Movie Talk - The Terminator and Terminator 2: Judgement Day

Next up is a quick look at a franchise I’ve sometimes talked about here: the Terminator franchise. Yeah, I’m jumping on the Terminator bandwagon since that new trailer for Terminator: Dark Fate was released. I thought it looked fine, but I want to see more before I make my decision on it. We’ve been burned before with this franchise, so I can’t blame fans for sitting this one out. Thankfully, I’m sitting the possibly “meh” entries out for this post. Today, it’s just the first two movies: The Terminator and Terminator 2: Judgement Day.

T2 is what introduced me to the franchise. I know I’ve seen it on TV plenty of times. I even rented it as a kid, though I never got to watch it unfiltered. In fact, I think this is the first time I’ve seen it without it being edited for TV. I didn’t see the first movie until a few years later on TV as well. Since I had the time, I decided to watch them over the weekend. I have T2 on DVD while the first movie was relegated to Netflix. It’s also the first time that I’ve seen the extended edition for T2.

The Terminator

The Terminator was released in 1984, and it was directed by James Cameron. In the movie, two soldiers are sent back in time to 1984 to find Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton). They come from a war-ravaged 2029 where Skynet, a powerful machine, has waged war on humanity.  One soldier is a cyborg assassin, a “terminator” (Arnold Schwarzenegger), and it’s been order by Skynet to kill Sarah. The other soldier, Kyle Reese (Michael Biehn), was ordered to keep Sarah safe from the cyborg. Since Sarah will one day birth John Connor, the leader of the human resistance, the future literally depends on her to live.

I wonder if anyone gets Arnold and Brian Thompson mixed up. 

Even though it’s been a while since I’ve seen this one, I thought it was pretty good. While T2 is my preferred Terminator movie, I think that’s due to nostalgia. This movie has a simple enough plot and pulls it off well. It’s a straight-up chase movie. I liked the characters and the acting. When the Terminator finds his his target, it doesn’t stop at all. Luckily, Kyle Reese doesn’t stop either.  I liked Sarah in how she starts out as this random lady. She’s not some big hot shot. She’s just a waitress who finds out that she’ll one day raise the savior of the human race.

Sarah: What you're doing there?

Kyle: The usual. Creating bombs. Stealing money. Doing stuff that'd get me locked up in this era.

Sarah: That's so hot!

The setting  was pretty nice . It’s definitely more grungy than T2 is. Heck, 1984 looks almost as bad as 2029, but there are less skulls around.  The short scenes in 2029 look pretty good. The action scenes are pretty nice. They aren’t as extravagant as the later movies, but they get the job done. This was done on a low budget, after all. The synth music was fine for the most part, but that theme is still cool. As for the dislikes, I don’t really have any. I did think it was weird for Sarah and Kyle to fall for each other so quick, but it is just a movie. It does also drag a bit at the beginning. Other than that and a couple of nitpicks, this was pretty good.

Me after the Memorial Day weekend... lotta moving!

Terminator 2: Judgement Day

T2 was released in 1991. It brings back Schwarzenegger and Hamilton in their respective roles. We also get Edward Furlong, Joe Morton, and Robert Patrick in important roles. In the movie, two terminators are sent back in time to 1995. This time, the T-800 (Schwarzenegger) has been sent by the resistance to protect a 10 year-old John Connor (Furlong). As for the other terminator, the T-1000 (Patrick), he’s been sent by Skynet to kill John. A more-aggressive Sarah Conner gets pulled into the conflict and it even involves Miles Dyson (Morton), the creator of Skynet. Not only do Sarah and the T-800 need to protect John, they also need to see if they can stop the dark future from happening.

This movie is a blast. James Cameron takes the simplistic plot from the first movie and spruces it up a lot. Not only is there  two Terminators after John, we find out how the dark future comes to pass. Pretty much everyone is on their A-game here. I think this was the movie that made me a fan of Arnold… well, either this or Kindergarten Cop. Edward Furlong was nice as the younger John Conner, Joe Morton was cool, and Robert Patrick excelled as the T-1000. Linda Hamilton also knocked it out of the park with her role  Sarah Connor. This wasn’t the waitress from before. Here, she’s tough and admittedly a little crazy. It’s awesome.

Joe Morton never got away from doing things with Cyborgs, did he? I cracked up when I saw him as Vic Stone's dad in BvS.

The action scenes are cool. The first action scene with John being chased was pretty awesome. Heck, the whole last act was awesome. The special effects were top notch especially the practical ones. The CG effects on the T-1000 still look good even though they’re from the early 90’s. As for any dislikes, I honestly don’t have any. It’s as about as perfect as it can be. There may be a nitpick here and there, but it’s just that good.

(Insert random jab about the police here.)

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In the end, these are two great films that still hold up. Yeah, they can be a bit violent at points, but the story, action, acting, and effects hold up awesomely. As for the other movies, I’ll get to those at a later date. I’ll try to even look at The Sarah Connor Chronicles again. It wasn’t a bad show. Anywho, I’m off to finish up this month. Until then, Peace, God Bless, and don’t screw with Arnold. If that recent incident with the drop kick taught us, he is probably made of steel.