The Terminator

Terrific item! Arrived in great shape!

5 Stars for originality, story, effects and action! The DVD is solid too, with a fair amount of extras. Some of you may remember when we all feared the Ruskies would nuke us any day -- this film capitalized on that fear and introduced us all to a new terror -- the evils of machines rising up against mankind. Plot revolves around deadly battle/chase to stop a cyborg sent back thru time. Many other reviewers will relate every detail, but I suggest you watch the movie. Keep in mind this was the one that started it, before the matrix and all the others. Film has a dark tone that is compelling. Lots of action, weapons, and some Sci-Fi but not too much. Man vs his creation in a sci-fi tech nightmare. That theme has since been redone several times since in many ways. The Terminator set the bar for Tech Noir films, and is the best of the series of three (T2 Judgement Day and T3 Rise of the Machines). Ironic that after all the Hollywood destruction now the Terminator "runs" California. . . Rise of the Machine? This movie is the role that defined Schwarzenagger's career more than any other. See the DVD and you'll know what I mean. The Special Edition Terminator DVD is worth the price! Quality of sound and video is excellent, bearing in mind that it is almost 20 years old now. Effects are awesome for the 80's. But Cameron's original Terminator was made without a major budget, and before Arnold was a big star. Still they pulled it off nicely! Not as much as later version, but the Extras (artwork, trailers, deleted scenes, & a sort of screenplay) on this DVD are worthy of the $15 price. I just watched it again, go get yours. This version (special ed) is worthy of a place in your collection too, although a boxed set may be coming out with all three sometime.

Great movie!

One of the best Sci-Fi movies of all time. Special effects improve in the sequels, but none match the original!

It is now accepted that "The Terminator", the predecessor of Terminator 2: Judgment Day, is a classic science fiction film. This was not immediately obvious to a lot of people who only gave T1 the nod after the success of T2. I am happy to lavish praise on both movies. Consider though that T1 had a production budget of less than one fifth of T2 and you may start to get a feel for what an outstanding job was done on it. Terminator is the story of a young woman, (Sarah Connor), being stalked. When you get down to it, that is the essence of the film and also the source of the suspense and empathy we feel for that character. We can all imagine what it would be like to have your life placed at risk at the hands of a persistent murderer. Where this film pushes the envelope is that the stalker is a cyborg, (part mechanical, part organic), killing machine, (Terminator), from the future. Everyone else has said it so I may as well. Schwartzenegger was perfectly cast in the role of an emotionless machine of destruction. It's mission to assassinate the mother of John Connor, who was to later in time become the leader of an army that opposed the terminator's creator, Skynet. Said creator being a self aware computer that had taken control of the world by using the automated nuclear defence grid. Sarah has an ally in the form of a soldier who volunteered to travel from the future to protect the mother of his commander against the Terminator. Played by Michael Biehn, Kyle Reese is determined to save the woman that he loves. He managed to fall for Sarah before he had even met her, through a faded Polaroid that John Connor gave him some years earlier. In my opinion, it is Biehn that shines in this picture. Yes, the rest of the actors were excellent but this was the first major film that Bein was in and he was nothing short of brilliant. I think that a large part of the horror we feel towards the terminator is a reflection of Reese's attitude and reactions to it. If this obviously tough and battle scarred veteran is brought nearly to the edge of hopelessness then you just know the bad guy is a serious problem. Terminator was a fast paced film with a relentless series of suspenseful chases and terrifying action sequences. I could not at the time imagine a film that could be as gripping, that is until I saw Judgment Day, otherwise known as T2. Same plot only with the roles exchanged. This time the victim is John Connor a twelve year old boy, the original terminator, still played by Schwartzenegger, is the protector, (reprogrammed in the future). The bad guy is also a terminator, but this time it is an advanced prototype, (T-1000). No longer a Cyborg but a living metal organism that can flow into any shape it desires. If I thought the first terminator was relentless then the T-1000 is unstoppable. Well, at least until he faced the newly buffed Sarah Conner in the dramatic finale. The special effects in T2 were ground braking and the attention to detail was flawless in every part of the movie. I have never met anyone who didn't walk out of the cinema after T2 with a look of stunned awe on their face.

Well I doubt I need to paraphrase the plot, so I won't. But what i will do is discuss the DVD, which most of the time the only info I really want to know. OK, first of all the picture quality is EXCELLENT. In fact, it's so good that it looks as if it were filmed just yesterday. (Except for the occasional Gremlin you see in the film, LOL!) But anyway, the DVD case states that it was transfered from a HD master and it shows. However the new 5.1 soundtrack is not bad, but you can tell that it's all new as to everything hasn't been "stereo-ized". For example, in the police station scene where Arnold is walking through and shooting everybody he sees his guns, there are instances when the gun sounds are in stereo in one shot and then not in another while in both instances they should be as they fire to the left or right. Also the sound is really bad during the film's numerous car chases where the most dominant sound is the music while the car sounds are barely audible and then all of a sudden you get a sound in the left or right channel when the car hits something or makes a powerslide around a corner. But...what can you expect from a soundtrack that was originally just Monoaral. One note though, since I don't have a true surround sound system, that above complaint may not be as bad as I made it out to be. (I have a TV with simulated surround and a 2 speaker stereo that has SRS sound) But as for the Bonus Features, that's where you get your money's worth. First of all it has several deleted scenes w/ or w/o commentary, all of which are in as good as shape visually as the Feature. Second of all it comes with 2 really great documentaries. "The Terminator: A Retrospective" that was shot in '92 (a year after T2) that's OK, but not too indepth, and "Other Voices" that is brand new that really goes into the making of the film that mirrors in quality the documentary that's on the T2: Ultimate Edition. The Menu Navigation is also very cool which sort of takes you through several "Cyberdyne" animations. So if you're looking to complete your Terminator DVD collection as I did after already owning T2, grab this one as it's the best version we'll have for a while, or forever. Oh, one more thing about the sound. They have changed the sound of the Flying HKs. They no longer have that strange screaming robotic sound. They now have a jetliner sound, which may or maynot sound more realistic to you. In fact all of the Future War sequences have been totally revamped sonically.

Excelente por donde uno quiera verlo. Audio, video, presentacion

In terms of time travel movies, especially entertaining ones that possibly predict the actual future, this is the one and only.