Favorite Science Fiction Film: Terminator

So when I was a young teenager, I watched this recorded off of the television, and I fell instantly in love with it. Over all I have enjoyed the sequels, and I have yet to see the Television show or Terminator Genesis. I plan to, just haven’t had the time to do it yet. There are a lot of current films that I am behind on, working almost every day for the past five years sort of did that, but I digress.

But I honestly think this film is the main reason my favorite genre is Tech Noir. Which is the name of the bar in the film where the main thrust of the film starts, and fun fact the reason this type of genre got it’s name. To me this is one of James Cameron’s best films, just the way he combined science fiction with Noir, is like watching a painter paint his picture. It’s like watching Bob Ross.

But before I continue, here is the Full List of Science Fiction Films,

Here is the previous review,

Also, I may or may not have spoilers in this post, sometimes I do when I discuss these films, sometimes I don’t.

And now I will continue my examination of The Terminator film. I know that many people really enjoy the second film, I do as well, but the first movie had something that I don’t think the other films could recapture. And I think that perhaps it’s the Noir feel. The others try to an extent, but they’re a lot more of an action film than the first. That’s not to say the first is lacking in action or that the action in the other films is bad, far from it, they’re spectacular. But it’s where the focus of the story is that I think puts them apart. The first is much more of a mystery experience, where the main character of Sarah Connor, is out of her depth. She’s been thrown right into the middle of WWII (Any war would work for this analogy, I just have been watching a lot of videos about WWII recently) and is now being hunted by the Nazis. It shares a lot with Casablanca as well if I were to be honest. They’re both Noir films, so it’s not to surprising.

But back to Sarah Connor being thrown into the war, it’s not surprising that she doesn’t know or believe what is happening. It takes a while for her to process, which any person would have to do if they were now involved in a war from the future. We as the audience know that Kyle Reese is right, but how would anyone else. All that she knows is that two men have entered her life, one trying to kill her, the other saying he’s trying to protect her. Throughout the movie the evidence that Kyle is telling the truth keeps mounting, because it’s the truth, but in the beginning I can understand the doubt.

Which, the doubt, is a strong tool because it adds to the tension. It becomes a matter will she believe him in time to stay alive. Also how did the war between the machines start, how did they both come back, why are they after Sarah Connor? The first part of this movie is just filled with those. All of which keep adding to the tension. Especially as we see the Terminator kill people in the coldest manner possible.

Which this is the darkest of the Terminator films as well. The way that people are executed when they are murdered. Like there is no reaction on the Terminator’s face, Arnold did a fantastic job with that, it’s chilling. This film also doesn’t end with a lot of hope either, the other’s do to a point. This one just ends. We know that John Connor wins in the end, but we know that the human race has to go through literal hell to get there. The imagery, the tone, the acting, this film is depressing in a way. The happy moments are few and far between. The rest is sadness, anger, depression, and finally acceptance. Honestly it could be compared to the stages of grief. Sarah knows that humankind is doomed, that many of them will die, and by the end she’s accepted that and is trying to prepare her son for the role he will fulfill in the coming war.

On that note, lets discuss real briefly where I think the timeline actually split, and it wasn’t in T3, T4, T5 (and that’s what I’m calling them) or the television show. It was in T2, the moment that Sarah Connor deviated from the path that Older John and Kyle Reese set her on. And this is why, John didn’t want her to try and stop Judgement Day, because they had won. Any deviation in the timeline, would have resulted in it changing, and the possibility of them winning changes. That’s why in T4 events have become different, why Skynet knows, and is trying a new Terminator to assassinate John early in the war. When Sarah altered events in T2, it caused a chain reaction, which honestly if you know about the alternate ending, split the timelines.

There is the timeline of T1, where the future that Kyle describes happens, and Skynet is defeated because Skynet was built earlier, thus inferior.

The timeline of T2, one where John becomes a senator and defeats Skynet without Judgement Day. The other timeline leads into T3.

That timeline leads into T4, because the Skynet that was built with early 2000s tech is more advanced. Thus a much bigger and dangerous threat.

I don’t know where the television show fits timeline-wise because like I said, I have never seen it, but I know that it to deviates from T1 and T2, and I know that T5 just decided to get really high on acid and discuss it’s multiple timeline theory. I honestly came up with this theory when I was still in college, one of my friends and I had long discussions about it, because we were huge fans of The Terminator. It was nice too, cause my favorite was T1, and I didn’t mind T3 (which was the only one that was out at the time) and his favorite was T2, and he hated T3. I could understand, I think he’s okay with it now, since everything else that came out. In fact he’s the one, when we were recently discussing it that pointed out that Sarah altered the timeline in T2 when she deviated from the path that John and Kyle asked her to stay on. I want to stress, that they wanted her to because they had defeated Skynet. I feel like I might have to make this clear as well, I am not saying what Sarah did was right or wrong, in fact it’s very human. If you felt like you could stop Judgement Day, saving billions of lives, all of us would make that choice. (And I know there are some who wouldn’t, because some people view humanity as dangerous and destructive, but the animal drive to protect and continue a species is very powerful, and that is what I am making my statement on.)

To be honest too, I love discussing films, and coming up with reasons for minor inconsistencies within series. They’re always there too, because filmmakers usually put their own spin on things, which I am fine with, but it does create holes in the overall story. Sometimes the holes within the story is bigger, and that’s really fun to try and rationalize, but I digress.

This movie is fantastic, and I would highly recommend it. It’s got everything, romance, action, killer robots, useless authority figures because they don’t believe the outlandish story one character tells. It’s a fun science fiction ride, and a great Noir film.