MovieChat Forums > The Terminator (1984) Discussion > The first and last good Terminator movie

The first and last good Terminator movie


The Terminator is such a fantastic movie, and in every way superior to Terminator 2.

In fact, it is probably James Cameron's last great movie.

It is original, dark and gritty. It has a great atmosphere, memorable characters, superb soundtrack (that 80's techno music/sound design is epic) and it is very well directed. A classic.


After that.... Rehashes after rehashes. Including T2, which is a complete rehash of The Terminator (with some good special effects, granted.) Just like Aliens was a complete rehash of ALIEN, with more things happening.

More isn't always better, Jim.

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I agree that The Terminator is way better than T2 (that is great but not at the same level). But Aliens was the last movie from Cameron that came close to The Terminator IMO.

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I disagree with you that Terminator 2 was bad. Frankly I only see hate for popular movie sequels on message boards like this one. Frankly Aliens is as good as Alien, Terminator 2 is as good as the first, Back to the Future 2 and 3 are as good as the first one, and True Lies is great. I frankly think people insisting T2 is a bad movie is just a troll whose soul purpose is to make as many people angry at them cause they are stinking jerks who love to make people unhappy.

Green Goblin is great! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t1L4ZuaVvaw

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T2 and Aliens were decent sequels, moved the storyline forwards and generally good movies.
The problem is because they toned the franchise down, dumbed it down and polished it up all the other sequels followed suit.

The only reason T3, TS, TG, Alien 3 and 4 are the way they are is thanks to T2 and Aliens.

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T2 is a rehash. A f#cking GREAT rehash.

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A mindblowingly f#cking GREAT rehash....





Why can't you wretched prey creatures understand that the Universe doesn't owe you anything!?

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I like T2 as much as T1 both were awesome imo i even like T3 and TS not much as the first two films but both are very good movies.TG is the only one Terminator movie that i don't like.

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How can anyone like Terminator 2: Judgment Day?

Besides the nonsensical visual gimmicks, there's NOTHING good about it.

- Arnold looks too old and not as interesting
- Arnold is a GOOD guy, which makes his 'machineness' less interesting
- The liquid metal thin guy is just boring compared to 1984 Arnold
- It's now a FAMILY flick, so nothing 'too scary' is allowed
- It has relationship drama
- It is preachy
- It destroys the original predestination paradox that encapsulates the whole story and loops it so perfectly
- It copies the original story, and adds nothing new that's interesting
- It adds LOTS of explosions and other crap that kids love
- It has bad kid actors and bad kitchen-philosophy that it dwells on
- It has a lot of misandry (the feminist speech to Miles Dyson, the 'all men are rapey perverts'-scene in the mental hospital, the whole 'Sarah considers a machine better than all men could ever be as a father' (which would never be true in real life, as fathers are psychologically very important, machine could never fulfill that role, etc.)
- It has so many boring points
- It has a lot of useless exposition
- It has Terminator doing things a machine would never do
- It has stupid one-liners and moronic jokes
- The whole juvenile 'she's not my mother, Todd'-stuff is just gringefest
- It has watered-down 4/4-version of the originally brilliant title song
- It has "Look at how ANGRY I look"-pose that a real Terminator would never do (it actually looks 'organically angry' (bad choice of words, though) in The Terminator (1984))
- It makes CRYING and TEARS a big point of the movie
- The 'liquid metal' stuff is just not believable in the way The Terminator's mechanic body is - we're suddenly in a 'fantasy world'
- The rules make no sense - it can mimic anything it touches, but how can touching a bottom of a SHOE be enough to mimic someone's looks? Why would it have to TOUCH something to mimic its looks?
- It tries to be 'cool'

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- It tries to be 'deliberately cool', and the Bar scene is just a really awful, non-scary, nonsensical 'machine wants sunglasses at night for SOME reason' -- it makes sense in The Terminator (1984), because its eye is damaged, so it can better blend in if it hides the part that reveals it to be a machine - but here, it just wants to 'look bad' or 'look cool'

- Linda Hamilton doesn't look the part anymore, she's repulsive, disgusting, ugly and old, whereas in The Terminator (1984), she was just ugly.

- The stupid music in the bar scenes, etc. doesn't have to even be mentioned

- The time of the day-stuff makes no sense - so the liquid metal stupidity arrives at night (though why is it naked, when it doesn't have to wear clothes anyway, since it has no actual skin or fabric?), takes a cop car at night, and arrives during the day, when the sun is already high up, not even very early morning? What was it doing all those hours? Just driving around for fun?

- Sarah Connor can murder a guy, but the guy dodges the bullet accidentally. Then suddenly, she can't murder that same guy anymore, although she already shot him once. What kind of sense does it make? Either she can or can't, don't try to have it both ways.

- Why would the liquid terminator even need to immediately kill? Can't it just pretend to be a cop and make some excuse to borrow the car or something? Remember, it's supposed to blend in, not murder everything in sight.

There are at least a dozen more, but I don't want to waste my whole life thinking about that garbage movie.

It adds NOTHING interesting besides the visual gimmicks, except more and bigger explosions. The 'relationship' crap you can see in every movie, why would you need it in a Terminator movie? Well, at least it doesn't really have 'romance' in it, I give it that.

I'd rather watch friggin' Terminator GENISYS again than that Edward Furlong-crap.. "Easy Money!"

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Man where did you come from? You're easily the dumbest idiot ever to grace the world with your reasons for hating T2. I think T1 is the better film but that's my opinion, for you to say T2 is garbage though well you are the very last minority to think that and your reasons are retarded beyond belief.

-Maybe in T3 but T2 he didn't look any less older, what do you have a hard on for his T1 appearance?
-It's only interesting if he's a killer cyborg, and even though he can learn emotions and become more human. Sure...idiot.
-Haha the T-1000 was one of the best villains ever in cinema.
-T1 didn't have relationship drama? Ginger and Matt's scenes, Sarah and Kyle in the motel..ok sure. Again idiot.
-No
-I will agree with this but any time travel plot movie will goof up with sequels so can't blame T2 for that.
-What was the sequel story suppose to do? It's about machines vs humans. Idiot.
-Not as bad as T3, and T1 had the tanker explosion, and a few car explosions. Did I say idiot, cause I am saying it more.
-Blah blah blah. Stop over analyzing movies like you are Dr. Phil. Idiot.
-Explain? Actually don't just stop posting.
-Blah blah blah.
-Such as?
-T1 didn't have that either..wait..
-He's a punk teen, what did you expect him to say. You complain about such stupid shit.
-So the terminator theme isn't as good so the movie sucks...I'm beginning to question how old you are.
-What? lol
-It's suppose to understand human's emotions. Sure it's cheesy but the point was to show how a killing machine can become human to some point. I don't agree with it, but that doesn't make the movie bad. Idiot.
-The terminator isn't that much believable either when you narrow it down. How would it come back to the past if nothing dead will go. The terminator has dead skin, otherwise it wouldn't have rotted, but yeah a killer cyborg in human skin is more believable. You are just such a fking idiot it's unreal.

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"The terminator isn't that much believable either when you narrow it down. How would it come back to the past if nothing dead will go."

Reese explained that in the movie. I suggest you watch it again.

"The terminator has dead skin"

Wrong. Watch the movie.

"otherwise it wouldn't have rotted"

His skin/flesh became necrotic in areas where he was injured, which can and does happen to humans and critters too. When he time traveled his flesh hadn't been injured yet.

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-This is a goof, but to question why it has to touch something to mimic them. Maybe cause it reads their dna? Just a thought.
-How was it trying to be 'cool' You are 'cool' by quoting the word like it's serious. Sigh well on to the next part of your pointless dribble. I am sure you are just a troll but if you are indeed serious then you should go kill yourself. Anyways.

-Blah blah blah
-Linda Hamilton nailed the part in the sequel, she was amazing and you are an idiot. Again.
-What was wrong with the music? You need to explain your bitching sometimes. If you want to be taken serious.
-Blah blah blah
-You have to be kidding. She couldn't kill him because she wasn't a murderer, she came to her senses. If she would have shot him the first attempt she would've broken down wishing she didn't resort to it. You are such a fucking idiot just go die in a fire.
-Sure that would make the movie more awesome. See the T-1000 ask a cop if it can take his car instead next time. Sometimes you have to defy logic to entertain the audience. I would hate to see you ever try to make your own movie.
-Please don't add anymore, all your points are so ridiculous that I think trolls have more common sense than you.
-So you'd rather watch the later sequels compared to T2. I can't even believe you like T1 given how most of the junk you bitched about is in T1. I think the lifeguard wasn't on duty at the gene pool when you were spawned. Or your mom should have swallowed you, now go back to watching your justin bieber music videos or something.

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I agree that T1 was superior for a number of reasons, chief of which for me was its central focus on Kyle Reese. In T2 we had to suffer through the daddy longings of a pre-teen douchebag constantly swiping his hair away from his eyes. That said, I respect Cameron's decision to do something different, and he did so very well with T2. Personally, T1 grabs me because of Reese's heroism and Michael Biehn's performance that had the perfect blend of vulnerability, tragedy, chivalry, and warrior bravery. I saw T1 when I was 10. Michael Biehn's realization of Reese was the model for the hero I wanted to be. When I saw Aliens a couple years later, I was happy to see Biehn pretty much channel Reese through Corporal Hicks. I always found it interesting how Cameron involved Biehn's heroic characters in romantic subplots, yet in a very understated way, with Reese/Hicks only hinting at romantic interest and waiting for his female counterpart to make the first move. I was rather disappointed when I saw The Abyss that Biehn was cast in the role of the military scoundrel, although when I grew older it made more sense that he'd want to play someone different.

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I saw both T1 and T2 when I was 8, very impressionable age, and even at that age I was not as impressed by T2 as much as by T1. 1991 film was cool for me though, because I liked technical side of it, the mood and feel, like a great pop song, and I'm sure that's the real thing that made the film as popular, not the emotional authentic side that I felt in the first film, I believe we're reaching a time collectivelly when more people start embracing the original, simply because the audience crave authenticity, and that's what is there, you can believe it is all happening, the sequels are so Hollywoodized/dramatized and far fetched that it becomes too removed from the relatable aspects of life. It was the 90's when commerciality was creeping in so much into media, The early 80's still had remnants of the 70's aesthetics and true experimental daring independent cinema, so they are a perfect reflections of what was happening. I believe Terminator 1 is the film that is bound to find most audience in the years to come, including kids and teenagers.

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I don't agree or disagree with the first statement because I view T2 as part of The Terminator. They seem like two parts of the same mini-series in my mind because they work as a whole. And I really enjoy both. But maybe I like The Terminator more...I don't know.

I def disagree that it's Cameron's last great movie because I currently still love Titanic. But that's just my taste.

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I think T2 and Aliens are both as good as the originals.

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I think they’re better. In T2, the Terminator learned how to be human, and self-sacrificing. That is HUGE character growth. Alien is just the idea of being trapped with a monster, transposed to an outer space environment. We’ve seen the idea too many times. In Aliens, we see the emergence of superhero Ellen Ripley.

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