The Terminator
⭐7/10
I'd never actually seen this one, but it was definitely the kind of dark, grungy type of movie I was looking for. I also knew nothing going in. Did you know that the Terminator is the bad guy? This movie is mostly very simple. A humanoid robot from the future appears, and wants to kill somebody, and will kill anyone in its path.
That robot is Arnold Schwarzenegger, who is an awful actor, but he has literally 3 lines here so it's all good. He definitely looks the part, and he is introduced in a pretty cool way where you understand the premise and what is at stake very quickly.
This movie is super 80s, so you gotta meet it on its own terms. Its got some cheesy effects, some melodrama, a very over-earnest sex scene, some campy "futuristic" aesthetics. Its definitely not a perfect movie, but I think it is still a fun watch today. The music that accompanies Schwarzenegger in every scene is pretty awesome in ramping the dread up quickly. This probably terrified a ton of kids back in the day.
I continue to have very mixed feelings on Cameron. He is clearly extremely talented in setting up scenes, getting an audience to feel things quickly, create lasting images, making worlds feel real and authentic. I like his ability to take a simple premise and build pretty compelling stories from them. But also characters never say a single interesting thing, or say a normal thing, or say something that is not extremely cliche. Sometimes he seems like Spielberg, sometimes he seems like Michael Bay.
Anyways, back to this movie. Its good! I'm glad I watched it. Not a classic for me, but I'm interested enough to watch 2, which is supposed to be The One.
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