Terminator Genisys

Ok, I have to review this movie because I’m going to go crazy if I don’t review it. We have now come to the latest installment in the “Terminator Franchise,” “Terminator Genisys,” which came out on the first of this month.

The Terminator was always funny, whether he was a cyborg assassin sent from the future to assassinate Sarah Connor, or a reprogrammed protagonist robot protecting Sarah from more advanced and evil robots such as the T-1000 or the T-X. Of course, he wasn’t trying to be funny, which is why lines such as “I’ll be back” still linger on.

However, he was scary, and never someone you would want to hug. We don’t want a Terminator that we can hug, do we?

Richard Roeper stated in his review, “In the admittedly well-made and action-packed but ridiculously convoluted and sometimes even off-putting “Terminator Genisys,” the fantastically entertaining Arnold Schwarzenegger is back as the old-school cyborg who never uses 10 words when five will do — but he’s actually called “Pops” by Sarah Connor throughout the movie.”

If you want to know why Sarah named the Terminator “Pops,” you’d have to see the movie to find out because that would be a spoiler.

“Terminator Genisys” is the fifth installment in the movie franchise, and now we can see very clearly that they should have stopped the series after “The Terminator” and “Terminator 2: Judgment Day” and we would have had one of the best one-two punches in modern movie history, period. I agree with Roeper when he said, “Even though “Rise of the Machines” (2003) and “Salvation” (2009) had their moments, with each succeeding film, the events of the first two movies lose their dramatic gravitas, because that dang Skynet synthetic intelligent machine conglomerate keeps reaching into the past to rearrange everything.”

There are some spoilers that Roeper gives, which are: ““Terminator Genisys” takes the “forget everything you’ve learned before” concept to a whole new level, and that’s what I mean about it being a little insulting and off-putting. You present us with this whole new timeline, this whole new set of circumstances for Sarah Conner and her son John, not to mention Kyle Reese (John’s father) and the Terminator, I mean, Pops? And we’re supposed to just forget all that happened in the first two movies?”

What if we don’t want to?

“Genisys” starts out in 2029, where John Connor, this time played by Jason Clarke, is leading the human resistance against the machines. (Warning: The opening credits keep going for at least the first 10 minutes of the movie. Roeper admits, “I’ve always found that drag-it-out technique to be distracting, as if we’re being told the movie is STILL just starting.”) It looks like the humans are about to win, but Skynet has that fallback emergency plan – a giant time machine so they can send a T-800 cyborg back to 1984 to kill John’s mother, Sarah, before John can be born.

Obviously John knows about that plan, and we see the moment where Kyle Reese volunteers to go back in time, and since we have seen the original movie, we know Kyle protects Sarah from the Terminator, falls in love with her, fathers her son and then, well, Kyle dies protecting her.

Once we’re back in 1984, however, I’ll just tell you they decided to alter the events. Sarah, played by Emilia Clarke from “The Game of Thrones,” has teamed up with the protective cyborg known as the Guardian, or as she calls him, “Pops,” reprised by Schwarzenegger, and yes, they do explain why this cyborg has aged. “I’m old, not obsolete,” the Terminator keeps telling Kyle Reese, as he eyes this robot like a protective father not sure his boy is good enough for his daughter.

We jump from 1984 to 2017, the plan being for Sarah, Kyle, and the Terminator to destroy Genisys, a cloud-like operating system that’s really a Trojan horse for Skynet. Soon we see the same thing we saw in “Back to the Future,” with the characters time-traveling, meeting future and/or past versions of themselves and generally getting headaches as they all try to make sense of rule bending in time travel.

Emilia Clark looks hot in the role, but she doesn’t have Linda Hamilton’s ruthless determination. Jai Courtney is really bland as Kyle Reese. (Michael Biehn rarely gets credit for his strong work as Reese in the first movie.) Byung-hun Lee is an expressionless player as the new T-1000 killing machine, but even that performance is dull next to Robert Patrick’s work in “Judgment Day.” J.K. Simmons lightens things up as an officer in 2017 who witnesses some events in 1984 that convinced him time-traveling robots exist.

The best part of the movie is Schwarzenegger, who delivers the Terminator’s lines with perfect timing and creates a sympathetic character, because as we know, nearly all the best movie robots somehow become just a little bit human as time goes on. When bad things happen to the Terminator, we feel it. Not so much with the new actors portraying Sarah, Reese, and John Connor, who simply don’t echo like their counterparts from the 1980s and 1990s.

Of course, the special effects are more impressive than ever. I agree with Roeper when he ended his review with, “But nearly every curveball offered up in this new parallel-universe version of the Terminator world isn’t as interesting or as original as the timeline we loved in the first place.”

I don’t understand what they were doing with this movie. It’s a complete mess with the whole time-traveling element, which only worked if done right. That’s why films like “Back to the Future” and “X-Men: Days of Future Past” worked so well. This is supposed to be a start to a new trilogy, and they’re not off to a good start. Jason Clarke is a great actor, but his performance as John does not have the same weight that Edward Furlong, Nick Stahl or even Christian Bale brought to the role. When you see this movie, you’ll see that they are trying to redo what James Cameron did so well in the first two, but they combined it here and made it a mess. The action scenes are good, the characters are decent, but the story is all over the place and the pacing really hurt this film. My rating for this would be a 4/10. DO NOT go to the theater to watch this movie, it’s the worst in the series. If you want, wait until this is released on DVD. The good thing is that you can easily forget this movie. Jeremy Jahns is right that you will forget this movie the next day.

Oh boy, that’s a relief. Well, that ends “Terminator Month.” I hope you liked my review of the movies and I hope that I made good recommendations to the films. Stay tuned next month to see what else I have in store for everyone. Now I have to go cool off with a glass of ice cold water so that I can forget this movie.

Terminator Salvation

Now the time has come to talk about “Terminator Salvation,” released in 2009. The “Terminator” franchise started 25 years prior to this film’s release. Usually when a series gets that old, and starts coming out with a fourth and fifth sequel, the filmmakers’ options are limited. One is they try and repeat the formula that worked so well the first time around as much as they can, regardless of all sense and logic (look at all the “Saw” movies). Another option is to go completely crazy, doing something never done before and with only a little relation to the earlier material (Joshua Starnes stated in his review, “but really, you’re taking your life in your hands with that”). There’s the always popular reboot, which is really a cheat, but it can make some entertaining movies for a bit, at least until the conditions that need the reboot in the first place return. Starnes mentioned, “And then there’s the prequel, usually a complete repudiation of any sort of forward motion for the story in exchange for some extended navel gazing into the mechanics of the back-story, the sort of thing that’s usually directed at core fans, and somewhat shrugs its shoulders at everyone else.”

Luckily for the “Terminator” franchise, the time travel part allows them to have the best of both worlds, giving them the opportunity to move forward, detracting from repeating the same story over and over into the parts of its back-story.

We rejoin the action previously set in motion, it’s the year 2018, which is about 14 years since Judgment Day finally arrived at the end of “Terminator 3.” John Connor, played by Christian Bale, has finally become the man we were told he was going to in “The Terminator” long ago. He’s a bold and confident warrior, a leader of men (Starnes mentioned, “not THE leader he was supposed to be, because Hollywood doesn’t believe in action films where the hero isn’t butting heads with a superior, but whatever”). It’s not that far in the future as flashbacks from the previous films are shown, but it’s far enough that the robots have taken over whatever that is left, forcing humans into smaller and smaller areas as they try and fight back with whatever weapons they can find. 

Starnes praised that, “There’s some fantastic craftsmanship at work, especially in the film’s opening and closing action sequences, as John Connor leads a team into an underground facility Skynet has been guarding in the Nevada desert, and then later sneaks into Skynet itself. Unfortunately, the middle of the film is a bit dodgier.”

It’s always a question when the original creator leaves a series, especially when it’s the writer-director who leaves, leaving it in the hands of producers who are only interested in business potential and not telling a story. We’ve already left behind who the films are originally about long ago – Linda Hamilton – as they became more about Arnold Schwarzenegger being emotionless and tough. To be fair, that started when Cameron was director. Now we don’t have Schwarzenegger anymore, either, and you could be forgiven for expecting the producers to just try and recreate as many moments from the original films as they could within the material they’ve got. They actually do (right up to a return of the Guns ‘N Roses song that was so noticeable in “Terminator 2”), but I don’t think I would say that no real thought has gone into it.

In many ways, quite a lot of thought has gone into it. Screenwriters John Brancato and Michael Ferries really get the theme of the human heart overpowering the machines. In fact they’re pretty accurate about the idea. They understand how the emotional side of Connor’s character should play out, what Skynet’s plan is, and especially how the climax (which is, thankfully, the strongest part of the film) fits into everything that’s come before. The problem is, that’s only true for one of the films, because “Terminator Salvation” is actually two movies.

A convicted murder on death row, Marcus leaves his body of science on the night of Judgment Day, only to wake up 15 years later in the same lab Connor was looking at the beginning of the film followed shortly by some kind of road action across the California wasteland and as he and young Kyle Reese, played by Anton Yelchin, try to find John Connor, who they don’t know is real.

The idea of Marcus isn’t that bad. Starnes said, “Thematically, he fits right in with the “Demon with a Glass Hand” inspiration that lead to the original Terminator.” The problem is I don’t care about him and is there any reason why? He’s just a generic macho man doing generic macho man things. All the emotional unwillingness is with John Connor. He’s the person these stories have supposedly been about, how he saves the world from the Terminators. Starnes complained, “Throwing a brand new person into that mix and trying to say he has equal weight in this story is a pretty tall order, I don’t care how many people he beats up.” It doesn’t matter how many scenes he has with Moon Bloodgood, who does play a good action heroine, his story is completely heartless.

It doesn’t help that Sam Worthington is sadly bland as an actor. Schwarzenegger got away with it because he was supposed to be emotionless (which, really, was one of his strengths). Marcus isn’t supposed to be emotionless. He just comes across as that.

However, I will say it does look great being a bit desert heavy. ILM has done another amazing job, as has Shane Hurlbut. There’s a fantastic work of trickery early on as a cameraman walks up to a helicopter, hangs onto the side of it as Connor flies into the air, pulls out to look at it as it flies out of control before rushing back into the cockpit as it crashes, all in one take. There are also a handful of excellent action sequences, especially the finale as Marcus finally learns how he became who he is and John Connor goes head-to-head with a T-800 with Schwarzenegger’s CGI face.

Actually, if the last half-hour weren’t as strong as they are, it would probably be a much worse film, but a strong ending can make up for a lot, even if some of the final fight is a tad long. Starnes admitted, “Yes, the Terminators are unstoppable killing machines that just keep coming and coming no matter what you do to them, but there comes a point where that sort of thing stops being scary and starts being ludicrous, and McG goes screaming right past it.”

I agree with Starnes when he said, “It’s a lot better than it probably should have been, but having too leads the way they have is a horrible albatross ’bout the neck.” It can work, but it does require both characters to be equally important, and that’s just not what it is here. Maybe if they’d both spent a lot of time together, but they actually only get a few scenes, and that’s not enough to convince that Marcus Wright is worth caring about and cheering for.

Good action scenes will satisfy the “Terminator” fans and lots of throwbacks to “Terminator” films of long ago will make the “Terminator” fans happy. There are actually parts of a good movie in here, but the focus is in the wrong place. It really needed some more thinking about how all the parts would fit together. Starnes concluded by saying, “Still, it’s better than the TV show.” Since I never saw the TV show, I wouldn’t know, but I do think it’s better than the third film. Also, Bryce Dallas Howard portrays Kate in this movie.

In the end, I would probably give this film a 7/10. You got great action scenes, nice little touches to the previous movies, a new kind of story, great characters and finally a look into the future that they talked about in the previous films. Since this is set in the present time and no Terminator is sent back to kill John Connor, I like this addition. Only problem I have is that they still cheated the mythology, which wasn’t needed. Also, there are moments where Christian Bale sounded like he was going to turn into Batman. I guess since he had done "The Dark Knight" the previous year, his vocal chords must have been use to that, so that might explain why.

Well, we are almost done with “Terminator Month.” I just have to find a day to see the new movie before next week so I can tell everyone what I thought about it. Stay tuned.

Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines

Well everyone, we now come to what many fans thought brought the series to a screeching halt, “Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines,” released in 2003. First off, I want to reiterate what I felt about the first two movies:

Terminator 1 and 2 were classics, not merely dumb action films. They had great action and effects, but also excellent characterization, themes, and writing. I personally prefer 2 over the first one, as so many others do, although I do remember I met a couple of people that thought the second one sucked, but I didn’t see how. If you prefer the first one over the second, that’s fine, but I don’t think the second one sucked, which I’m curious to know why people might think that. I didn't think they were bad in any way and I enjoyed them fully.

However, Terminator 3 wasn`t as underwhelming as AVGN made it out to be. I think the TX was a technical improvement. She had Nano-technology, merged elements of the first two Terminators, and was seductive like the Borg Queen from the “Star Trek” series. I also did like John and Kate. John really struggled with his destiny, felt like a failure, lost his parents, and we see how Kate connects to her father and grows to like John. 

I also think ILM did a great job on the effects. I personally think some of the main problems were that the music and opening were underwhelming, that the cinematography wasn`t dark enough, and that it indeed contradicts the message of whether the future is written or not.

Also there are some plot-holes like: How could Skynet infect the Internet before being plugged in? How did it develop self-awareness so fast? How did they create Skynet after the chip was restored? Why couldn`t they send a virus into Cyberspace to destroy Skynet? Why didn`t the T-850 just tell the army earlier what was going to happen? How can you change the future by postponing it, but not change it altogether? Also wait a minute, the Terminator killed John? I thought it was too late for that, as they had won…hence, the time travel. Why didn`t future Kate also program the Terminator to obey John?

I loved the action when I saw the movie, as probably everyone else did, but the story I questioned, much like with “The Lost World: Jurassic Park.” I do think Terminator 3 had some great story ideas. I think the TX taking over other machines, even the good Terminator, was really interesting. It was also interesting to see how Judgment Day happened. T2 was also somewhat similar to the first one, so I do think the story in this movie had some original ideas. I think the main problem is the continuity. I also think it was interesting they gave some background about John’s fellow commanders. 

Once again, I do like the action in the movie, TX was hot, but I do agree that she was a downgrade from the T-1000, and the continuity really bugged me. However, John and Kate were good and I liked how the Terminator helped them get together and put aside differences. I do think the TX had great Nano-Technology, and could look rather creepy, and her new weapons were cool. Also, I do like Kate’s relationship with her father, played by David Andrews.

Terminator 3 was entertaining, but a disappointing sequel. My initial thoughts about this movie were that it was a campaign video for Arnold Schwarzenegger to win the “Recall Election” for the office of California Governor. I still stand by that, and I do think that I am right, although people might say otherwise. Besides that, I believe the reason why they cheated the mythology is just so the people who made this movie could just make money. Everyone must have decided to make another movie about an evil Terminator coming back to kill John as an adult, and send a good Terminator to stop it. Jonathan Mostow, who directed this movie, must have thought that since the story worked so great in the first two movies, that it could have worked the third time around. What he fails to understand is that the saying “Third time’s a charm” doesn’t always work. The usual formula where the third movie is the rotten egg in the trilogy does play in this movie.

The casting in this movie was great though. Arnold playing the good Terminator was, like the second film, a good choice that I couldn’t see anyone else playing. However, there are parts where he does look bored, especially when he says, "She'll be back," which doesn't have the amount of force when he said it in the first two movies. However, he plays the role very well and really grows to protect John and Kate since he knows the future and they are destined to be together. At first, it is difficult for him to get them together, but it does work in the end since the three of them do eventually grow to work as a team. Edward Furlong was not asked to reprise the role of John for this movie because of a substance abuse problem. Back in 2004, he said this during an interview: “I don't know [what happened]. It just wasn't the time. I was going through my own thing at the point in my life – whatever, it just wasn't meant to be.” Nick Stahl does play John as an adult who has gone through purgatory. He still is street smart, but has matured since the second one. As an adult, he thinks smart, since he has lost his mother, he really has learned from Sarah since they got back together in the second film. Although, I can’t say what happened in between films since I never saw “The Sarah Conner Chronicles.” Linda Hamilton was asked to reprise her role as Sarah, but refused saying, “They offered me a part. I read it and I knew my character arc was so complete in the first two, and in the third one it was a negligible character. She died halfway through and there was no time to mourn her. It was kind of disposable, so I said no thank you.” Claire Danes is really hot as Kate. When Danes was getting interviewed on National Public Radio’s (NPR) “Fresh Air,” she mentioned that the role of Kate was a last-minute replacement since the producers felt that Sophia Bush was too young to play the role. Danes did play Kate really well, showing how scared and confused she is as to why the Terminator is getting them together. She, like anyone else would, constantly jumps on the Terminator and constantly punches him because she doesn’t know what is going on. However, she does come to understand and stays with John by helping him out in order to prepare for the inevitable. Now we come to Kristanna Loken, the drop dead gorgeous actress who played the TX. I feel that Mostow casted her only for men to go crazy over her. I wouldn’t be surprised. However, she does play the TX as a creepy looking Terminator and has great weapons, plus was a tough competitor for the good Terminator. Although, like everyone else, I still prefer the T-1000 over the TX, since I feel the TX was only there just so the movie could have a hot female villain.

Seriously though, everything aside, why make a third movie? AVGN stated that he heard of better story ideas from fan speculation, which I didn’t really hear when this movie was being released. I do welcome another Terminator movie, but can we get better writing, story and humor? This movie did have some funny moments, like the scene in the truck when the Terminator is giving tips about John and Kate’s conversation, but other moments, like the sunglasses moment, felt forced. I feel the same way with the “Alien franchise,” where they should have stopped this series after the second movie. There was no need to make another movie, but when it comes to making money and one of the main actors trying to win an election, the story has to be botched in order for it to be made.

In the end, I don’t really recommend this movie that much. Reviewreviewer1 and I must think in the same ballpark about this movie, as we discussed this movie before I reviewed it, but he might like it a little more than I do. Now I don’t feel bad in giving this movie a 5/10. Like I mentioned, this one I don’t say watch, but if you can get passed the first few minutes, than great.

What can be said about the fourth in the series? Stay tuned next week to find out.

Terminator 2: Judgment Day

I am really excited for today because I will get the chance to review another one of my all time favorite films, “Terminator 2: Judgment Day,” released in 1991. I can’t really say which sequels could top this one, since this is one of the best, if not “the” best, candidate for the greatest sequel ever. Now, onto the review:

James Cameron and William Wisher Junior both returned. James Cameron became an even more detailed actor’s director and put a lot of attention into the set design, direction, music, special effects, puppetry, and make-up, and ILM worked on the film. They used some of the most innovative CGI that had been developed for “The Abyss” to create the T-1000. Brad Fiedel returned to do the music, Linda Hamilton and Arnold Schwarzenegger returned and the film got a 102 million dollar budget. James Cameron also got Final Cut Privilege. There is also a special edition with added character moments, effects and subtext.

This film has a strong sense of continuity with the first film. It gives more details of how the Nuclear War happens, who developed the Terminators, and what John Connors childhood was like. It also creates an even more complex story with Sarah having been committed and needing to escape. It has a great plot twist, where it shows a good Terminator was sent back to protect John, while the morphing T-1000 was sent back to kill him. The T-1000 has many creative powers, as he can take on people’s appearances, form stabbing weapons, become a floor, take weapons out of his body, and nothing can stop him. In the Special Edition, we see how he starts to weaken after being frozen, which added a nice touch. The finale did a few plot holes, like them waiting too long while the T-1000 was recovering from being frozen, they didn`t save the grenade launcher and used it while he was recovering. It was rather convenient they happened to end up at a steal factory, but it still is a brilliant story. Also, the film is very original where it shows how Sarah Connor tried to change time by killing an innocent man named Dyson, even though he also had a family. He also eventually sacrifices himself, which made for a dramatic death. It is interesting that they decide to freely change history, even there is no external time travel influence causing them to do so, and they destroy Cyberdyne. The film finally shows that time can, in fact, be changed, but it requires sacrifice. The film still has many great horror and suspense elements, although it is more of an action film, but it again blends science-fiction with film-noir. It also adds some subtle humor as well, and it really helps further the characterization, like the humor of how the T-800 doesn`t understand humanity and sees destroying life as normal. The film is very well paced, being consistently exciting, but also having it`s action further the story.

The action scenes are great. They are well directed and edited, as well as complex and exciting. The CGI still looks fantastic today, as do the practical effects. The score is more hip but still dramatic, exciting, creative and dreadful. The direction is excellent, as is again the cinematography. All of this helps tell a great story. Although it has many similarities to the first film, it keeps it fresh by making John believe the Terminator faster and by making the authorities be against them. The film conveys many deep themes, expanding on the first film, showing just how violent society is, as even Sarah and John commit violence. We see how cops are too trigger-happy as well, and we see Sarah has prepared for destruction. It also shows how after the Cold War was over, nuclear destruction was still possible and how easily we could be provoked. It also shows that anyone can learn the value of life, that it is simply something you must know in your heart and that it is better to sacrifice your life then to take one. It also shows how being too busy with technology causes us to ignore our family and get overly ambitious. We see how the value of life is based on the ability to feel empathy and that this is helped by others showing compassion to us. John treats the Terminator as his friend and this forms the basis of it developing an appreciation of human life. The commentary is excellent on the blindness of society. They just treat Sarah as crazy, cover up all evidence of the Terminator, treat foster children as criminals, when they are just upset and confused, abuse people they think are crazy, and won`t believe them when they try to act sane. Silverman seeing the T-1000 was fantastic. It again comments on fate and shows we can change it, but that it requires us to truly learn from the past, as we can`t just fix the problems of the world by killing more people.

The film again has excellent character development. Like the first film, it doesn`t have one definitive protagonist, but a group of protagonists. Sarah Connor is shown to have become violent, desperate, and emotional, depressed, yet she is still protective, though overbearing, and she treats her son as just a savior. She can be harsh, yet also sad, caring, and really spiritual. She still remembers Kyle Reese and dreams of him, is persistent, and she not only learns to regain her soft side and her bond with John, but also her hope in humanity. It was really subtle how in her dream, she saw many people being happy and oblivious to the impending destruction, including herself from the first film. She has changed a lot between the films, feeling powerless as she was committed, and became more and more obsessed with training John. Understandably, she is very uptight and can snap at certain moments since she remembers everything John told her in the first movie and is focused on setting the future right. Even though she does show progress in the asylum, she still can get furious and does eventually break through in order to prevent the war from happening. Also, what is interesting is that she at first wants to destroy the T-800 and doesn`t really want to listen to John, but she comes to be less cold to him, and more protective and nurturing. She also clearly misses him when she is in the mental hospitals. Also, they nicely explain what happened in between the film where she stored weapons, looked for many father figure substitutes for John, she went to the South and made more rough type friends there. They also show John used to trust her and had to grow up fast, is very skilled, rough and brave but is disillusioned, as he was told everything he was raised to believe was a lie. However, he is nice to his friend and does want to warn his foster parents, although he clearly doesn`t like them and is rebellious, stubborn, sneaky and rude, but it is very understandable in his case. He also does want to save his mother and does value human life, yet it is fun to see him abuse his ability to control the Terminator. What was really nice about this film is the jargon that John teaches the Terminator in order to talk more like a human and not a machine, since John is a street-smart, wise little boy. Especially since this movie introduced another one of Arnold’s famous lines, “Hasta la vista, baby.” I really liked how John and the Terminator grow close to one another and the Terminator becomes like a father to John, since John never grew up with a biological dad. This is very similar to how in “The Karate Kid,” when Daniel and Miyagi grow close as friends to one another that they become like a father and son. It`s interesting how he grows to be a real leader, more caring and more mature. Also, Myles Dyson is interesting as he really loves his family, but he just does what he is told and tries to develop the best technology he can. He truly is shocked when he hears what he would cause, and comes to slowly resent his technology more. The Terminator starts off harsh, cold and kills people only somewhat less than the T-1000. John teaches him not to kill people, to have a sense of humor and they discuss what it means to cry. We see that vulnerability is part of what makes one human. He eventually develops freewill and sacrifices himself out of compassion for humanity. The T-1000 is also really interesting. He is so unassuming, precise, small yet deadly, manipulative, stoic, ruthless and determined.

The acting is great. Arnold Schwarzenegger perfectly plays his slow transition to humanity, Linda Hamilton is emotional, and gets her more crazy side across well, Edward Furlong is really natural, funny and three-dimensional, Robert Patrick is very subtle yet creepy as the T-1000, Joe Morton is also excellent when showing the warm sides of Miles. The film really is an outstanding masterpiece. It grossed $500 million and got critical acclaim, and is by many fans considered the best. It is truly one of the best films ever made and is again an easy 10/10.

Just like how I stated last week that I couldn’t do the first Terminator movie justice, this one I seriously “cannot” do justice by reviewing it. If you have not seen this movie, then don’t read my review. You simply have to watch this movie to see for yourself how awesome of a movie it is. Once you have finished watching it, you will be left feeling so amazed and blown away at how James Cameron was able to make this masterpiece. I would also like to thank reviewreviewer1 for sending these thoughts once again, and next week will be a combination of both of our thoughts.

I can understand if anyone likes the first movie because of the dark prophecy of a storm coming, but I like how this film has a more positive outlook that if a machine can learn the value of human life, maybe humans can as well. I remember when I was hanging with some friends in the cafeteria at my old Community College, a couple of people thought the second one sucked, which really shocked me, but like I said before, I think I can understand they liked the first movie because of how dark it got.

Well, I wish I could say that it is uphill from this point, but unfortunately it’s not. I seriously think the series should have been left alone after this movie, since it ended on what could be considered the definitive cap of the movies, but they didn’t. Just wait until next week to see what they did that caused the series to start going downhill. I hope all of you are enjoying “Terminator Month.”

1776: A Musical

Happy Independence Day everyone! In keeping with the tradition I have started two years ago, I will review a patriotic movie for today. Boy, do I have one for you. When I was in Eighth Grade, my history class saw a movie called “1776: A Musical,” released in 1972. I think that I will review that for today. Bear in mind, I haven’t seen this movie since then, but I still remember it and I think it was a good movie.

Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat started their review off by saying, “Americans have a propensity for getting chummy with heroic figures of the past. 1776, a Tony Award-winning Broadway musical and a film directed by Peter H. Hunt, trades on that peculiar tendency.”

The Founding Fathers spend three months debating over including something in the Declaration of Independence that is against slavery or not. In writer Peter Stone’s stylish scenario for that period, John Adams, played by Mr. George Feeny from “Boys Meet World” and occasionally in “Girl Meets World” and the voice of KITT from “Knight Rider,” William Daniels is described by Brussat as “an officious, puritanical rebel who drove the Second Constitutional Congress to take action on secession from England.” Benjamin Franklin, played by Howard Da Silva, is a wise and complicated diplomat with a liking for food and pretty girls (there’s a part where he does a dance with Thomas Jefferson’s wife, played by Blythe Danner). Thomas Jefferson, played by Ken Howard, comes in as a scholarly Southern lord who is forced to write the Declaration of Independence when no one else wants to.

Most of the time, “1776” is a lightly amusing historical lesson. Part show and part historical comedy, the film’s two best musical numbers are “The Lees of Old Virginia,” a lighthearted tribute to a famed old American family, and “Sit Down John,” a number sung by the members of Congress when they wear out of Adams’ repeated lectures. “1776” is a better-than-average family film clear to become a 4^th of July holiday essential.

Brussat ended their review by mentioning, “The new DVD release is a restored "director's cut" containing the vision of Peter Hunt. He is also featured on the best extra, an audio commentary with screenwriter Peter Stone.”

In the end, if you haven’t seen this movie, definitely give it a chance and watch it, especially if you have kids around. Bear in mind, John Adams does swear somewhat in this since he was known to have a short temper. Actually, Benjamin Franklin actually says a profane word a couple of times as well, especially when he talks about his son. Maybe if you have teenaged kids, than they can watch this, but not if they are in Elementary school, since they should not hear swear words.

Well, Happy Independence Day once again. Go out and enjoy tonight by watching fireworks and celebrating with everyone about the importance of today. Stay tuned next Friday for my continuation of “Terminator Month.”

The Terminator

I am really excited for this month. Since the latest Terminator movie came out 2 days ago, I would like to finally give all of you my thoughts on the “Terminator” franchise. This is going to be great because I am finally going to get the chance to review this series, which is one of the best movie series out there, period. Instead of prolonging this, I will start off “Terminator Month” with the first “The Terminator” movie, released in 1984.

James Cameron came up with the story and co-wrote the story and screenplay with William Wisher Junior, who would go on to script doctor “Die Hard with a Vengeance” and “Live Free or Die Hard.” Gale Allen Hurd produced it and also did some script editing. Cameron was new in the business and needed to convince multiple studios to fund the script. He took some instructions on the script, but he none the less gave very detailed directions to the actors and cinematographers, and got to work with only a limited interference. He had to work on a 4 million dollar budget, but eventually it was raised to 6.5 million. Stan Winston provided the puppetry for the film and Brad Fiedel provided a wonderful score.

The film has a really interesting story. It deals with a complex cat and mouse game and a building mystery of why Kyle Reese and the Terminator are after Sarah Connor. It also seamlessly gives us all the needed exposition, explaining how the time travel works, which is very creative. It is a one way portal and only living tissue can pass through. It also gives us an interesting Terminator that is not indestructible, but still very strong. We see them create make shift weapons, and in a clever twist, the news plays an important part. It shows a future war scenario, where people were taken by surprise and most humans were killed, while the remaining ones were imprisoned. It builds a real mythology, showing people were captured and experimented on, and that John Connor led them to escape and unite and they lived in dire circumstances and constant fear. Many were traumatized. They created an infiltrator Terminator, and these had rubber skin, but the newer ones look and feel real. John Connor is nicely never shown and made a mysterious hero. The film has many deep thematic layers. It analyses how people are too superficial and quick to act violently, as The Terminator is confronted by bullies, Sarah is dumped, Kyle Reese chased by the police, and they easily steal weapons. It shows how unprepared we are for destruction and over reliant on technology. They also nicely show time travel while keeping it ambiguous whether we can change time, as John told Sarah that she could. However, it is a time paradox. 

Even the romance between Kyle Reese and Sarah Connor was destined. Or was it? Kyle loved her because John Connor gave him a picture of her and he could never really open his feelings, but he none the less really cares for him. Destiny is shown to have both good and bad sides and it is summed up well by Sarah saying that for the few hours they were together, they loved a lifetimes worth. 

The film has really strong characters. Kyle Reese is tough, professional, dark, brooding, violent, honest, yet also romantic, sweet and idealistic. He learned to disconnect himself due to all the pain he suffered and suffers from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. Michael Biehn plays him very well with dimension, depth and sincerity. Sarah Connor is insecure, awkward, joyful, yet aimless, warm, motherly, scared, yet supportive, and sad, as well as naive. Linda Hamilton adds real tenderness while also making her strong and intense. The romance between them is great. Sarah is nervous, skeptical, average and whiney, but has a lot of inner strength Kyle brings out in her. He helps her fulfill her destiny, and although they don`t know each other for long, he got to care for her through a picture that was a symbol of hope, and by serving Sarah`s son, who is also his son. He believes he merely serves John and fate, but he ends up saving the world. Sarah, at first, thinks she is crazy, but comes to believe in him. He eventually helps her become calmer and they can even have moments of playfulness together. They come together for a time, and he gives his life for Sarah. She helps bring out his softer side. She was always looking for love and now found it in an unexpected place. Arnold Schwarzenegger is perfect as the Terminator. With few lines, he also makes for an interesting character. He is calculating, merciless, determined, rude, tough, cold, surprising and fast. The Terminator was described by James Rolfe as a slasher villain, which I can see where he is coming from. You could compare him to Michael Myers, the way he goes around killing everyone by the name of Sarah Conner the same way Michael Myers goes around the first “Halloween” movie killing all of the baby-sitters before he comes to Laurie Strode.

The dialogue is also really good. The deep conversations between Sarah and Kyle on how she feels she can`t handle everything, how Kyle sees more in her, and how they both feel alone were all great. The same goes for how Kyle Reese told Sarah about how he would die for John. Who can forget the famous Schwarzenegger line in this movie: “I’ll be back.” That’s like his signature catchphrase in a lot of his movies. Actually, all of the lines said by Schwarzenegger are actually top notch for this movie.

The film is very gritty and realistic, and has a very dark shadowy cinematography. It has really suspenseful atmosphere, very energetic direction, and very raw lighting. You could compare this movie to a horror film, and there are elements of horror in it, although it is a science fiction action film. The music is robotic, dark and emotional. The special effects are magnificent for both the time and the budget. It still holds up really well now. The car chases, shootouts, set destruction, spaceships, they all still look great. It delivers as both a thrilling action film, and a deep romance, and also as a sophisticated science fiction film. It also mixes in film noir and real horror elements. It totally deserves its 100% on Rotten Tomatoes. For a B movie, it was a huge hit, earning $78 million, and it did very well in rentals and VHS sales. Its reception was more mixed at the time, but its esteem grew with time. It is a masterpiece so go see it. I rate this movie with a plain 10/10.

With that said, I simply cannot do this film justice with my review. You should just simply go out and see the movie if you haven’t. This is one of the best movies ever made (possibly one of my favorites) and I definitely say that this movie gets a high recommendation. It is "that" good. I hope that I was able to bring some light into my review on this movie. Also, I want to credit reviewreviewer1 for sending these thoughts since he and I are both fans of "The Terminator Franchise."

What can be said about the sequels to this movie? There is only one way to find out. Stay tuned next week when I talk about the best sequel in this franchise. I’m really looking forward to reviewing that because it fits very well with “Terminator Month.”