THE TERMINATOR DVD (The Terminator (DVD))

Member Name: sharktrager

Product:	The Terminator (DVD)
Date:	22/10/01 (399 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Excellent special features

Disadvantages: None

THE TERMINATOR is one of the best science fiction movies ever made, and the DVD is one of the better quality products on the market.

The movie itself is a classic. It stars Arnold Schwarzenegger as the title character, a cyborg who has been sent back in time from the 21st century to 1984 in order to kill the mother of the saviour of the future, before she gives birth to him. He is followed by a freedom fighter, Kyle Reese, whose job it is to protect her from the evil robot.

Sarah Connor, the 'mother of the future', is played by Linda Hamilton. Although she beefed up for the role in the sequel (TERMINATOR 2 - JUDGEMENT DAY), in this, the original movie, Sarah is very much a girl-next-door character. She's young, pretty, although she does occasionally express a bit of the toughness which we would later associate with the character.

Her protector, Reese, is ably played by Michael Biehn. Reese has followed The Terminator back through time not only to save the future, but also because he is in love with Sarah - a woman who he has never met and only knows through a photograph and the stories which her (currently) unborn son would later tell about her.

The movie is one long chase, and has the viewer on the edge of his or her seat throughout. It is not simply an exploitative shoot-'em-up - indeed I see the movie as a love story reaching across time as opposed to a violent action movie, but then again maybe I'm just a romantic at heart!!

The DVD itself is great, with some excellent special features. There are deleted scenes which get us into the characters of Sarah and Reese even more, and some foreshadowing of the sequel in a couple of shots that were excised from the final sequence. There are two documentaries (both of which stem from 1991 when the sequel was being made), with all the main players being present, although I would have liked to have seen more of the Linda Hamilton interview.

There are
also scripts (which only work on a PC or MAC with a DVD-ROM drive, you can't read them in your TV) and also some wonderful art work originally created by James Cameron when he was preparing the movie.

All in all a must buy for fans of the movie.

Summary: