The Terminator (1984)

Directed by James Cameron

Released October 26, 1984

Written by James Cameron, Gale Ann Hurd, & William Wisher

Movie Synopsis Courtesy of IMDB

"A seemingly indestructible android is sent from 2029 to 1984 to assassinate a waitress, whose unborn son will lead humanity in a war against the machines, while a solider from that war is sent to protect her at all costs."

Okay, first of all, what is with the 80s and the future? This isn't the first movie that I have talked about that has taken place in the future, well I guess more about the future, and I am sure it isn't the last one either. I guess back in the 80s they were so excited to see how the world was going to change and predict what kind of technology we are going to have. I guess we will have to wait and see if machines actually take over in 2029. Seems like, in a way, they have already taken over society (Yes, iPhone users and Social Media, I am talking about you).

Oh Arnold. What would we do without you? He a bodybuilder turned, actor, turned businessman, turned politician, plus a whole bunch more. He is one of those guys where you say what can't he do? Now, this is defiantly one of his earlier roles, but one of his most famous roles he ever had. This is ironic because he really doesn't say much in this film. In fact, he only has 14 lines in this movie according to IMDB.

But, the few lines he does utter are delivered so well that you can't even be mad that he doesn't have more lines. It also perfectly fits his character. Being a cyborg with a mission to kill, he is not going to have a lot of internal monologs or conversation with other people. He is programed to do one thing, so he will only communicate if it is important to his mission. Such as when he yells at the janitor outside his door to go away. He kept it short and to the point, so that the man left him alone, to get his mission complete. With such few lines, it also says a lot to Arnold's acting. Keeping a person's attention without speaking is often a challenge. But it is his perfect portrayal as a cyborg that draws the audience in and makes people follow him carefully because they don't want to miss anything that he does. 

Okay, there are two big things that bothered me in this movie. One of them more than the other. 

The one that didn't bother me as much is the idea of coincidences. I took a screenwriting course one semester and this is where I learned this little piece of information. My professor told us that in every story/movie there is allowed one coincidence. That is because if there are too many of them, then the movie becomes predictable and boring to your audience. For example, the first coincidence happened at the start of the movie. That being when Reese arrived to the "present" day and was chased by the cops into a store. And of course that store was a clothing store. Given the fact that he was naked and being chased, he coincidently managed to get chased into a clothing store. Okay, fine, understandable. But then they had another coincidence at the end of the film. This is after Sarah has killed the Terminator and coincidently the police come at that exact time and that exact location. No one called them and they hadn't been following the three characters for a large amount of time. So, well two is not horrible, it did get me thinking that sometimes movies are predictable because they have too many coincidences.  

The second thing that really bothered me in this movie is more of, what I will call, the "horror movie scenario." You know how in horror or scary movies you find yourself telling characters to "not go in there," or "look behind you," etc. Well just watch this scene for a moment.

THESE COPS ARE IDOITS AND DON'T KNOW HOW TO SHOOT! This guy is walking around with semi-automatic or automatic guns (I don't know anything about guns, so I don't know what they actually are), but things bigger than their pistols, and they just stand out in the open and wait to get hit. Shoot your gun and then hid back behind the wall that you just shot from! No wonder all of them died, they weren't protecting themselves (Million Dollar Baby reference, anyone?). If they had just taken a few shots and then hid, maybe some of them would have lasted longer.

Is it just mean, or does it seem like the relationship between Reese and Sarah is a little bit of a "Stacy's Mom" situation? Think about it. Reese is army buddies with John and when Reese is with John's mom he falls for her. I know technically Reese is John's dad and all that confusing future situation, but initially it seems like "And I know that you think it's just a fantasy/But since your dad walked out, your mom could use a guy like me/Stacy's mom has got it going on/She's all I want and I've waited for so long." 

One thing that I found really interesting when reading about this film is a technique James Cameron used call, "Guerilla Film Making." What this means is that instead of getting permission to shoot and getting permits, Cameron would make the cast and crew meet at a location to shoot a scene before the cops showed up. They would get called to a location at a moment's notice, even having to call Arnold at 3am one time to reshoot a scene. This is hilarious and sounds stressful because there is more pressure to get everything done perfect in one take, since they didn't know how long they had before the cops came and ruined everything.

Can we just marvel for a moment about how goofy Arnold looked during the movie when he had no eyebrows. I couldn't take him seriously. 

Last thing I want to leave you with is more of a question I have. Isn't Reese ruining the future? If all the depictions of the future in other movies and TV shows have shown me anything, it is that you are not suppose to tell people their future or about the future. Because then you will change the future and you will alter the universe. Isn't that exactly what Reese did the whole time? Tell Sarah what she is going to do and how the future is going to plan out?

Just something to think about I guess.

The Terminator: "I'll be back."