Friday, May 03, 2013

Why The Terminator is the greatest movie ever....

Ok, so Stephanie threw down a bit of a gauntlet yesterday with that whole Beaches fiasco. Sure the power of friendship and love and blah, blah, but really, if we were to think this through, there are other, better movies. Movies like Alien and Aliens, but for the purpose of the Beaches comparison, I'm going with the Terminator.

So here's my list

1) It is really suspenseful. Watching Linda Hamilton fight off a seemingly unkillable machine kept me on the edge of my seat through the entire movie.

2) It teaches us to be really careful about the technology we develop - killer robots seem like a bad idea.

3) It has a really touching love story. Reese was a lovely hero, respectful, resourceful and well - doomed - but while he lived, a great hero.

4) It's the best use of Arnold Schwarzenegger's acting skills ever - he plays killer robot really well

5) Great character arc of innocent, somewhat regular girl into strong, resourceful action heroine

6) Really interesting backstory woven into the current story - except the backstory is the future... let that one twist your mind for a while

7) Time travel told simply and well

8) It you take away the hairstyles and clothes, it doesn't look dated, which is pretty amazing

So there you go. I'm putting forward Terminator as a better movie than Beaches, because well beaches are great, but killer robots are better.

6 comments:

Eileen said...

Oh, Sinead, you big gooey romantic! I'm sensing the beginning of a Terminators vs. Beaches cage match here.

Stephanie Doyle said...

See Eileen - I can't even cage match because I too agree that Terminator ranks as one of the best movies evah!

I'm a contradiction... mushy gooey crying movies... and killer robots.

Maureen McGowan said...

Loving this cage match. And while I didn't hate Beaches, like Sinead, I'm going to have to agree about The Terminator.
I think it was the first movie that made me realize I could love a sci-fi action movie... Before that, I really only saw rom coms and dramas. So, really, I should credit that movie with my current career...

Maureen McGowan said...

The magic of The Terminator is that it appealed to so many people. Great sci-fi. Lots of action. But a fantastic romance. And also mind-bendingly interesting and thought provoking.

And I agree that it used Arnold's [lack of] acting skills perfectly.

Lynda Simmons said...

I'm just glad no one is fighting for some old chestnut with Fred Astaire or John Wayne in it. Trust me, if anyone suggests The Quiet Man as an example of real storytelling, just smack them for their own good. Personally, I'm with Sinead on this one. Love me some Terminator films. But my vote for the greatest movie ever would the Lord of the Rings trilogy. I know that's three movies, but who's counting? Cheers, Lynda

Molly O'Keefe said...

Killer robots are better - that's Sinead's motto for most things. Part of her decision making process. If ever given the choice between Killer Robots and ANYTHING - it's going to be killer robots

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