“Staff Picks” is a deeper look into movies that we love here at Video CULTure. Each edition of this column will focus on a single film that we think you should check out, either for the first time or for a long-overdue revisit
By Patrick Bartlett (Twitter: @alleywaykrew)
At this point, when people hear James Cameron’s name, most probably think of “Avatar” or “Titanic”. That’s fine. For my money, as divisive as those films may be, I consider them good films. I like them. I don’t feel that James Cameron’s ever made a bad film. That being said, to me, when I think of Cameron’s work…hell, when I hear the man’s name, the first image that pops into my head is that of a Terminator’s silvery endoskeleton. It’s really difficult to figure out how to properly quantify the importance of “The Terminator” in my life and to me as a person. I guess a big part of it is that it’s kind of always been there. Ingrained in my psyche. Ubiquitous. As much a part of me as almost anything else I’ve ever loved. The entire franchise is something that will always be something I return to even when it bums me out because of how seismic of an impact the original had.
Cameron had done “Piranha 2: The Spawning” before this but to me, “The Terminator” was really his first film. In that respect, few have come out of the gate so strong. Despite having to acknowledge outside influences later on, it’s his first wholly original work. Based on a nightmare he had about being chased by the aforementioned endoskeleton, he managed to create a film that I’ve heard called “tech noir”, which is fair and is a cute nod to the club in the film where it all comes together but I feel that it really undersells how genre bending of a film this is. Is it horror? Is it action? Is it science fiction? To answer simply: yes. It’s all those things and even more. I tend to return to it fairly often. I rewatched it before writing this and in doing so, I finally completely understood something that hadn’t occurred to me (or seemingly the filmmakers that followed) but in addition to all those wonderful genres, the reason that the original works better than all of the rest is because all of those other genres are here essentially just dressing up a love story. When I was a kid watching this, obviously all I really cared about was the genre elements but as I’ve grown with it, I find that the reason this movie still resonates with me the way that it does is because of how legitimately great the romantic the story of Kyle Reese and Sarah Connor is. I remember the first time I watched “The Terminator” as an adult, I mentioned to my brother that my favorite scene was Kyle and Sarah in the tunnel. He made fun of me. After rewatching it himself, we were on the same page though. I’d honestly put the subsequent scene between those 2 characters in the motel where Kyle confesses his lifelong love for Sarah up against any similar scene in a more traditionally romantic film. It’s a truly beautiful moment in a film that generally isn’t described that way.
The plot gets more convoluted throughout the franchise but in the first film, it’s fairly simple. In the future, an artificial intelligence called Skynet becomes sentient and annihilates the human race in a nuclear blast. Over the course of years, the remainders of humanity fight back. It’s all come to a tipping point where humaity is finally on the verge of winning the war against the machines. Skynet’s response is to send a cybernetic organism, a machine that appears to be a man, back to 1984 to kill Sarah Connor. Sarah is the mother of John Connor, the leader of the resistance, and by killing her before John is born or even conceived…the resistance is over before it can ever begin. John sends Kyle Reese back to the same point in time to protect Sarah and keep Skynet from finally exterminating humanity for good. The first chunk of the movie is the three main characters of Sarah, Kyle, and the Terminator on seemingly disparate paths until the TechNoir scene I mentioned before. The Terminator attempts to accomplish its mission and to murder Sarah in the club, only to have her be narrowly saved by Kyle. Kyle and Sarah then spend the majority of the rest of the film doing everything in their power to stay away from the relentless machine trying to end their lives and the lives of their future child.
I feel like the story of this series is so well known integral to pop culture at this point that it’s hard to call that a spoiler but if you’ve somehow managed to avoid learning anything about this franchise by this point in history, I’m telling you that knowing this will not ruin the movie for you. I was a small child when the sequel came out, hadn’t even seen this film yet, and I still knew the story at that point. I’ve subsequently seen it countless times and still manage to get sucked in every time. That’s how truly great of a filmmaker James Cameron is. It really annoys me that because his work has been so commercially successful that he doesn’t tend to get credit for how well crafted his stories generally are, especially this one. It’s a film that could have and honestly seems like it should have been a very basic b-movie but because Cameron’s technical skill is so impressive, he can take any amount of money budgeted for a film and make it look like it was at least double that. You can definitely tell watching it now that this was a movie made in the ’80s but it’s always been very difficult to tell how little money it was made for and that’s a testament to James Cameron as a filmmaker.
In addition to all that Cameron brings to the table, the cast’s importance can’t be overstated. Obviously, the focal point is Arnold Schwarzenegger as the titular Terminator. The man was my hero as a child, so I never understood why people called him a bad actor. As an adult, I can’t say that I still don’t understand. However, it’s hard to imagine anyone pulling the role off better. It was apparently written for Lance Henriksen and therefore someone of a much more average appearance befitting a machine built for infiltration. That makes total sense. The thing is though: Schwarzenegger as the cyborg may stick out more than someone like Henriksen would but there’s also an intimidation factor that is obvious very quickly. The character instantly feels like a threat. Schwarzenegger was originally considered for the role of Kyle Reese but upon meeting Arnold, Cameron realized how scary the character would instantly be with Schwarzenegger in the title role and more than that, it very quickly became an iconic part and a calling card for Arnold. It is so for a reason. Say what you want about the rest of his work, he absolutely owns this role in a way that many have tried since but none have achieved.
Beyond that, there is truly stellar work from Michael Biehn as Kyle Reese and Linda Hamilton as Sarah Connor. It’s kind of hard to take the fact that Biehn became known almost to the extent of being typecast as a badass in later roles into consideration but when you first see Biehn in the film as Reese, he doesn’t necessarily look like much. He isn’t an apparent threat (especially compared to the Terminator). Biehn brings an energy and an intensity that quickly makes it clear why he was cast and why his character would manage to survive in a future world of almost exclusively machines exterminating humans like pests. The performance makes Reese my favorite character in the franchise, despite his limited appearances comparatively. Linda Hamilton’s take on Sarah Connor also doesn’t seem like someone who would be an important figure in this universe’s history. She seems like a sweet girl but nothing clearly all that special. Over the course of the film, you see the building of someone who would be equally important to the foundation of humanity’s future savior as his father. That arc is pulled off beautifully by Hamilton. Your heart can’t help but break for her again and again and that’s a testament to how special of a perfomance it is and how much she makes you care about Sarah. The individual performances of the actors make the characters’ relationship work in a way that resonates decades later.
Obviously, “The Terminator” led to a franchise that had an immeasurable impact on film and popular culture. I knew about this film before I knew much about films at all. I’ve followed the franchise practically my entire life because of this film (and also T2). It’s more than just the start of a massive franchise though. It’s an important film all on its own. It stands on its own as an absolute masterpiece. It just all comes together brilliantly. The story, the performances, Stan Winston’s landmark effects work, all of it under Cameron’s visionary direction…it adds up into something greater than it gets credit for. No matter your feelings on the franchise in general at this point, this is a truly great film and a staggering achievement in cinema.
To find out where this film is available to stream, click here: Just Watch