Terminator
A week ago I accidentally watched an episode Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. I knew about because Brian Austin Green plays Derek Reese, the brother of Kyle Reese. I watched the first episode and then another and then another. I loved the show, but I realized that I knew none of the backstory, so I looked it up. Then, last Friday, my mom and step-dad went to Moab for the weekend and on the way home from work I got all four Terminator movies and watched them over the weekend.
Terminator came out in 1984 and was directed by James Cameron (before he was famous). I didn't really know what to expect, because I had this image of Arnold Schwarzenegger as being incredibly stupid. I became so engrossed in the movie. I liked the story, the idea that by coming back to kill Sarah Connor, the machines created the John Connor they so feared. It was a very interesting and original concept and very indicative of James Cameron's brain. I enjoyed the way that Arnold delivered his lines with no inflection. His 80's hair was funny and kind of amazing, so was Linda Hamilton's. The only things was that the score had so much synthesizer in it, it wasn't very suspenseful. However, it was very 80's. I really enjoyed the Kyle/Sarah relationship and storyline. I thought that Linda Hamilton did a good job with the narration, she has a nice voice. But overall this movie just felt like a giant setup for T-2, which is funny, because it wasn't...at all.
Okay, so this one is my favorite. It has everything: explosions, good characters, guns, a good Terminator, emotion and plot. I like the whole movie, everything from the very beginning to the very end. The version I watched was the Special Edition which is 2 hours and 35 minutes. It had a bunch of scenes that were not in the Theatrical release, a total of 18 minutes of extra scenes. I think that these scenes make the movie even better, but if I am honest, I have nothing to compare it to. I thought that Linda Hamilton did a good job of playing insanity and all the contrasting emotions that Sarah experiences in the movie. It was so real. It was not soft or easy and she didn't automatically know the right thing to do. She cursed up a storm and never used a normal word if a curse word would work. Of course, because that was how she is John Connor cursed up a storm too. The relationship between Sarah and John was interesting, because they are mother and son, but John is so much more than just Sarah's son. He is going to be a world leader. Sarah loves him and wants him to stay safe, but it is about more than what she wants. It is about the fate of the world. So, instead of just keeping John safe, she has to train him and prepare him. She has to give him the knowledge and strength he will need to fight Skynet. John Connor is played by a kid named Edward Furlong. At least, he was a kid when he did this movie. He was discovered for this part and had never acted before. He was chosen, because the casting agent thought he looked like Linda's kid. Also, shooting went on long enough that he grew several inches and his voice dropped. He had to loop the majority of his dialogue. Despite being unexperienced, he did a very good job with the emotional content of his character's life.
Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines was interesting for many reasons. The first was that this was the only Terminator film, my best friend had seen and when she described it. I had no idea what she was talking about. The other reason is that this movie did not come from the mind of James Cameron. It was directed by Jonathan Mostow. There were only two actors in it from the original movies Arnold Schwarzenegger and Earl Boen. Also the plot was very interesting and makes the whole time travel thing, even more confusing. So, Judgement Day didn't happen when it was supposed to, but Sarah Conner died of cancer and now John is living off the grid. Then Arnold shows up again to save him from the T-X, an even more advanced Terminator. Its turns out that Judgement Day wasn't stopped it was just postponed. But here is my real issue. If they changed the date of Judgement Day wouldn't Kyle Reese come back and tell Sarah the new date and then how does that work? Am I thinking about this too much? I thought it was interesting and I liked that Arnold came back, it shows dedication to his fans and the franchise that made him famous, which sadly, so many stars seem to lack. I thought that Nick Stahl and Claire Danes did a decent job as John Conner and Kate Brewster, but I was sad that Edward Furlong wasn't recast as John (to be honest though he is a creepy looking adult).
This is by far the worst Terminator movie. I have a question what is the point of a Terminator movie without Arnold Schwarzenegger. He is the star of the movies. It's like having Harry Potter without Harry or Gilmore Girls without Lorelai or Buffy the Vampire Slayer without the vampires. It doesn't make any sense. Aside from that although the special effects were cool and they did have a CGI Arnold, I didn't like the plot. The fact that John Conner almost dies and they save by giving him machine parts was rather sad. I felt that it was necessary and makes the point that John is more the idea than the person, but it was still hard for me, because it is so important he's human. I just didn't like it although I do like Christian Bale and Sam Worthington in other things, I did not like them in this. The highlight of the movie was Helena Bonham Carter being creepy as only she can.
Linda Hamilton is a badass. She went through a complete transformation from the first movie to the second. She made muscled arms on women the epitome of cool and won the MTV Movie Award for Best Female Performance and Most Desirable Female in 1992, both for Terminator 2. Her voice is featured in Terminators 3&4 uncredited. She was actually married to James Cameron from 1997-1999 and had one daughter with him and a son with a different man. It was her idea that Sarah ha gone insane. I think that she did a really good job as Sarah Conner. I can't think of anyone else who could pull off all of the emotion. I cannot explain how much I admire her as an actress.
Michael Biehn played Kyle Reese, the time traveling soldier that is sent back in time to protect Sarah and is also John Conner's father. He loves Sarah and has since John gave him a picture of her. It was interesting to see his love for her fight with his desire to keep her alive, because he often had to be very harsh with her in the process of keeping her alive. He did a good job of conveying the love in the short time he had. I thought that Linda and Michael had good chemistry and you believed that they loved each other, even if they were only together for one night.
Edward Furlong played young John Conner in the second movie and I was very impressed with him. It was his first acting job and he had to do everything from intense emotional scenes to crazy action sequences. He was just barely 13 or so when the movie was being filmed and during the course of filming he grew alot and his voice dropped. He had to loop the majority of his dialogue and yet it is still very effective and realistic. He also had some situations where the coverage was shot much later than the actual scene and he had to stand in a hole to look the same height.
Terminator came out in 1984 and was directed by James Cameron (before he was famous). I didn't really know what to expect, because I had this image of Arnold Schwarzenegger as being incredibly stupid. I became so engrossed in the movie. I liked the story, the idea that by coming back to kill Sarah Connor, the machines created the John Connor they so feared. It was a very interesting and original concept and very indicative of James Cameron's brain. I enjoyed the way that Arnold delivered his lines with no inflection. His 80's hair was funny and kind of amazing, so was Linda Hamilton's. The only things was that the score had so much synthesizer in it, it wasn't very suspenseful. However, it was very 80's. I really enjoyed the Kyle/Sarah relationship and storyline. I thought that Linda Hamilton did a good job with the narration, she has a nice voice. But overall this movie just felt like a giant setup for T-2, which is funny, because it wasn't...at all.
Okay, so this one is my favorite. It has everything: explosions, good characters, guns, a good Terminator, emotion and plot. I like the whole movie, everything from the very beginning to the very end. The version I watched was the Special Edition which is 2 hours and 35 minutes. It had a bunch of scenes that were not in the Theatrical release, a total of 18 minutes of extra scenes. I think that these scenes make the movie even better, but if I am honest, I have nothing to compare it to. I thought that Linda Hamilton did a good job of playing insanity and all the contrasting emotions that Sarah experiences in the movie. It was so real. It was not soft or easy and she didn't automatically know the right thing to do. She cursed up a storm and never used a normal word if a curse word would work. Of course, because that was how she is John Connor cursed up a storm too. The relationship between Sarah and John was interesting, because they are mother and son, but John is so much more than just Sarah's son. He is going to be a world leader. Sarah loves him and wants him to stay safe, but it is about more than what she wants. It is about the fate of the world. So, instead of just keeping John safe, she has to train him and prepare him. She has to give him the knowledge and strength he will need to fight Skynet. John Connor is played by a kid named Edward Furlong. At least, he was a kid when he did this movie. He was discovered for this part and had never acted before. He was chosen, because the casting agent thought he looked like Linda's kid. Also, shooting went on long enough that he grew several inches and his voice dropped. He had to loop the majority of his dialogue. Despite being unexperienced, he did a very good job with the emotional content of his character's life.
Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines was interesting for many reasons. The first was that this was the only Terminator film, my best friend had seen and when she described it. I had no idea what she was talking about. The other reason is that this movie did not come from the mind of James Cameron. It was directed by Jonathan Mostow. There were only two actors in it from the original movies Arnold Schwarzenegger and Earl Boen. Also the plot was very interesting and makes the whole time travel thing, even more confusing. So, Judgement Day didn't happen when it was supposed to, but Sarah Conner died of cancer and now John is living off the grid. Then Arnold shows up again to save him from the T-X, an even more advanced Terminator. Its turns out that Judgement Day wasn't stopped it was just postponed. But here is my real issue. If they changed the date of Judgement Day wouldn't Kyle Reese come back and tell Sarah the new date and then how does that work? Am I thinking about this too much? I thought it was interesting and I liked that Arnold came back, it shows dedication to his fans and the franchise that made him famous, which sadly, so many stars seem to lack. I thought that Nick Stahl and Claire Danes did a decent job as John Conner and Kate Brewster, but I was sad that Edward Furlong wasn't recast as John (to be honest though he is a creepy looking adult).
This is by far the worst Terminator movie. I have a question what is the point of a Terminator movie without Arnold Schwarzenegger. He is the star of the movies. It's like having Harry Potter without Harry or Gilmore Girls without Lorelai or Buffy the Vampire Slayer without the vampires. It doesn't make any sense. Aside from that although the special effects were cool and they did have a CGI Arnold, I didn't like the plot. The fact that John Conner almost dies and they save by giving him machine parts was rather sad. I felt that it was necessary and makes the point that John is more the idea than the person, but it was still hard for me, because it is so important he's human. I just didn't like it although I do like Christian Bale and Sam Worthington in other things, I did not like them in this. The highlight of the movie was Helena Bonham Carter being creepy as only she can.
Linda Hamilton is a badass. She went through a complete transformation from the first movie to the second. She made muscled arms on women the epitome of cool and won the MTV Movie Award for Best Female Performance and Most Desirable Female in 1992, both for Terminator 2. Her voice is featured in Terminators 3&4 uncredited. She was actually married to James Cameron from 1997-1999 and had one daughter with him and a son with a different man. It was her idea that Sarah ha gone insane. I think that she did a really good job as Sarah Conner. I can't think of anyone else who could pull off all of the emotion. I cannot explain how much I admire her as an actress.
Michael Biehn played Kyle Reese, the time traveling soldier that is sent back in time to protect Sarah and is also John Conner's father. He loves Sarah and has since John gave him a picture of her. It was interesting to see his love for her fight with his desire to keep her alive, because he often had to be very harsh with her in the process of keeping her alive. He did a good job of conveying the love in the short time he had. I thought that Linda and Michael had good chemistry and you believed that they loved each other, even if they were only together for one night. 
Edward Furlong played young John Conner in the second movie and I was very impressed with him. It was his first acting job and he had to do everything from intense emotional scenes to crazy action sequences. He was just barely 13 or so when the movie was being filmed and during the course of filming he grew alot and his voice dropped. He had to loop the majority of his dialogue and yet it is still very effective and realistic. He also had some situations where the coverage was shot much later than the actual scene and he had to stand in a hole to look the same height.
Overall I really like this franchise and all of its quotable lines. I would recommend it to anyone who doesn't mind a bit of violence with their movie and loves realationships of all kinds.
posted by Writer Girl @ 12:52 PM
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