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Home > Blogs > Sir Critic on Cinema > Archives > 2009 > May > 20 > Entry
Revisiting the ‘Terminator’ films
I’ll be seeing Terminator Salvation tonight so my review can post Thursday, so now seems like an ideal time to revisit the Terminator films.
The Terminator: Rewatching this the other day, I was struck by just how dated it looks. Its SO mid-1980s, it’s almost cheesy-looking now. What’s not cheesy or dated, however, is director James Cameron’s command of action. This was the film that introduced to the world his brand of “Oh, whew it’s over - oh god it’s not!” sequences. Side note: Everyone quotes “I’ll be back,” but I was always a fan of “Get. Out.” myself. GRADE: A+
Terminator 2: Judgment Day: One of my most vivid moviegoing memories was seeing this with my best friend at the late and lamented Dayton Mall 1 theater (the one with the big screen). He and I worked on a five-star scale at the time, and he asked me how many stars I would give it. I couldn’t talk, so I simply held up five fingers instead. The film continues to packs a wallop today, and even though tthe morphing effects are practically prototypes, they still look great now. Two small liabilities: The father-son relationship between the Terminator and John Connor is a tad hokey, and for a guy who gets quoted so often, Cameron has a tin ear for dialogue: “You have to let me see my son. Please. He’s naked without me.” Gag. GRADE: A
Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines: No, it’s not up to Cameron’s films, but it’s much, much more effective than most people are willing to concede. The plot strains credibility sometimes, and Nick Stahl is perhaps a little too withdrawn as John Connor, but Jonathan Mostow is strong action director, who also made Breakdown and U-571. When Mostow is at full blast with the action sequences, so is the movie as a whole. GRADE: B+
Your take(s)?
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Comments
By John S
May 20, 2009 11:52 PM | Link to this
Hey Eric I know I was only 8 years old and my 5 star rating of T2 didn’t matter too much, but I was was still at the movie! I know that was the first time you accompanied a minor to an R rated flick. I like your ratings on T1 and T2 but that T3 grade is suspect. That one was �baadddd� to the bone and not in the T2 way. The leads were stinky, I think Arnold�s muscles were CG�d, and the story was not even close to the other movies.By Zack
May 20, 2009 7:42 PM | Link to this
My problem with Rise of the Machines is that (1) it completely disregards Cameron’s timeline, making John Connor the wrong age and killing Sarah Connor just a couple of years after T2; (2) Nothing much happens.By Pharrell
May 20, 2009 1:38 PM | Link to this
Very good coverage of the three films. (That’s code for “I agree with you!”) The first movie is the best and the third is pretty decent - certainly better than I anticipated. The twist at the end of three was true to the series and Arnold stepped back into the role just fine.