Terminator: Impact of a Legend.

One weekend when I was 4 years old I went over my dad’s house for the weekend and he rented this movie I had never seen called before called Terminator 2: Judgement Day.

After first watching this film I was in awe and it was unlike anything I had ever seen. As a four year old boy I was captivated by the story of John Connor and the performance of Arnold Schwarzenegger. I didn’t realize at the time that the first Terminator film I ever saw was the second film in the series. It would be a while before my dad went back and showed me the original Terminator from 1984 Like many other movie buffs, I was and still am very in love with this film and it is hands down one of the top biggest inspirations for my passion to be a filmmaker.

The story of the Terminator series is centered around the journey of John Connor, a would be future leader who is targeted both before birth and during childhood by cybernetically engineered machines from the future who are sent back in time to kill him before he can lead the world resistance against them in the future. Throughout the first two films in the series we watch John Connor’s mother Sarah fight to stay alive before his birth as well as keep him alive during his adolescence from two series of cyborgs. During John and Sarah’s journey for survival and preservation of the future, the audience gets to see a solid examination of human nature and its consequences, that of which leads to a destructive future and the main characters are forced to take a second look at themselves to see what they can do to prevent their impending fate. Though this makes for a great storytelling angle, this is also a real life examination we can make in the real world when thinking about our choices and the effects they will have on not only us, but the rest of the world as well.

Following a great and complex sense of story, Terminator also shined very bright due to its style and action all led by central Terminator character, T-800 model 101, portrayed by Arnold Schwarzenegger. When thinking about the concept of the “action hero” archetype of film in the 70’s, 80’s, and 90’s, Terminator’s T-101 is among the best and most memorable. Between his stern solid attitude, cool tough-guy sense of fashion, a back-handed humorous undertone, as well as considerable heartfelt emotion, Arnold Schwarzenegger’s performance of the central Terminator antagonist/protagonist is definitely what gives the series its flare. That form of flare has been displayed by Schwarzenegger in other hit roles such as Conan the Barbarian, Predator and True Lies.

When retraced and examined closely, one can say that Terminator says a lot about what it means to be a strong and loving mother. Sarah Connor exemplifies this with her fierce protection of her son before his birth, during his childhood, and after her death once he is left to defend himself without her. While one of the biggest film debates in the current generation is what it means to be a strong female character, Sarah Connor was one of the earliest female action heroes to be a defining strong female lead 38 years ago.

When I first became obsessed with Terminator as a kid I would run around my dad’s house acting like my baseball bat that he gave me as a kid was a shotgun and I was T-101 from the movie. I also used to run around like Terminator 2 antagonist, T-1000 and have my dad and uncle laughing to no end while I imitated the characters of this series. Growing up in the years to come I realized how much Terminator inspired me to want to be a filmmaker and that inspiration still lives in me to this day.

In the 38 years since it’s initial release, the Terminator films have not only become landmark films with their great sense of storytelling, highly stylized action sequences and evolutionary special effects, but they have also become a part of the American consciousness. With the bar of genius that it has set for action and Sci-fi films, the impact of the Terminator films will certainly live on forever.