The Terminator remains the quintessential Schwarzenegger movie, relatively unencumbered by the special-effects excesses of later projects.
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As we all know, "The Terminator" came to Earth with powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal men; he could bend steel in his bare hands, change the course of mighty rivers, and leap tall buildings at a single bound.... No. Wait. That was another guy. Let me start again. As we all know, "The Terminator" was a turning point in Big Arnold´s career, the first time he played a bone fide villain in a movie. Unlike his fellow superhero players, he proved he was an actor willing to take chances and whose film path would benefit from his reaching beyond his biceps.
For a lot of folks, "The Terminator" from 1984 remains the quintessential Schwarzenegger movie, relatively unencumbered by the special-effects excesses of later projects. Now, following a rather ordinary DVD release from Image Entertainment in 1997, MGM studios have reissued the film in a Special Edition anamorphic widescreen remastering with a new Dolby Digital 5.1 audio remix and an assortment of bonus features. It´s about time.
It apparently took some persuasion on director James Cameron´s part to get Schwarzenegger to play the role of the heavy. Initially, the actor and director assumed he was going to play the hero´s part, Kyle Reese, which went instead to Michael Biehn. But Cameron said the moment he looked at Arnold across a lunch table, he was convinced this was his evil cyborg, his ultimate killing machine. "The Terminator" is, as you recall, an advanced robot from the year 2029 that comes back from the future to terminate a woman, Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton), who will give birth to a man who would become the ultimate threat to the robots´ existence. Seems that in the near future machines take over the world after a nuclear war wipes out most of Mankind.
The Terminator is an appliance with human-like flesh over its metal substructure, strong as a bull, single-minded to a fault, relentless, and remorseless. In the future, Sarah´s son, John Connor, would lead a resistance to the machines, so the machines use a time-displacement device to go back and make sure he never gets born! The Terminator´s programmed assignment is to kill Sarah Connor, and nothing will deter him from his job in this high-octane, tech-noir adventure.
In his review of the Image Entertainment DVD release, an unnamed DVDTown critic wrote: "This cult classic has all the ingredients of a pulsating thriller; it holds you to the edge of your seat and leaves you holding your breath. The special effects really look good, especially in my favorite chapter called "The Inner Self" in which the Terminator is finally burned to a crisp but emerges in his skeletal form. You begin to think: How do you stop the Terminator?"
Agreed. It´s a good sci-fi fantasy, and with Schwarzenegger remaining totally in character throughout, with Hamilton´s waitress a frightened, bewildered, and later strengthened heroine, with Biehn´s Reese a stalwart warrior, and with James Cameron´s direction innovative and fast paced, the movie is probably better than its subject matter. My only disappointment has always been with the miniatures used for the war sequences, which still don´t look to me entirely convincing. Fortunately, it´s a small matter that pales next to the film´s personal drama and nonstop action.
Video:
Compared to the previous Image release, this MGM Special Edition gets most everything right. The picture size remains about the same, a 1.85:1 theatrical release ratio, but the colors are now more vivid, and there is better definition, a little less grain, and reduced picture flutter in this new anamorphic transfer. Still, it's a dark film, so do expect grain in the darker scenes.
Audio:
However, the audio is where one really notices the improvement. Image had announced on their early disc that they made no attempt to enhance in any way the original monaural soundtrack. In 1984 not all theaters were equipped to deal with stereo, so mono is what we usually got. But MGM engineers deliver a Dolby Digital 5.1 remix from the master tapes that´s awesome in contrast to the old mono. Not only does it have the increased separation we expect across the front channels, but a good deal of material is piped discretely to the rear speakers, as well, producing an aural experience almost the equal of "T2." What´s more, the dynamics and frequency range are stronger than before, recreating a more lifelike quality and exciting a more gut-thumping response. For those who must have their movies exactly the way they remembered them, though, MGM have also provided the original monaural track.
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