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The Terminator

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definitely one of the greatest films of all time
where Arnold Schwarzenegger plays a robot sent back from the future to assassinate people
 
It's like a sci-fi, horror, and romance film all in one. Haunting ending.

And the atmosphere -

night time, dark, dirty sinks, broken glass, neon lights, dance clubs, 1980s synthesizers, streets, leather


Wilbur said:
This and T2 are both bona fide classics.
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T2 is good but I think the original, especially as a stand-alone film, blows T2 away.
 
CadetMahoney said:
I think it's a tad overhyped and hasn't aged well.
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getout.gif


Sorry, I wanted to use this gif for a while. :/
 
Holy shit, dat timing. I just started to listen to the T1 theme then saw this thread.

For the longest time I was in the T2 > T1 crowd but after seeing T1 recently I think I might feel different. T1 feels so much bleaker and hopeless. Human's vs Terminator is so much more tense than Terminator vs Better Terminator.

The T1 theme is a lot simpler and sadder as well.

Both are incredible.
 
Brian Griffin said:
Holy shit, dat timing. I just started to listen to the T1 theme then saw this thread.

For the longest time I was in the T2 > T1 crowd but after seeing T1 recently I think I might feel different. T1 feels so much bleaker and hopeless. Human's vs Terminator is so much more tense than Terminator vs Better Terminator.

The T1 theme is a lot simpler and sadder as well.

Both are incredible.
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That's why I prefer T1 and honestly I can't stand the kid turning Arnie into a pussy.
 
Endo Punk said:
That's why I prefer T1 and honestly I can't stand the kid turning Arnie into a pussy.
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Because he doesn't want him to murder innocent people who get in their way? Even if you don't care about the people, NOT killing them would be a better strategy considering they want to keep as low of a profile as possible.
 
I'm happy to see others who dig The Terminator more than T2 in this thread.

I just like the horror/sci-fi combo more.
 
Brian Griffin said:
Holy shit, dat timing. I just started to listen to the T1 theme then saw this thread.

For the longest time I was in the T2 > T1 crowd but after seeing T1 recently I think I might feel different. T1 feels so much bleaker and hopeless. Human's vs Terminator is so much more tense than Terminator vs Better Terminator.

The T1 theme is a lot simpler and sadder as well.

Both are incredible.
Click to expand...

T1 is a better thriller, T2 is a better action movie. I prefer the first for how stylish it is and for that constant, escalating tension. Cameron did a remarkable amount of world building in a pretty economical narrative.

It had the better theme, as well.
 
Put me in the camp that likes T1 more than T2. The second film has some obviously classic moments, a lot of them having to do with the effects, but as others have said - T1 for me was just a more interesting film. It's got an 80's grit and grime to it that I appreciate.
 
I undeniably like T2 more, but I love T1 and its sci-fi/horror tone. T2 was an action blockbuster through and through, but T1 is just something completely different from almost anything out there.

Listening to the vid you linked as I type this.

*Sheds tear, pours one out for Kyle Reese*
 
I actually think I saw this movie far too young (my parents used to let me watch all kinds of R rated movies when I was like 6) and it's formed some sort of lasting haunting impression on me. Kyle Reese's death is a trauma from which I still have yet to recover.
 
The scenes with the kid I didn't care for but otherwise I did enjoy T2, just prefer T1 because of its bleakness and the idea of going up against a machine especially one looked as intimidating as Arnold in that film.
 
PinkCrayon said:
ibwrntukSlrvWW.gif


What a pussy.
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This movie is so weird. That gif above my first post, every Eddie Furlong scene, the thumbs up, I know now why you cry... I seriously can't believe something as awesome as T1 spawned that shit.

Then there's phenomenal stuff like your gif... it's like the best action movie ever accidentally got spliced with some stupid teen sci-fi or something
 
RELAYER said:
It's like a sci-fi, horror, and romance film all in one. Haunting ending.

And the atmosphere -

night time, dark, dirty sinks, broken glass, neon lights, dance clubs, 1980s synthesizers, streets, leather




T2 is good but I think the original, especially as a stand-alone film, blows T2 away.
Click to expand...

This post is perfect.
 
For me, T1=T2.

They're both amazing films that both excel at their genre, with the first being more of a horror/thriller and the second being a great action movie with real characters to give a damn about. How about that.
 
RELAYER said:
It's like a sci-fi, horror, and romance film all in one. Haunting ending.

And the atmosphere -

night time, dark, dirty sinks, broken glass, neon lights, dance clubs, 1980s synthesizers, streets, leather




T2 is good but I think the original, especially as a stand-alone film, blows T2 away.
Click to expand...

Agree completely. Terminator is like the Taxi Driver of Sci Fi films in the way that it made our familiar world look nightmarish and completely indifferent to human suffering.

The only thing I would add (and I was there as James Murphy says) would be to emphasize that the fear of Nuclear War was very real even in my 12 year old mind at the time, which made the post-apocalyptic scenes legitimately disturbing and not as cliched as they may seem nowadays.
 
Great movie. I watched it for the "first" time (watched once when I was 8, same thing with T2), this year. It absolutely holds up.
 
Bulk_Rate said:
Agree completely. Terminator is like the Taxi Driver of Sci Fi films in the way that it made our familiar world look nightmarish and completely indifferent to human suffering.
Click to expand...

I was trying to find a way to put it and that's pretty good.
There's something about the way Kyle and Sara are being stalked in the city at night that feels so desolate and alien, even though in theory there are other people and help everywhere.

And then at the end when Kyle and the machine are dead, Sara is left alone for the first time in the film, and even though the machine is dead, the sense of horror is still there and perhaps even stronger than before.
 
TakeItSlowDude said:
Great movie, but this scene always looks cheap.

terminator-eye-surgery-arnold-schwarznegger1.jpg
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couldnt be helped, although i actually think the hallway shootout at Cyberdyne in T2 with the Arnold mannequin looks even worse. the scene called for it to be moving toward the camera and they ABSOLUTELY COULD NOT make it look like it wasnt anything but a muppet being held by some dude offscreen.
 
GhaleonEB said:
T1 is a better thriller, T2 is a better action movie. I prefer the first for how stylish it is and for that constant, escalating tension. Cameron did a remarkable amount of world building in a pretty economical narrative.

It had the better theme, as well.
Click to expand...

Yeah, two different types of movies but both great.

T3 on the hand... well it's better than Terminator Salvation. Not sure what that's worth.
 
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