With so many films in the series now – and with a brand new TV show (Terminator: Zero), it seemed like a good time to go back and re-watch the original. Would it stand the test of time, or would The Terminator be just a relic of the past?
The cast is decent for this type of flick. Michael Biehn and Linda Hamilton work well together, and have enough chemistry to make their scenes work. Schwarzenegger, who received the most hype for his role in this film, actually doesn’t do that much. Unlike later films in the series, in The Terminator, he’s just the big bad. Not much acting – just hunting. While it may have kick-started his career, it took later films to show he actually could act.
The film is a lot more straightforward than any of its sequels. While it lays out the gist of what’s to come in future sequels (creating a strong base to be expanded on), it’s basically just a full-on chase flick with some added details to flesh out the characters a bit more. It’s just a bad guy chasing a girl while the hero defends her. Simple, but with Schwarzenegger’s physique wrapped around an unstoppable killing machine, it works.
The special effects are the film’s true downfall. While they may have been cutting-edge back when The Terminator was first released, they have aged badly. What used to be impressive is now just hokey, and it’s hard not to laugh at the big effects sequences these days. It’s similar to the effects seen in Army of Darkness. The big difference – those are presented with a tongue-in-cheek nod to their cheesiness. Here, they are played like it is real, and they obviously aren’t. They weren’t then…and they look worse in the current CGI-laden film world.
Unfortunately, since The Terminator relies so much on unrealistic special effects, the overall impact of the film has lost a lot over the years. While the cast is good (and it’s fun spotting Bryan Adams and Bill Paxton near the start of the film), the film has gotten a lot worse with age. Some films are able to overcome their bad special effects. The Terminator just can’t.
