The Terminator

Directed by: James Cameron

Written by: James Cameron, Gale Anne Hurd; William Wisher Jr. (additional dialogue)









This is it: the film that launched the "Terminator" mini-empire.

Apparently, in the future, humans are at war with machines (and we're losing, I might add).  Our only hope is a man named John Connor, who is leading the resistance.  The machines decide to send a Terminator (Schwarzenegger) back in time to kill Connor's mother Sarah (Hamilton).  Connor sends his right-hand-man Kyle Reese (Biehn) back to ensure his mother's survival, with some interesting consequences.

Aside from the prominence of the 1980's clothing and hair styles, this movie has held up pretty darn well.

The Terminator - especially once stripped of his fleshy exterior - is still a terrifying image.  The pre-CGI stop motion animation of the skeletal robot is a little clunky at certain moments, but is mostly seamless as the jerky motion fits well with the movement of the machine.

The action is paced out well to keep the film moving without reducing the film to a mere chase film (which, at its essence, it is).  The beginning of the film strings the viewer along, tugging us toward the inevitable convergence of Reese, Connor, and the machine.  Even after that, there are enough breaks in the action, including some flashback / flashforward sequences, that the movie doesn't feel like one long pursuit.

For the most part, this is a pretty straight-forward sci-fi flick.  Perhaps the hardest part to wrap your head around is the time-travel element, which only occurs twice but plays a massive role in the long-term Terminator mythology.  Why did John Connor choose to send Kyle Reese back in time?  (Spoiler ahead.)  Because Kyle Reese is John Connor's father.  Think too much about this, and there's a major paradox waiting to explode, especially if you ascribe to the time-is-linear way of thinking.  How did Reese end up in 1984, if John Connor didn't send him back until the 2000's?  Unless Reese always existed as a time-traveller in 1984, meaning that John Connor's existence was inevitable and that time is not able to be altered.  Except, if time cannot be altered, then the Terminaor's attempt to, ahem, terminate Sarah Connor was futile?  Wait, what?  Yes, exactly.  It's the stuff like that which makes science fiction so fun.

This film is a little more brutal and violent than the typical sci-fi fare.  Perhaps not more violent, but definitely more brutal and visceral.  First time viewers be warned.

Come with me if you want to live...

Avatar

Last night my wife and I went to see the new James Cameron movie "Avatar" in 3-D. Actually, it wasn't so much a "movie" as it was a "completely different experience." I have never been quite as amazed and awed coming out of a movie theatre as I was last night.

Now, this is not to say that "Avatar" is the perfect film. Rather, it is unlike anything else I've ever seen (although it obviously takes some elements from previous science fiction and fantasy books and movies). Using 3-D technology, Cameron was able to take the audience to another world.

But, before I start gushing, a little bit about the movie. Apparently, in the future, humans are mining some sort of high-energy ore on a planet called Pandora, which is worth a ton of money back on earth. The only problem is that the planet is already inhabited by a blue humanoid species which considers pretty much every nook and cranny of the planet to be sacred in one way or another. Enter Jake Sully (Sam Worthington), a former marine who has taken his brother's place in the "Avatar Program" - which allows humans to take control of an alien body and live through that body. The company in charge of the mining needs to get to a massive ore deposit which, unfortunately, lies directly beneath the natives' largest city (so to speak), and is looking for a diplomatic, but forceful, way of moving the aliens. Tensions rise between the scientific team researching the planet - led by Dr. Grace Augustine (Sigourney Weaver) - and the business and security teams - led by Parker Selfridge (Giovanni Ribisi) and Colonel Quaritch (Stephen Lang) respectively. Long story short - too late! - the science team, using their avatar bodies, defects and joins the natives in resisting the human expansion. Sully manages to become the leader of the natives (in a manner reminiscent of the rise of Paul / Muad'ib in "Dune"), and - in a fantastically massive battle scene - manage to defeat the invading corporation.

The movie was well written. The plot unfolded nicely with enough twists and turns that it did not become predictable. Many story elements that were developed early on - such as, say, the territoriality of the native animals - played out nicely at the end.

It was hard to ignore the political message of the movie - there is no question left as to where James Cameron stands on issues like Manifest Destiny or, say, the Iraq War. But that aspect of the movie does not dominate the entire story or drag it down. Rather, it adds to the mystique of the plot and gives it a nice allegorical feeling without coming down too preachy.

This blog wouldn't be complete, though, if I didn't comment further on the 3-D experience. Seeing this movie in 3-D gave me a glimpse into the feeling my parents must have had when they first saw color television - something familiar taken to a completely different level. I didn't so much "watch" "Avatar" in 3-D, I "experienced" it. Cameron did a great job of using the 3-D technology to create a sense of realism and depth to the environment without falling into the usual 3-D traps of making something jump out at the audience.

I highly recommend seeing "Avatar" in the theatre. And, if you're already shelling out $11 to see it, I'd highly highly recommend paying the extra couple of dollars to see it in 3-D. (Unless you have a depth-perception problem, because the effects may be lost on you and you could have spent that money on overpriced candy.)