Ranking of Movies Seen During Summer 2015

Usually I would list my ten favorite summer movies of any particular year. However, I only watched ten new releases during the summer of 2015. Due to the limited number, I decided to rank the films that I saw: 


RANKING OF MOVIES SEEN DURING SUMMER 2015



1. "Jurassic World" - In the fourth movie for the JURASSIC PARK franchise, a new dinosaur created for the Jurassic World theme park goes amok and creates havoc. Directed by Colin Trevorrow, the movie starred Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard.





2. "Ant-Man" - Convicted thief Scott Lang is recruited to become Ant-Man for a heist in this new entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Directed by Peyton Reed, Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lily and Michael Douglas starred.





3. "The Man From U.N.C.L.E." - Guy Ritchie directed this adaptation of the 1964-1968 television series about agents for the C.I.A. and KGB working together to fight neo-Nazis in the early 1960s. Armie Hammer, Henry Cavill and Alicia Vikander starred.





4. "The Avengers: Age of Ultron" - Earth's Mightiest Heroes are forced to prevent an artificial intelligence created by Tony Stark and Bruce Banner from destroying mankind. Joss Whedon wrote and directed this second AVENGERS film.





5. "Tomorrowland" - Brad Bird directed this imaginative tale about a a former boy-genius inventor and a scientifically inclined adolescent girl's search for a special realm where ingenuity is encouraged. George Clooney, Britt Robertson and Hugh Laurie starred.





6. "Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation" - Tom Cruise starred in this fifth entry in the MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE" film franchise about Ethan Hunt's efforts to find and destroy a rogue intelligence organization engaged in terrorist activities.





7. "Mr. Holmes" - Ian McKellen starred in this adaptation of Mitch Cullin's 2005 novel about the aging Sherlock Holmes' efforts to recall his last case. Directed by Bill Condon, Laura Linney and Milo Parker co-starred.





8. "Fantastic Four" - Josh Trank directed this reboot of the Marvel comics series about four young people whose physical form is altered after they teleport to an alternate and dangerous universe. Miles Teller, Kate Mara, Michael B. Jordan and Jamie Bell starred.



 

9. "Entourage" - Doug Ellin wrote and directed this fluffy continuation of the 2004-2011 HBO series about a movie star and his group of friends dealing with a new project. Kevin Connolly, Adrian Grenier, Kevin Dillon, Jerry Ferrara and Jeremy Piven starred.





10. "Terminator: Genisys" - Alan Taylor directed this fifth movie in the TERMINATOR franchise, an unexpected turn of events creates a fractured timeline when Resistance fighter Kyle Reese goes back to 1984 in order to prevent the death of leader John Connor's mother. Arnold Schwartzenegger, Emilia Clarke, Jai Courtney and Jason Clarke starred.

Disappointing Hollywood Summer

DISAPPOINTING HOLLYWOOD SUMMER

The movie season for the summer of 2015 has been very disappointing for me. In different ways, it has been more disappointing than the summer of 2014. This disappointment stems from an observation that some of my favorite films during this summer have either bombed at the box office or have barely made a profit. 

I believe that the quality of these films have nothing to do with the box office performance. However, I also suspect that today’s moviegoers have become increasingly conservative in their tastes in movies. These movie fans tend to cling to what is familiar to them . . . especially the younger moviegoers. This is why movies like "JURASSIC WORLD", "THE AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON" and "MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE - ROGUE NATION" have been such major box office hits. Even "TERMINATOR: GENISYS" is transforming from a flop to a hit, thanks to its release in China. Are they the best this summer has to offer? I personally felt that "JURASSIC WORLD" was among my favorite films. I really enjoyed it. I also enjoyed the other two movies, but to be honest, I also found them disappointing . . . to a certain degree. I believe that the Marvel Cinematic Universe and MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE franchise are in danger of running out of steam in the near future. I believe the TERMINATOR franchise already has ran out of steam. Worse, it has become just as convoluted as the X-MEN movie franchise. And a part of me wishes that the studios will move on to something new.

Then there are the films that did not do so well. "ANT-MAN" barely did well at the box office. Personally, I found it to be one of the most unusual films released by Marvel in so many ways. But it was not one of the typical films from the Marvel Cinematic Universe. And instead of facing the unusual nature of the film, many fans accused it of being politically incorrect. I am still shaking my head over that. Both "TOMORROWLAND" and "THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E."bombed at the box office. Personally, I felt that both movies were first-rate and the types rarely seen in today's movie theaters. But moviegoers did not want to see or acknowledge an unusual film like "TOMORROWLAND". And no one was really that familiar with the old "THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E." television series. Those who were, seemed pissed off that it was not an exact copycat of the old series. And then there is "THE FANTASTIC FOUR". Granted, I do not believe it was a great film. The three scenes deleted by 20th Century-Fox Studios left the film with a rushed ending. But so many fans are so determined to label it as the "worst film of the summer". Why? I honestly do not know. But I have this uneasy feeling that fandom's racist reaction to Michael B. Jordan portraying Johnny Storm aka the Human Torch may have played a role in this ridiculously rabid insistence in labeling the movie as "the worst ever". 

Judging from the reactions of these films, I suspect that Hollywood will become less and less willing to take chances. Look at the new "STAR WARS" movie that is due to be released in December. Aside from some new characters, it almost seemed like a copy of the Original Trilogy films that were released between 1977 and 1983. The idea of something completely new seemed to be repellent to many of the franchise’s fans. Many fans are relieved that Disney and Lucas Film will not be inclined to take chances with the franchise, which is now in the latter hands. They have made it clear that they do not want Disney and Lucas Film to . . . "repeat George Lucas’ mistake" with the Prequel Trilogy. Frankly, I wish the filmmakers would take chances. One of the reasons why I loved the Prequel Trilogy so much is that Lucas took chances and offered something completely new. If Lucas Film and Disney manage to do something completely new and surprising with the franchise, I will be very surprised.

I will also be surprised if the Hollywood industry, along with movie industries from other countries, will continue to take chances in the films they release from their studios. But after what happened this summer, I doubt it very much. Pop culture is truly going to the dogs.

"TERMINATOR: GENISYS" (2015) Review

"TERMINATOR: GENISYS" (2015) Review

I have a confession to make. I am not a major fan of the "TERMINATOR" franchise. It has never been one of my favorite pop culture obsessions. In fact, I have never seen the "TERMINATOR: THE SARAH CONNOR CHRONICLES" television series, aside from two or three episodes. But I have seen all of the franchise's movies, including its most recent one - "TERMINATOR: GENISYS". 

Directed by Alan Taylor ("THOR: THE DARK WORLD"), "TERMINATOR: GENISYS" seemed to be some kind of attempt to reboot the franchise's main narrative. In other words, many fanboys believe that the 1991 film, "TERMINATOR 2: JUDGEMENT DAY" should have resolved the matter of whether Sarah and John Connor, along with the Terminator/T-800 (Model 101) cyborg, had permanently prevented Judgment Day (the date on which Skynet, an artificial intelligence general system, becomes self-aware and decides to exterminate mankind). In other words . . . there was no real need for the continuation of the franchise with 2004's "TERMINATOR: RISE OF THE MACHINE" and 2009's "TERMINATOR: SALVATION". This is due to the virulent dislike of the two movies by many fans. But what these fans had failed to take consider is that director James Cameron had failed to resolve the matter and allowed the John Connor character to exist in the 1991 movie's last reel. Producers David Ellison and Dana Goldberg must have realized this, along with screenwriters Laeta Kalogridis and Patrick Lussier. Or else there would have never been a movie like "TERMINATOR: GENISYS".

What this recent film did was pretty much reset the entire movie franchise - more or less. "TERMINATOR: GENISYS" began with Human Resistance leader John Connor launching a final offensive against Skynet in 2029. Before the Resistance can win the battle, Skynet sends a T-800 Terminator back to 1984 to kill John's mother, Sarah Connor. One of John's aides, Kyle Reese, volunteers to travel back in time to stop the Terminator and save Sarah. This sounds very familiar, does it not? Guess what? The plot is about to get tricky. While floating in the time machine magnetic field, Kyle spots another Resistance soldier attacking John. He also has visions of his younger self back in 2017.

Upon its arrival in 1984, the Skynet T-800 is disabled by Sarah and the Guardian, a reprogrammed T-800 sent back to protect her when she was nine years old. Kyle eventually arrives and is immediately attacked by a T-1000. Kyle, along with Sarah and the Guardian, destroy the T-1000 using acid. Sarah and the Guardian also reveal they have constructed a makeshift time machine similar to the one constructed by Skynet. Sarah plans to travel forward to 1997 – allegedly, the year Skynet becomes self-aware. Realizing the timeline has been altered, Kyle is convinced that the future has changed due to the warning he had received in his vision. He persuades Sarah to travel to 2017 with him in order to stop Skynet. But in that year, a surprise awaits the trio in the form of John Connor, who had been transformed into a Terminator by the physical embodiment of Skynet, the Resistance solider who had attacked him during Kyle's journey to the past.

I did like "TERMINATOR: GENISYS". Honestly, I did. But if I must be brutally frank, the movie's producers should have dragged the screenwriters out of bed and shot them for creating such a mucked up screenplay. I have not seen this many plot holes in a movie since 2009's "STAR TREK". It was a mess. First of all, Kalogridis and Lussier arrogantly ignored "TERMINATOR 3: RISE OF THE MACHINES" by originally stating that Judgment Day happened in 1997. It was supposed to happen two years after the setting for the second film (1995), but Sarah, John and the first Terminator guardian prevented this from happening in"TERMINATOR 2: JUDGMENT DAY". The screenwriters forgot this. They also forgot or ignored that Judgment Day actually happened in 2004. They also decided to ignore the fact that John was married to Kate Brewster by 2029. She was no where to be found. Although Kyle Reese originally did travel from 2029, the Resistance did not launch its final offensive against Skynet until 2032. And as a slap in the face against the fourth film, "TERMINATOR: SALVATION", the movie featured Kyle Reese as a boy between the ages of 10 to 13 or 14. In the 2009 film, Kyle was in his late teens - probably 17 years old . . . in 2018. I can only assume that the screenwriters (and possibly the producers) wanted to ignore what happened in the third and fourth films. And yet . . . they managed to ignore what happened at the end of the "highly acclaimed" second film, as well. To make matters even more confusing, John Connor was sporting a scar that he had acquired from a Terminator . . . in "TERMINATOR: SALVATION". Go figure.

Another matter in the script that I found confusing was the vision that Kyle had received from his childhood. How did he know that the warning about Genisys had something to do with Skynet . . . or that Genisys was the beginning form of Skynet? How did he know that they had to go back to the year 2017? To that exact year? And there is the matter of "the Guardian". I am speaking of the original Terminator T-800 who had been sent back to the 1970s to save and protect a very young Sarah Connor. This happens to be one of the movie's major plot twists, since it never happened in any of the previous four films. The problem is that the movie never revealed who had sent the T-800 back to the 1970s. And how did Sarah spend the rest of her childhood, being raised by an emotionless (back then) cyborg? This movie opened a new can of worms that demanded its own movie. 

In "TERMINATOR 2", the Myles Dyson character (creator of Skynet) was killed by members of a SWAT team in 1995, while he and the Connors were breaking into Cyberdyne. If Sarah and Kyle's time jump erased the events of "TERMINATOR 2", this would explain Miles Dyson's appearance in this film. Frankly, I wish he had stayed dead, because Courtney B. Vance, who portrayed Dyson, was literally wasted in this film. And the movie allowed Dyson's son Danny, who was portrayed by Dayo Okeniyi, to be the force behind Genisys. And if this time jump allowed Dyson to remain alive, it probably erased the events of the 2004 and 2009 movies . . . along with the events of the second half of "THE TERMINATOR". Which means . . . John Connor should have ceased to exist by the second half of "TERMINATOR: GENISYS". Some fans claim that John's father was the guy Sarah had been dating before she met Kyle in the 1984 movie. But . . . considering the change of events (namely Sarah spending the rest of her childhood, adolescence and early adulthood with the Guardian), I guess that never happened. And since she and Kyle time jumped before they could conceive John in that motel room . . . why did he still exist in the movie's second half?

By this time, one might be wondering why I liked this movie in the first place. Because I do like it. "TERMINATOR: GENISYS" was filled with some memorable moments. I could not help but smile at the re-creation of Kyle's journey from the early 21st century to 1984. I also found the details surrounding Sarah and Kyle's journey to 2017 also amusing. In the TERMINATOR universe, one has to strip naked before making a time jump. Watching Sarah and Kyle squirm with discomfort as they strip and prepare for their time jump, was quite enjoyable to watch. It seemed very obvious they were attracted to each other, yet seemed bent upon denying their attraction. This attraction between Sarah and Kyle proved to be one of my favorite aspects of "TERMINATOR: GENISYS". In fact, I found the interactions between Emilia Clarke and Jai Courtney more fun to watch than those between Linda Hamilton and Michael Biehn, who portrayed the same roles in the first film. It struck me as emotionally more complex and heated. And when the Guardian's character was thrown into the mix, the relationship between all three made this film very bearable and at times, rather fun. This was especially due to a surprisingly lively performance by Arnold Schwarzenegger. I might as well be frank. For me, the movie's highlight proved to be the relationship between the Guardian, Sarah Connor and Kyle Reese.

However, "TERMINATOR: GENISYS" had its share of some first-rate action sequences. I thought Alan Taylor did a well done re-creation of Kyle's original jump back into time. This became even more effective when the re-creation took a left turn with the appearance of a more militant Sarah and the Guardian. I also enjoyed the trio's encounter with the T-1000 (in the form of actor Lee Byung-hun) in 1984. And dealing with both the San Francisco Police in 2017 and the Terminator T-3000 (especially on the Golden Gate Bridge) proved to be quite exhilarating to watch.

I might as well be frank. "TERMINATOR: GENISYS" is not a perfect movie. I would not even regard it as a decent movie. It had too many plot holes for me to be comfortable with. And the movie struck me as an extremely clumsy way to reboot the franchise. As far as I am concerned the producers and screenwriters should have continued the franchise's narrative from where "TERMINATOR: SALVATION" left off. But thanks to some action sequences well shot by director Alan Taylor and the dynamic screen chemistry between Arnold Schwarzenegger, Emilia Clarke and Jai Courtney; I still managed to enjoy the film. Go figure.

"TERMINATOR GENISYS" (2015) Photo Gallery

Below are images from "TERMINATOR GENISYS", the fifth entry for the TERMINATOR franchise. Directed by Alan Taylor, the movie starred Arnold Schwarzenegger, Emilia Clarke, Jai Courtney and Jason Clarke: 


"TERMINATOR GENISYS" (2015) Photo Gallery

"TERMINATOR 3: RISE OF THE MACHINES" (2003) Review

"TERMINATOR 3: RISE OF THE MACHINES" (2003) Review

There are times when it seems to me that the third entry in the "TERMINATOR" franchise is regarded as nothing more than an afterthought with the fans. Whereas the first two movies are regarded as masterpieces and the fourth movie is regarded as a showpiece for actor Sam Worthington and the scene for star Christian Bale’s behind-the-camera rant. 

"TERMINATOR 3: RISE OF THE MACHINES" is set at least a decade after the events of the 1991 movie. John Connor, now a young man around twenty, has been off the grid for a few years, drifting from one area to another, while taking on the occasional odd job. Because of this, Skynet – the self-aware, artificially intelligent system that became humanity’s enemy – has been unable to locate him during this time period. Instead, Skynet focuses its attention upon John’s future lieutenants, including a young veterinarian assistant named Kate Brewster. Skynet sends a more sophisticated cyborg assassin named T-X back to the early 21st century to kill Kate and John’s other lieutenants. Unbeknownst to Skynet, the Resistance sends back another reprogrammed T-850 Terminator cyborg to the same era to assist John and Katherine . . . and keep them alive.

”TERMINATOR 3: RISE OF THE MACHINES” pretty much followed the same formula that dominated the first two films. In all three movies, Skynet sends a cyborg back to the past to prevent John Connor from becoming the Resistance’s future leader. And in the second and third movies, the Resistance sends a reprogrammed cyborg to save John. But there are some minor differences in this third film. One, ”TERMINATOR 3” marked the first time that James Cameron did not participate in the production of one of the franchise’s film. And two, this movie also marked the first time that Sarah Connor was not a major character. Due to Cameron’s lack of participation in the film and because Jonathan Mostow was hired to direct, ”TERMINATOR 3” has not been highly regarded by film critics and moviegoers alike. In fact, this movie did a lot better overseas than it did in the U.S.

I can see how this film had acquired such a lackluster reputation after viewing the movie’s first fifteen to twenty minutes. The movie’s early period seemed filled with scenes that struck me as sophomoric and cheap. John Connor struck me as a melancholic slacker for whom I found difficult to harbor any symphathy, let alone interest. The arrivals of both the T-850 and the T-X came off as rather silly. The T-850 arrived at a stripper bar for women, where he stole some clothes from an effeminate male stripper. And after killing a woman and stealing her clothes and car, the T-X encountered a cop and resorted to inflating her cleavage in order to distract him. Mind you, the scene featuring the T-850 at the stripper bar struck me as mildly amusing. But I was not amused by watching the T-X inflate her bust in order to vamp a cop. It was ridiculous and slightly insulting. After saving Kate from the T-X, the T-850 and John get involved in an over-the-top car chase that featured a loud and aggressive truck driver that struck me as more obnoxious than funny. However, once the car chase ended, Mostow’s direction, along with John Brancato and Michael Ferris’s screenplay, elevated ”TERMINATOR 3” into something truly worthwhile.

The T-850 led both John and Sarah to a cemetery, where they found a cache of weapons that had been stored by Sarah Connor. Audiences also learned that poor Sarah had contracted leukemia before succumbing rather quickly. The T-850 also revealed that Judgment Day – originally thought to commence on August 29, 1997 – was scheduled to begin within a few hours (on July 24, 2004). Apparently, the U.S. Air Force took control of Cyberdyne Systems and the Skynet project, following the events in ”TERMINATOR 2: JUDGMENT DAY”. And the Skynet project is being headed by Kate's father, Lieutenant General Robert Brewster. Not only did the cast’s performance improved greatly following the movie’s Act I, the movie’s plot acquired a sense of both urgency and pathos, as John, Kate and T-850 raced to prevent Judgment Day. Their efforts led to an exciting, yet horrifying bloodbath initiated by the T-X at Cyberdyne System’s new location, and a few tragic moments that allowed ”TERMINATOR 3” to have the best – in my opinion – ending in the entire franchise.

Arnold Schwarzenegger returned to portray the new T-850 cyborg sent to protect John Connor and Kate Brewster. I was amazed to see that he managed to create a second new twist on the T-850 character. In ”THE TERMINATOR”, his cyborg was nothing more than a relentless killing machine. In the 1991 movie, his T-850 seemed childishly thrilled by the slang and rituals taught to him by a young John Connor. But his T-850 in ”TERMINATOR 3” is not the same being that John knew as a boy. Schwarzenegger’s T-850 is a no-nonsense mentor who is exasperated by John and Kate’s unwillingness to consider the possibility that there are some events in time that one cannot change. I had feared that this new T-850 would be a rehash of the one featured in ”TERMINATOR 2” and was happily surprised that it did not.

As I had stated earlier in this review, I was not impressed by the early portrayal of John Connor in this movie. I could blame actor Nick Stahl, but I now realize that the lackluster quality of the character is not his fault. He was simply doing his job and portraying John as the script demanded. I understand John’s mental ennui, considering his situation. But it bored me. Thankfully, the revelation of a possible new Judgment Day lit a fire under John and Stahl did a superb job in infusing all of the fire and desperation into his character. And by the end of the film, he gave what I believe was possible the finest moment in the entire movie - let alone in the entire franchise - when his character learned a powerful lesson. I am also grateful that Stahl managed to create a strong screen chemistry with Claire Danes. The latter portrayed Kate Brewster, the feisty veterinarian assistant, who finds herself swept up the chaos caused by the two time traveling cyborgs and the threat to humanity’s future. She was very skillful in conveying Kate’s outrage and confusion over the events that threatened to overtake her. At one point in the film, John compared Kate to his late mother. Personally, I never saw the resemblance. Although Kate seemed as strong-willed as Sarah Connor, I got the impression that she was a different character altogether. Although emotional, Danes’ Kate seemed more level-headed . . . and a lot saner.

There were other performances that impressed me. It was nice to see Earl Boen again, who reprised his role as the criminal psychologist, Dr. Peter Silberman, for the second time. He had a rather nice scene in which his Dr. Silberman tried to comfort Kate after she has witnessed the acts of the T-X. And for once, he seemed to consider that what he had witnessed in the past might be real. Dave Andrews gave a solid performance as Lieutenant General Robert Brewster, Kate’s father. Thanks to Andrews’ performance, one could see from whom Kate had inherited her level-headed personality. And he also managed to skillfully convey a sense of horror over the implications of Skynet’s threat to humanity. I have noticed that the more dangerous the cyborg in this franchise, the smaller it seemed to be. The cyborgs have ranged from the tall and hulking body-builder Schwartzenegger, to the slim and athletic looking Robert Patrick in the second film, to the very feminine Kristanna Loken. And thanks to her performance, Loken managed to convey all of the menace and danger of a relentless killer with very few lines, just as effectively as Schwartzenegger and Patrick before her.

I realize that ”TERMINATOR 3: RISE OF THE MACHINES” will never overcome its low reputation with many film critics and movie fans. All one has to do is watch the first fifteen to twenty mintues and be tempted to watch another movie . . . or walk out of the movie theater. I know I was tempted to do the latter, when I first saw this film. But once”TERMINATOR 3” got past that silly nonsense; it turned out to be an exciting movie with an ending filled with a level of pathos that the other three movies never reached. In the end, I believe it was worthwhile.

"TERMINATOR 3: RISE OF THE MACHINES" (2003) Photo Gallery

Below are images from the 2004 movie, "TERMINATOR 3: RISE OF THE MACHINES", the third entry in the TERMINATORfranchise. Directed by Jonathan Mostow, the movie starred Arnold Schwarzenegger, Nick Stahl, Claire Danes and Kristanna Loken: 


"TERMINATOR 3: RISE OF THE MACHINES" (2003) Photo Gallery

"THE TERMINATOR" (1984) Review

”THE TERMINATOR” (1984) Review

Back in 1984, director James Cameron and his fellow co-writers, Gale Anne Hurd and William Wisher Jr., created a science-fiction thriller about a time traveling cyborg assassin in a movie called ”THE TERMINATOR”. Starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Michael Biehn, Linda Hamilton, Lance Henriksen and Paul Winfield. The movie not only spawned three movie sequels within the next quarter-of-a-century, but also a television series and video games.

The story began in post-apocalypse world of 2029 where artificially intelligent machines controlled by a computer system called Skynet are bent upon the extermination of the human race. Two beings from this era are sent back to 1984 – a ”Terminator” or a cyborg assassin (Schwarzenegger) programmed to kill a young woman named Sarah Connor (Hamilton); and a human resistance fighter named Kyle Reese (Biehn) charged with protecting her. Sarah happened to be the future mother of the human resistance leader named John Connor. After the Terminator killed two women with the same name as hers, Sarah came to the conclusion that she might be next on the list of some serial killer. Both the Terminator and Kyle manage to track her to a West Los Angeles nightclub, where Kyle manages to save her from being killed by the cyborg. He eventually told Sarah the truth about her destiny and the reason behind the Terminator’s hunt for her.

What can I say about ”THE TERMINATOR”? That it is a first-rate science-fiction thriller that has every right to be considered a Hollywood classic? Well . . . yes. It is. For a movie that has a running time of 103 minutes, it is filled with action, pathos, romance, horror and history. Director James Cameron has stated that ”THE TERMINATOR” was inspired by two episodes from the 1960s television science fiction series, ”THE OUTER LIMITS” – "Soldier" and "Demon with a Glass Hand" – both written by science fiction author Harlan Ellison. Cameron, Hurd and Wisher did such a great job with their story that Ellison threatened to sue them for plagiarism. The movie’s production company and distributor, Hemdale Film Corporation and Orion Pictures, gave him an "acknowledgement to the works of" credit on video and cable releases of ”THE TERMINATOR”, as well as a cash settlement of an undisclosed amount.

The movie also boasts some pretty good dark humor – especially in scenes featuring the two Los Angeles detectives (Winfield and Henriksen) determined to save Sarah’s life; and the criminal psychiatrist (Earl Boen), who manages to avoid the carnage at the police station where Sarah and Kyle were taken after their arrest. I also enjoyed some of the action sequences that were well staged by Cameron – Sarah and Kyle’s attempts to escape from both the police and the Terminator on the streets of Los Angeles, the cyborg’s attack upon the police station, its murder of Sarah’s roommate Ginger and the latter’s boyfriend; and the Terminator’s last confrontation with Sarah and Kyle. But my favorite scene featured the Terminator’s attempt to kill Sarah at Technoir, the West Los Angeles nightclub, and Kyle’s rescue. Not only did it bring back memories of the 1980s for me, I thought it was well staged and acted, despite very little dialogue. The entire sequence was enhanced by the Tahnee Cain & Tryanglz song, ”"Burnin' in the Third Degree".

As much as I enjoyed ”THE TERMINATOR”, I had some problems with it. One problem I had were the Los Angeles location sites in the movie. I realize that Cameron did not have a large budget for the film. But did he have to shoot nearly every scene in the eastern half of downtown Los Angeles? Aside from a residential street, the exterior of Sarah’s West Los Angeles apartment, the location where the Terminator meets the three thugs (that include Cameron favorite, Bill Paxton) and the street outside of the Technoir nightclub, just about all of the exterior scenes were shot in the scummy part of downtown L.A. He even used that particular area to serve as West Los Angeles. And how on earth could Sarah Connor, who was a waitress, afford to live in a slightly upscale West L.A. apartment building? The only excuse I have is that her roommate Ginger Ventura (Bess Motta) had wealthy parents. And where did Sarah and Kyle go after their escape from the carnage at the police station? It looked as if they were leaving Los Angeles. Yet, when the Terminator managed to track them down to a motel, it looked as if they had returned to downtown Los Angeles. One last problem I had was – and I cannot believe I am saying this - the character of Kyle Reese. He seemed to have lost any common sense whatsoever, while being held by the police. Instead of keeping his mouth shut or spinning a lie about how he came to Sarah’s rescue from a killer at the Technoir, he tried to warn the cops about the Terminator and the future apocalypse . . . as if they could do anything about it. I can only assume that the last 24 hours and time travel had affected his brain patterns. Because I found his attempt to warn the cops rather stupid.

Arnold Schwarzenegger led the cast as the cybernetic killer, the Terminator. What did I think of his performance? Hmmm . . . by only saying a few words, he managed to convey the image of a ruthless and efficient killer. Otherwise, I found nothing spectacular about his performance. Michael Biehn was intense as the time traveling Resistance fighter, Kyle Reese. There were moments when he threatened to sail into the waters of hammy acting – his scenes at the police station are prime examples – but I thought he gave a first rate performance. I was really impressed by Linda Hamilton’s portrayal of Sarah Connor, the mother of future Resistance leader, John Connor. She managed to skillfully develop the role of Sarah from a slightly mild-mannered and girlish young Californian to a tough and wiser woman determined to survive the future for the sake of her unborn son. Earl Boen – who will end up appearing the next two movies – gave a snide and funny performance as police psychologist, Dr. Peter Silberman, who abandoned all semblance of delicacy to express his belief of Kyle’s lunacy. And both Paul Winfield and Lance Henriksen made a funny and sarcastic screen team as Ed Traxler and Hal Vukovich, the two L.A.P.D. detectives who traded insulting barbs, while trying their best to protect Sarah from being killed.

”THE TERMINATOR” is considered one of the best science-fiction movies of all time and among the two best films in the franchise. Do I believe that it deserved this kind of accolade? Well, it is one of my two favorite TERMINATOR films. As for it being one of the best science-fiction movies ever made . . . no. Not quite in my book. I do believe that it is one of the best movies that feature the topic of time travel. In the end, ”THE TERMINATOR” is an entertaining and original film that I never get tired of watching. Kudos to James Cameron for kick-starting a well-made franchise.