U.K in the late eighties. I say video rental stores, but that feels way too Hollywood. Silverline Video was one of my favourites, which was just a converted living room in a terraced house. Another one was located in Sean’s local off-licence, which got a bit feisty on a Friday night. And finally, there was the video van, which was just a converted ambulance, I think?. There were others, and Blockbuster Video made you feel like you were browsing with royalty. However, they all gave me the same enjoyment, a higher state of consciousness. I could spend hours searching for the perfect movies to rent, and I don’t think I can reach that zen-like status again. I do remember some harsh realities of growing up around this time, which made the video store a place of pure escapism for me, and I will be forever grateful for those moments.

The Terminator had everything to transport me to another reality, my first taste of hard science fiction, and horror. As a child, I had no idea about budget constraints, and everything about The Terminator felt abundant in wealth. As an adult, I am still impressed by how James Cameron created this film with a budget of just under seven million dollars. Thankfully, those constraints are also what give the film a sense of authenticity. Los Angeles looks realistic, and that is because Cameron shot a lot of scenes without a filming permit. The score by Brad Fiedel sounds fresh, and you can sense that this music was created by someone who has been given a chance to create something unique. The cast also felt undiscovered, with Linda Hamilton Sarah Connor and Michael Biehn Kyle Reese making you believe in a storyline that would be carried on their shoulders for a very long time. Arnold Schwarzenegger is one of the greatest action stars of the eighties and nineties, but it is this performance as the T800 that makes you look back and say, WOW! His portrayal as the Terminator was, and still is, pretty frightening. That sense of fear that I once felt as a child returns with every viewing. Stan Winston’s vision of the Terminator was instantly etched into popular culture, and somehow manages to match the performance given by Schwarzenegger.

Terminator 2: Judgement Day was released seven years after its predecessor and it was a completely different experience for me. I don’t recall much about the build-up to the movie, but I can remember the anticipation. I was lucky enough to see the film on opening day. But during the screening I felt slightly disappointed, and that feeling never left. However, my thoughts have now changed and here is the reason why. There is a lot to be said about nostalgia in recent times, and my own interpretation is that nostalgia is something that can only be created over time. The original Terminator is one hour and forty-seven minutes of pure nostalgia, which is only elevated because the movie isn’t aware of its audience yet. James Cameron was aware of the popularity of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s role as the T800 in the first movie, even though he was meant to be feared. In that sense, the fans also helped create the script for Judgement Day. I vividly remember hearing Bad to the Bone by George Thorogood and The Destroyers and thinking that this was not the movie I expected it to be. Expectations versus reality highlights the disparity between what we imagine and what actually occurs, often resulting in disappointment when high hopes meet mundane or difficult outcomes.

I believe that any sequel or reboot will always have a difficult time with the audience and their expectations. I can now look back and realise that Terminator 2: Judgement Day was the perfect movie for that time in cinema history. My initial disappointment has now been replaced with a new sense of nostalgia. If this had been my first Terminator movie to watch as a child, I know it would have been my favourite as well. I have read so many comments about how great the film is compared to its predecessor, and now I understand why. Time is a critical element in the movies, but it was also a critical time for its fans. If you grew up around the same time as me, I can almost guarantee that the first film is your favourite. I  suppose the concept of The Terminator can come across as simple, but that simplicity is something many modern screenwriters have failed to find. However, I will save my thoughts on the future movies for a later date. In Judgment Day, Linda Hamilton’s performance is something I appreciate more as an adult and watching her transformation from the first film is one of the highlights of the story for me. The introduction of John Connor Edward Furlong felt a bit mainstream at first, but now I can see how Furlong created an iconic character that only gets better with time. Gone are the sleazy streets; the time of the modern blockbuster was upon us. I am also aware that Arnold Schwarzenegger gives us his best performance in Judgement Day as the T800, but this movie was always going to be about the visual effects. Earlier, I mentioned that life would never be the same again after the introduction of video stores, and after watching any scene that features Robert Patrick as the T1000, I can now look back and see how much that changed cinema as well. The visual effects that Dennis Muren and Industrial Light and Magic created for the T1000 were about to take me to places we could never have imagined. Jurassic Park is the most notable movie that first comes to mind, but I am also drawn to the beauty of a film like Minority Report. After 1991, the movie titles would be endless.

This essay began life as a stand-alone review of the latest 4K release of The Terminator, but I slowly began to notice some criticism online about the quality of the recent 4K release. In the late eighties, I couldn’t even obtain a copy of the film, and now I own a copy that has over eight million pixels and Dolby Atmos Sound. In other words, I am thankful that I have had a chance to enjoy the first two movies and everything that came later, to an extent. I actually did enjoy going through the franchise, and I think a deep dive into this world could be just what I need. However, this is a start, and I am glad to be thinking about future projects again. It looks like Terminator 2: Judgment Day is about to have a theatrical release again, so I hope to get tickets for that. I would love to know your thoughts on the first two movies and the franchise? Do you feel optimistic for the future, or do you think the storytelling is done? Whatever your thoughts, I would love to hear from you in the comments below.

Anyway, I’ll be back… probably. Maybe. Hopefully.

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