In terms of the summer movie seasons, we at the strongest sense it's always released with the Action film genre. May we have the Western genre that includes tones of action. June, we had the post-apocalyptic genre with amazing action sequences. Now we have the Science Fiction genre with an iconic action star at the center of it. The Terminator has been another movie on my radar for monthly recommendations ever since I realized that I forgot about its 40th Anniversary last year. When I think about the Terminator genre as a kid growing up I always see scenes of the second installment as well as the merchandise. But never quite seen a lot in terms of the first ever Terminator film, which came out in 1984, upon which I wasn't alive at that time but can't always get what we want in life. Though The Terminator is a great example of blending a perfect Sci-Fi concept but setting it in modern day times.
Disguised as a human, a cyborg assassin known as The Terminator (Arnold Schwarzenegger) travels from the future to present 1984 to kill Sarah Conner (Linda Hamilton). Also sent to present 1984, to protect Sarah Connor, is resistance soldier Kyle Reese (Michael Biehn), who divulges the coming of Skynet, an Artificial Intelligence system that will spark nuclear holocaust. Sarah is targeted because Skynet knows that her unborn son will lead the fight against the machines. With the Virtually unstoppable Terminator in hot pursuit, Sarah and Kyle attempt to prevent the future before it happens.
Technically the Terminator isn't James Cameron's first film, although in all fairness this is first ever writer and director debut and will get to his first directorial debut because in all honesty. This seems very interesting to hear about. So, for now we’re just going to consider this as James Cameron's first ever directorial debut. After finishing with his directorial debut, James Cameron had a dream about robots and knives moreover being carried around. Though the course of the years went by, Cameron sat down and wrote a science fiction movie with a little inspiration for John Carpenter's Halloween. Originally the first Terminator film was going to send two Terminator to the past one of the Terminator's including the T-1000, though the technology wasn't there yet and, in futures to come that idea would later be the key concept for the sequel so, deep down everything came into place. Although technology wasn't there yet so, Cameron decided to keep it simple and just write one Terminator that is sent to present day. Orion Pictures (the studio head behind Caddyshack, First Blood and Eight Men Out)doesn't get a lot of credit back then, in terms of stepping aside and letting the writers and directors express their vision and granted they've been mostly a fallout company now, but to the studio's credit they never interfered with anything that the Directors were doing in terms of stepping aside let them just make a movie. Though at times they did ask a few negotiable ideas to them but they're rule back then was always hands off, though I'm doubting that major studio heads were always nit picking at the directors vision, for which I would always say is most certainly the worst part of filmmaking because I always re-live the story about Kevin Smith getting the opportunity to write a Superman movie but was being asked a ton of requests that made the idea look bad in the end. Funny fact is Schwarzenegger was going to play Reese at the time in terms of casting choices, and the Terminator was going to be played by O.J. Simpson, and once I heard about that I laughed at first furthermore heard that Cameron didn't believe Simpson would be a believable killer. Well Cameron was proved wrong ten years later when he heard about O.J. killing his own wife as well as the Bronco chase, for which I would imagine Jim having the look of shock but then later saying "we’ll all be damn I should of casted Simpson to play the Terminator". But let's be honest with ourselves that idea would only make it worse, moreover they would have to switch the title to BroncoMan or The Glove. And in the end things worked out when Jim met with Arnold and had a good look at him and suggested that instead of playing Kyle Reese, he would make in excellent Terminator, and the rest became legendary history. Although the films budget was 6.4 Million dollars a lot of that consisting on the Visual Effects as well as creating the Terminator and the Future L.A., Cameron did in fact have to use a lot of gruella filmmaking to get the shots he wanted, a lot of that had to do with having to not deal with a ton of the acquiring permits and so, a lot of the people that you see in the movie were actually people who didn't know that they were even being filmed at all. A much of an incredible actor Arnold was in the movie, the man lifting both a Spas 12 Shotgun and an AR-18 rifle both of them look like they need to be held with two hands and watching Arnold massacre the police force in the movie, I myself was like man that guy lifted those guns like they were nothing, though more importantly before shooting Arnold took a lot of time being one with the guns he was carrying spending countless times at the shooting range, trying not to blink and I got to say even in those action sequences he truly knows what he's doing and believing that he's a perfect killing machine. What I love most about the first Terminator is that it's basically a science fiction movie, but a movie that is works in every simplest form, it's not over doing itself with a whole lot of explanation, it gets straight to the point, one man and one Terminator on a mission of their own, only one comes out alive. Mostly in the basis of a slasher movie but blended with science fiction with a ton of action sequences moreover doesn't overdo itself with a whole lot of explanation it gets straight to the point and even with a length of 90 minutes the film alone is compelling from beginning to the very end. And the amazing thing about the movie is this started James Cameron's career, for which allowed him a ton of creative freedom and great iconic films to come and even though his movies now might be overrated at times, he does deliver in the best way's imaginable and lets us not forget without The Terminator we wouldn't have his greatest accomplishment in Titanic as well as the infamous Rose and Jack love story. The other key factor about this movies greatness is the special effects guru of Stan Winston who created the iconic Terminator skeleton as well as given the full look of the machines in the near future, which also gives this a memorable key moments as well especially with the iconic stop motion chase with the Terminator skeleton, because there were moments were even I was a little scared of the skeleton almost coming close despite seeing this movie a thousand times. Though more importantly this was the first movie where we see the full potential of what Stan Winston can do, for which led him to future collaborations with Cameron as well as Steven Spielberg and even Tim Burton. So, in this year of mediocre summer movie releases, if you looking for something a bit in the nostalgia or looking for something to watch in terms of movies you haven't seen in a long time, I would highly recommend The Terminator from beginning till the final frame and after finishing the film it will get you saying "I'll be Back".
No comments:
Post a Comment