Terminator (5 Stars)

Today the original Terminator film returned to the cinema, 31 years after its first release in 1984. Supposedly the film has been re-remastered for its cinema showing. What I mean is, in 2012 a remastered version of the film was released on Blu-ray for the first time. Critics praised the release as better than all previous releases on DVD and Blu-ray, but added that it wasn't perfect. It was the best that could be done with a low-budget film from the 1980's. Now, only two years later, the film has been remastered again. What did they do? I can't say. I own the 2012 version on Blu-ray, and I was watching out for improvements in the cinema today, but I couldn't see any. The problem is that on a big screen everything looks better than it does at home. I expect that the new version will be released on Blu-ray soon. First I'll wait for the experts to compare it with previous releases. If they say it's worth it I might rebuy the film myself.

The cinema was packed today. There are so many fans of this old film who still want to see it again. Of course, the special effects don't match the quality of today's films. It was made in the days before computer graphics. The robotic Terminator in the final scene is some sort of model, as is obvious from its jerky animation. The advantage is that it was partially damaged at this point in the film, so it needed to move unevenly. The fans, including me, overlooked this weakness. The strength of the film is in its powerful story. There's a love story, there's a battle to save the human race, and there are mind-bending temporal paradoxes (which are expounded upon in the second film). "Terminator" is a film that has everything needed to make it appeal to the widest possible audience.