Come With Me If You Want To Live

The eternal question; what's the best film...the original or the sequel? It's a question that troubles several franchises including The Godfather, Toy Story, Mad Max, Alien and The Evil Dead movies. I've constantly grappled with that question regarding James Cameron's first two Terminator movies. So with T4 harbouring into view, I'd thought I'd revisit the dilemma.

1984's The Terminator has an advantage as it gets to showcase one of the best fictional universes commited to film. Taking a lead from 1970's Collosus: The Forbin Project, it presents a future where Artificial Intelligence has taken over Strategic Missile Command. It take it one step further and sets off the bomb, destroying most of humanity, leaving a parade of robots to make mankind extinct. Cleverly, it makes this projected future the story's past by introducing a time travel element. This not only deepens the story but allows hero, Kyle Reese, to emotionally relive his past (our future). With this as an intriguing foundation, the primary chase story is built; an unstoppable machine intent on killing the mother of it's (eventual) nemesis.

James Cameron knows how to pace his movie, keeping the tension building as both Reese and the Terminator race to find their objective, Sarah Connor. From then on the action sequences keep coming thick and fast. Even at this early stage in his career, Cameron is confident in the staging of his action, building from simple foot chases to full-on endo-skeleton smackdowns in the finale.

Arnie is perfectly cast as the emotionless Terminator, his Mr Universe winning frame simply conveying the sheer power the cyborb posesses. Biehn is a solid lead, mixing vulnerability in with his humourless, battle-hardened commando persona. It's Linda Hamilton that excells her transforming Sarah from a girlie, fragile waitress to a determined, responsible fighter.

There are 3 things that really set this apart from it's 1991 sequel.
1/ The budget. Surprisingly, the ultra-low budget didn't restrict Cameron's imagination. But it does rear it's ugly head in some of the FX sequences. The future scenes are carried off really well, but it's the later stop-motion, endo-skeleton scraps that aren't all too hot (even though they remain convincing).
2/ The tone. The Terminator has a much darker, grittier and more dangerous feel than it's predecessor. Perhaps because of a lack of budget, the film has a more intimate, grainer feel (down to the size and type of film stock used). In addition, Brad Fidel's score is more pronounced and bombastic, shadowing Arnie's greater physical threat.
3/ The story. It's original (well, unless you've seen The Outer Limits episode it's based on), it's simply told, is efficient and fun.

There's no denying the brilliance of this film. It's main flaw is also one of it's greatest assets; the budget. Because there was no money to spend, the film lacks scale and looks a little dark and dirty. But that very style gives the movie an edgey quality that makes the sequel a little tamer in comparison.

At the end of the day, it's a matter of taste. When Arthur C Clarke was asked what the best science fiction movie of the 1980's, surprisingly he didn't proclaim it was his own 2010... but you know what. Clever bloke, that Mr Clarke.