Saturday 27 June 2009

The Terminator [1984] & Terminator 2: Judgement Day [1991]


In between the assembly line of mindless, glossy Hollywood sci-fi flicks with SFX worth millions and actual content not worth more than a dime, once in a while we get to experience movies as audacious in ideation, as thrilling in content and as terrific in execution as the first two Terminator movies (the low-budget cult Terminator and its gargantuan blockbuster sequel Terminator II – Judgement Day). With their spine-chilling tales of cyborgs sent back in time to kill (and protect) Sarah Connor who would give birth to the future leader of the resistance against world domination by robots, and the teenage video-game punk John Connor who would actually lead the struggle, respectively, the movies present terrifying, apocalyptic futures where the world is reduced to killing fields dominated by cold ruthless machines. Containing jaw-dropping special effects way ahead of their times, fantastic plots, spectacular action sequences that have become ingrained in every movie-goers’ minds, and themes that doomsday sci-fi writers have always been predicting, the movies also introduced the world to a new superstar in the form of the Austrian hunk Arnold Schwarzenegger. Linda Hamilton is especially memorable as the sexy, muscular mom striving to save her son. Dialogues like “I’ll be back” and “Hasta La Vista, Baby” are stuff that legends are made of. The fact that these two iconic James Cameron classics are still as popular among movie lovers as they were when they were released, and that they have inspired a whole generation of inferior imitations, is a testimony to their place in the pantheon of the most ground-breaking and trendsetting movies ever made.









Director: James Cameron
Genre: Action/Science Fiction
Language: English
Country: US

2 comments:

muthu said...

I love this movie---

It the one that gave an actor of such blunt quality as that of arnold-- cult status.

Shubhajit said...

Well, all I can say to that is, I too was once a huge fan of Arnold :)