RIMC's Directorial Retrospective Series: James Cameron - Part 1 (Pre-Titanic)

 

(This retrospective is dedicated to the memory of James Cameron’s longtime producer Jon Landau (1960-2024))

In the film industry, there aren’t a lot of filmmakers who have a legacy as considerably vast as James Cameron’s. Case in point, at the time of this post’s publication, Cameron is responsible for three of the top 5 highest-grossing films of all time, and apart from a brief period where Avengers: Endgame overtook the top spot in 2019, a James Cameron film has been known for being the highest-grossing film of all-time for nearly the past three decades. Since 2009, that honor has gone to his ambitious sci-fi epic Avatar, and in 2022, 13 years after the original’s release, Cameron finally brought audiences back into the world of Pandora with Avatar: The Way of Water, a film that defied the odds to become just as critically and commercially successful as its predecessor. However, this was only the beginning of Cameron’s plans to continue the story of the Na’vi as he also has three more Avatar films in the works; the third, recently confirmed to be titled Avatar: Fire and Ash, was filmed in conjunction with The Way of Water and is being primed for a December 2025 release while production is currently underway on the fourth film, set for a December 2029 release. But as we begin the process of waiting for our third trip to the world of Pandora, it’s time to reflect upon the career of one of the most well-known directors in the industry. Yes, folks, it’s time for another edition of what has, admittedly, been a long-dormant series here on Rhode Island Movie Corner, the Directorial Retrospectives, where I take as complete a look as I can at any given director’s filmography. However, just like the Michael Bay retrospective that I did several years ago, this one will ultimately be much more than just a single post. Given the cultural impact of his last three directorial efforts, which have each grossed over $2 billion at the box office, I decided that it’d only be fitting to give both Titanic and the first two Avatar films their own full-length reviews. And so, without further ado, it’s time to see why today’s director can quite arguably call himself ‘the king of the world’ as we look back upon the pre-1997 filmography of the one and only James Cameron.

PIRANHA II: THE SPAWNING (1982)

James Cameron primarily got his start in the industry working in the visual effects department on films produced by Roger Corman, the legendary B-movie producer who also helped launch the careers of other filmmakers such as Ron Howard, Francis Ford Coppola, and Martin Scorsese. And in 1982, Cameron made his official feature-length directorial debut with the sequel to Corman’s studio New World Pictures’ 1978 release Piranha, which was one of the early works of another Corman protégé, Joe Dante. However, Corman was not involved with the sequel which, by all accounts, was an incredibly rough production for a first-time director like Cameron. For starters, due in large part to the production’s limited budget, the bulk of the film’s crew consisted of non-English speaking Italians; however, at the very least, they had enough experience in the horror genre to deliver what Cameron was looking for. Ultimately, Cameron’s biggest hurdle on the project was his frequent arguments with executive producer Ovidio G. Assonitis over the direction he was taking the film in. As a result, it’s been widely reported that Assonitis ended up firing Cameron after just two weeks and filmed the rest of it himself, though, admittedly, this has been debated over the years. Nevertheless, it’s also been reported that Cameron was forbidden from partaking in the film’s post-production process (to the point where he even broke into where the film was being edited in Rome to work on it before he got caught), thus resulting in a unique situation where there are technically two publicly available cuts of this film. Given everything that I just noted about its hectic post-production process, the widely released cut of the film that can currently be found on Blu-Ray is, by all accounts, the one that Assonitis was directly in charge of. However, Cameron did end up getting the opportunity to release his own cut of the film thanks to a distribution deal that he made with Embassy Home Entertainment. This version of the film is about ten minutes shorter but, at the time of this post’s publication, is only commercially available on the outdated video formats of VHS and Laserdisc.

(FULL DISCLOSURE: Now, despite what I just said about Cameron’s cut not having been released in years and, thus, only being available on older video formats, both versions of this film can currently be found on YouTube. For today’s retrospective (and since I’m sure James Cameron wouldn’t mind it all that much since he doesn’t bring this film up in conversation all that often (and really, can you blame him?)), I watched Ovidio G. Assonitis’ cut due to its better video quality. For those who are curious, some of the biggest differences between the two cuts include Cameron’s cut lacking scenes of nudity (which, by most accounts, was something that Cameron wasn’t involved with) and including a unique visual style that, like what Steven Spielberg did with the shark in Jaws, represents POV shots from the perspective of the piranhas.)

Really, though, all the crazy things that happened during this film’s production are ultimately more interesting to talk about than the film itself. Yes, at the end of the day, Piranha II: The Spawning is nothing more than your standard schlocky horror film that, like many other of its peers at the time, was mainly created to capitalize on the success of Jaws. The acting is hokey (not even future Cameron regular Lance Henriksen can save this one), all the characters are one-note, and much of the early parts of this film feel incredibly disjointed as it jumps from scene to scene and minor side character to minor side character. Thus, the only major thing that this film has going for it is its sequences involving flying piranhas (yes, you read that right, flying piranhas) that, given the film’s low budget, look incredibly cheap as hell. For what it’s worth, though, James Cameron was able to use some of the visual effect techniques used to create these airborne aquatic beasts to much better effect when designing the face-hugger animatronics in Aliens. Plus, if I were to give this film any sort of credit, the flying piranhas do give this sequel at least one major advantage over its predecessor since it allows for some actual on-screen piranha attacks (which, to be clear, is not a dig against the original Piranha, which is obviously still the better film by comparison). That said, though, this is also very much a ‘sequel in name only’ as none of the main characters from the original Piranha return for this film, which only references the events of its predecessor once in its entirety. And so, with all that in mind, it’s easy to see why James Cameron spent many years distancing himself from this project even though it technically counts as his directorial debut. To be fair, you can’t fault him for how it turned out given everything he had to deal with when he made it… but at the same time, it goes without saying that his subsequent directorial outings ended up being a lot better than this one.

Rating: 1/5

THE TERMINATOR (1984)

Luckily for James Cameron, there was ultimately one silver lining from the hellish production that was Piranha II as one fateful night in Rome during its post-production ended up becoming the catalyst for the project that truly launched his directorial career. After experiencing a fever-induced nightmare in which a humanoid-looking robot emerged from a fiery explosion, Cameron used this image to create a story about a young woman named Sarah Connor who finds herself hunted by a seemingly unstoppable cyborg known as a Terminator who was sent back in time from the year 2029 by Skynet, an advanced A.I. system that would gain sentience and wipe out most of humanity in an all-out nuclear war. All the while, Sarah is protected by a lone human soldier named Kyle Reese who was also sent back in time, albeit in his case by Sarah’s future son John, the leader of the resistance movement fighting against Skynet in the post-apocalyptic future and, naturally, the reason why she’s being hunted now. Upon its release, the film became an unexpected smash hit, grossing over $78 million on its modest $6.4 million budget and eventually spawning one of the most iconic science fiction film franchises of all time. Sure, many have argued that the franchise would ultimately peak with the two films that were directed by Cameron himself, with every other installment since then (only one of which saw any direct involvement from Cameron) failing to live up to the widespread acclaim of Cameron’s films, but nevertheless, there’s no denying Terminator’s ever-enduring influence on the sci-fi genre.  

However, even with all that said, it is interesting to look back at the first Terminator when compared to all the films that would come after it. Whereas everything starting with 1991’s Terminator 2: Judgment Day is a big-budget sci-fi action spectacle, the first Terminator… is decidedly not that. Instead, it’s more of a small-scale horror film that thoroughly maintains the horror genre’s well-established premise of a young woman hunted by an imposing killer. And thanks in large part to Cameron’s reliance on nighttime-set action sequences and the overall look and feel of a noir film with its seedy exterior locales and claustrophobic interior locales, the original Terminator has a surprisingly effective (and, when compared to its sequels, arguably quite refreshing) grounded atmosphere in which the sci-fi elements of its story are almost second fiddle to everything else that’s going on. Case in point, Cameron even manages to apply this low-key style to the sequences that showcase the post-apocalyptic future that Reese came from, which are naturally expanded upon in terms of scale in subsequent films. In other words, while there are undoubtedly some parts of this film that have become dated (e.g. the stop-motion animation movement of the titular antagonist when he’s nothing more than a robotic frame), Cameron utilized his minimal budget to its fullest effect in the same way that he works nowadays with the big budgets of the blockbusters that he’s very well known for. The result is a highly engaging action-thriller that’s fully bolstered by the strong performances from its three main leads: Arnold Schwarzenegger as the hulking Terminator, Linda Hamilton as the sympathetic heroine Sarah Connor, and Michael Biehn as the heroic warrior from the future, Kyle Reese. And while it’s probably safe to say that most Terminator fans tend to list its follow-up as their favorite installment of the series, this first film still holds up quite well on its own accord.

Rating: 5/5!

ALIENS (1986)

(DISCLAIMER: For today’s retrospective, I watched this film’s extended cut, which was first released on LaserDisc in 1991 (though, for the record, this is not in reference to what could technically be described as the film’s ‘first’ extended cut, which aired on CBS in 1989). I previously reviewed this film back in 2017 as part of a retrospective on the Alien franchise and did so by watching the original theatrical cut, with both versions of the film being available on its home media releases. In this instance, I decided to check out the Extended Edition for the first time since Cameron has gone on record stating that he prefers this version of the film.)

It's safe to say that things were going quite great for James Cameron after the success that he and his producing partner Gale Anne Hurd had achieved with The Terminator, which led to him netting other notable projects such as, most interestingly in hindsight, the screenplay for 1985’s Rambo: First Blood Part II. Yes, Cameron had a hand in developing the Sylvester Stallone-led action-packed follow-up to 1982’s First Blood; granted, Stallone would then go on to rewrite the script himself, but Cameron still got credited in the end and later went on record stating that his action sequences were the parts of his script that remained in the final film. Ultimately, though, Cameron’s first big endeavor after The Terminator would come when he was brought on to write and direct the highly anticipated sequel to Ridley Scott’s genre-defining 1979 sci-fi horror classic Alien. Unfortunately for Cameron, production didn’t exactly go smoothly for him as he had to deal with the standard filmmaking practices of the production’s U.K.-based crew, such as the daily tea breaks that resulted in lost production time. Cameron’s infamously aggressive nature and tendency to oversee aspects of the production himself also irked many crewmembers (to the point where the film’s original cinematographer Dick Bush was replaced because of creative differences over lighting), who felt that he wasn’t qualified enough to direct a film of this nature. It didn’t help that The Terminator hadn’t been released in the U.K. at that time and any attempts by Cameron to have his crew watch it were unsuccessful. Meanwhile, Hurd, in what was only her second film as a lead producer after Terminator, was viewed as being there simply because she was Cameron’s wife (at the time) rather than the stalwart producer that she’d become known for thanks to films like this and the long-running Walking Dead TV series.

But thankfully for all involved, Aliens proved to be just as much of a hit as its immediate predecessor upon its release. It earned over $130 million at the worldwide box office and was regarded by many as being just as good as the original Alien if not arguably better. As he would later go on to do with Terminator 2, Cameron injects a more action-oriented tone into Aliens’ plot, in which Lt. Ellen Ripley, the sole survivor of the Nostromo massacre, is brought in with a crew of Colonial Marines to deal with an alien outbreak on LV-426, the planet that she and her old crew had visited that set the plot of the previous film into motion which is now the site of a terraforming colony. However, unlike Terminator 2, which almost entirely abandoned the original’s horror beats in favor of its sci-fi action, Aliens does manage to maintain its franchise’s prolific status in the horror genre in all the right places. Even with the change in location from a lone spaceship to a derelict space colony, Cameron still gets to work with the Alien franchise’s trademark penchant for dark, foreboding, and horrifyingly cramped locales albeit with the added benefit of having its protagonists being forced to deal with more aliens this time around rather than just one. But, of course, as we’ve well established by now, Aliens is ultimately one of the first major showcases of Cameron’s talents as an action director, which is then bolstered by some strong visual effects work to bring its alien creatures to life. Sure, Aliens may not have had the benefit of the involvement of H.R. Giger, AKA the creator of the titular Alien, but with Cameron’s Terminator effects guru Stan Winston onboard to take his place… well, let’s just say that it’s easy to see why this resulted in Winston winning his first Oscar for Best Visual Effects at that year’s Oscars just like Giger and his team did for the original Alien back in 1979.

But amidst all the exciting sci-fi horror action, Aliens also boasts a strong emotional core thanks to, of course, Sigourney Weaver in the lead role of Ripley. This is, after all, the film where Weaver made history by being the first-ever lead star of a science-fiction film to earn a Best Actress nomination at that year’s Oscars. Not only does Weaver naturally evolve the character from being the first film’s final girl to the franchise’s badass action heroine, but she also imbues Ripley with a wonderfully powerful motherly persona thanks to the touching bond that she forms with Newt (Carrie Henn), the sole survivor of the LV-426 colony. This development is even more relevant when watching the extended cut, which includes a scene where Ripley tragically learns that her daughter Amanda died in-between the events of the first two films; a scene that Weaver was particularly incensed about being removed from the theatrical cut. They’re then joined by a terrific supporting cast that includes, among others, plenty of Cameron regulars such as Michael Biehn as Hicks, the most level-headed of the Colonial Marines with a good onscreen rapport with Weaver, Lance Henriksen as Bishop, a far more good-natured android than Ian Holm’s Ash was in the first film, and Bill Paxton as Hudson, a cocky Colonial Marine who’s the primary source of comic relief, especially once he realizes how out of his depth he is once the situation on LV-426 goes awry. With all this in mind, it’s easy to see why Aliens is not only regarded as one of the best sequels of all time but also one of the best films to come out of both the science fiction and horror film genres. Under James Cameron’s deft direction, the film effectively balances its franchise’s superb horror aesthetic with Cameron’s masterfully crafted action set-pieces, all while being bolstered by a top-notch cast of well-written characters who bring life to a world full of terrifying acid-blooded aliens. And as a result, the film more than holds its own alongside the Ridley Scott-directed masterpiece that came before it as one of the best installments of one of cinema’s most well-known and long-running horror franchises.

Rating: 5/5!

THE ABYSS (1989)

While science fiction may be the genre that James Cameron is best known for as a director, he has also been well known for his deep connection to the ocean, particularly by way of his extensive experience in the art of deep-sea diving. Not only has he participated in several significant (and sometimes record-breaking) dives over the years, but the vast and untamed world of the ocean depths has played a huge role in some of his films, including Titanic and Avatar: The Way of Water. But when it comes to the first real ocean-set film of his career (that is, if you don’t count Pirahna II, which I’m sure Cameron would prefer), that honor goes to his 1989 film The Abyss. Based on a story concept that Cameron had come up with when he was in high school after attending a seminar on deep-sea breathing techniques, the film follows the crew of a submersible oil drilling platform as they’re recruited by the U.S. Navy to assist a team of SEALs in the process of salvaging a nuclear submarine that has sunk in the Caribbean. Finding themselves in a race against time to recover the sub before Russian forces can get to it and instigate an international incident that could potentially kickstart World War III, they soon discover a mysterious yet fascinating sight of extraterrestrial origin. Production, to be perfectly blunt, was not a smooth one when it came to this film. Given the extensively complicated nature of creating the film’s underwater sequences, it goes without saying that the cast and crew found themselves pushed to the limit during a shoot that lasted around half a year. Lead actor Ed Harris reportedly punched Cameron after one scene nearly resulted in him drowning and lead actress Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio stormed off set while filming the sequence where her character drowns and is brought back to life after numerous takes wasted the production’s film stock.

In some ways, you could say that the negative publicity of the film’s production troubles (which were even referenced in its original theatrical trailer) might have ended up affecting its commercial performance as well; while it did make its $43 million+ budget back, it only made about $90 million worldwide, resulting in it being seen as the rare commercial dud of Cameron’s career. Critically, though, the film proved to be yet another success for him and became his second straight film to win the Oscar for Best Visual Effects. However, upon its release, it was soon made clear that the theatrical cut was, technically, an incomplete version of what Cameron set out to make. Due to a combination of a lack of time to finish specific visual effects and pressure from the studio to not have a runtime of nearly three hours (which is an incredibly ironic notion nowadays (especially given the length of future James Cameron films)), Cameron cut out a pivotal sequence from the film’s finale in which a bunch of giant waves are unleashed upon the world. But then, a few years later after Cameron scored his biggest hit yet with Terminator 2, his studio, Lightstorm Entertainment, secured a lucrative deal with The Abyss’ distributor, 20^th Century Fox, which, along with the funds for any future films of Cameron’s, included enough money to complete the climactic wave sequence. And so, in 1993, The Abyss’ ‘Special Edition’ was officially released which, along with the wave sequence, also included some other sequences that were taken out of the theatrical cut such as a few notable bits of character development and sequences that emphasized the part of the plot where the events of the film are tied around the threat of nuclear war, which was downplayed in the theatrical cut.

But whatever version of the film you end up watching, you’ll ultimately find yourself with a highly engrossing sci-fi thriller. Even with the Special Edition’s near three-hour runtime, there’s never a dull moment in this film as it does an excellent job of creating a suspenseful mystery plot, especially when it comes to how it expertly builds up the slow but gradual reveal of the alien creatures that the characters come across. Add in a great use of the narrowly confined setting of the oil crew’s underwater rig, which spends much of the film stuck thousands of feet underwater due to extensive hurricane damage, and you have a film that successfully crafts a real harrowing atmosphere amidst all its moments of pure spectacle. And on that note, as you undoubtedly guessed from earlier when I mentioned that this film won the Oscar for Best Visual Effects, it goes without saying that the biggest selling point of this film is its visual effects thanks in large part to the one and only ILM. Whether it’s the well-crafted underwater sequences or the various CGI effects that, for the most part, have aged relatively well, this film’s visual game still holds up immensely well even after three and a half decades. Casting-wise, Cameron doesn’t rely on a cast of big-name stars, but this allows for this film’s ensemble to have some phenomenal on-screen camaraderie. Ed Harris and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio headline the film excellently as team leader Virgil ‘Bud’ Brigman and his estranged wife Lindsay while Michael Biehn gets to play against type for his third major role in a James Cameron film as Lt. Coffey, the leader of the SEAL team who starts to go insane as his ulterior motives begin to threaten the whole operation.

The Abyss is the only film of James Cameron’s post-1984 career that I’d never seen at the time that I started to write this, namely due to a reason that will be blatantly obvious to anyone familiar with this film and its post-theatrical release life. For the longest time, this and another James Cameron film, True Lies, went several years without any sort of home media release after they were released on DVD. Thus, when those DVDs of theirs eventually went out of print, the only legally viable way to watch either of these films was whenever they randomly popped up on premium cable networks. In the case of The Abyss, I did attempt to watch it a few times over the years, but I’ll fully admit that I never ended up getting too far into it whenever I recorded it; by comparison, True Lies tended to pop up a lot more often and, thus, was the one that I got around to watching first. Thankfully, though, this year finally saw both films get their first proper home media release in decades, which is fitting seeing how this happens to be an anniversary year for them both (The Abyss’ 35^th and True Lies’ 30^th). And in the case of the former, this will hopefully result in newer audiences finally getting a chance to experience what is easily shaping up to be James Cameron’s most underrated film to date as this highly engrossing and visually spectacular deep ocean adventure is yet another showcase of his unparalleled technical mastery.

Rating: 5/5!

TERMINATOR 2: JUDGMENT DAY (1991)

As successful as the original Terminator was, the idea of a potential follow-up wasn’t an immediate guarantee at the time due to Cameron’s commitment to other projects and, perhaps more importantly, the significant creative conflicts that he had with the studio that largely financed the film, Hemdale. Said conflict ultimately came to a head when studio chairman John Daly attempted to cut out the final section of the film where Sarah Connor and Kyle Reese are being chased by the Terminator’s robotic endoskeleton and he and Cameron nearly got into a physical fight over it as a result. To make matters worse for Cameron, he had been forced to relinquish half of his rights on the project to Hemdale just to get it made and had then sold half of what he had left to Gale Anne Hurd when the two divorced in 1989. But, by the following year, she and Cameron, along with Arnold Schwarzenegger and Stan Winston, sued Hemdale over unpaid profits, which was just one of the many lawsuits that the studio was tied up in at the time that would eventually lead to them filing for bankruptcy and officially shutting down in 1995. During this time, Schwarzenegger came up with a solution to his and Cameron’s problem by suggesting that the rights be picked up by another studio, Carolco Pictures, who he had just worked with on the 1990 Paul Verhoeven feature Total Recall. Carolco promptly did just that with an expensive $17 million deal… which then meant that Cameron had to be fully locked in for a sequel that he only had a few months to develop. He ultimately did so along with his longtime friend and collaborator William Wisher, his credited co-writer, and the result is a film that is not only considered to be just as great as its highly acclaimed predecessor but, in the eyes of many, was arguably even better by comparison: Terminator 2: Judgment Day.

Set 11 years after the events of the previous film, Judgment Day sees the Connor family once again targeted by the sentient A.I. program of the post-apocalyptic future, Skynet. But instead of having a Terminator sent back in time to kill Sarah Connor before she can give birth to her son John, this time Skynet sends a more advanced model, the shape-shifting liquid metal-based T-1000, to kill the now 10-year-old John. Fortunately for him, his future self once again sends a lone warrior back in time to protect him; it’s just that, this time, it just so happens to be a reprogrammed T-800 AKA the same kind of Terminator that went after his mom a decade prior. As I’ve repeatedly alluded to throughout today’s post, Terminator 2 took a much different kind of narrative approach compared to the original. Whereas the first Terminator was a low-budget sci-fi flick that crafted a noir-style atmosphere to go along with its horror-inspired premise… Terminator 2 boasted the largest budget of any film ever made at the time (which, by the way, was a record that James Cameron would then proceed to break twice more over the decade) and, thus, is a grand-scaled action extravaganza. Simply put, this film’s action sequences are second-to-none and they’re bolstered by, as to be expected from a James Cameron film, top-notch visual effects work. This time around, Cameron combined the two powerhouse forces that won his last two films the Best Visual Effects Oscars; Stan Winston with the robot prosthetics and animatronics and Dennis Muren and company over at ILM for the CGI effects such as the groundbreaking visual effects work to bring the T-1000’s shape-shifting abilities to life. With an all-star team like that, it’s not surprising to see that Terminator 2 became the third straight film of James Cameron’s career to nab the Best Visual Effects Oscar at that year’s ceremony.

But as great as both the film’s visual effects and action sequences are, this is then matched by a top-notch script as Cameron and Wisher do a fantastic job at crafting a natural follow-up to the first film full of phenomenal character beats that define the main protagonists’ character arcs. Linda Hamilton returns once again as Sarah Connor who, while far more battle-ready than she was in the previous film, is also now heavily traumatized by what she went through and for being cursed with the haunting knowledge of the dark future ahead; one can only imagine how this is then all complicated even further when she learns that she’s working alongside the same kind of unstoppable killing machine that once tried to kill her. But as for the Terminator, the first film’s main antagonist becomes this film’s greatest hero as an emotionless cyborg gradually gains a greater appreciation for humanity through his interactions with John Connor, for whom he becomes a surrogate father figure to. John makes his first appearance in the franchise here, played by Edward Furlong, who starts out as a cynical troublemaker but is soon forced to grow up faster than anticipated once he’s put through the same harrowing scenario his mother went through by being pursued by an even scarier antagonist in Robert Patrick’s cold and ruthless T-1000. Heck, even supporting players get some solid character moments like Joe Morton as Miles Dyson, an engineer at Cyberdyne who’s revealed to be the one who will be the primary catalyst behind the creation of Skynet but, once he learns what will happen, nobly steps up to the point of sacrificing himself to ensure that the group’s efforts to stop Judgment Day are successful.

In short, while I’m usually not one to be overly critical of blockbuster-type films for not being the most well-written or ‘smartest’ films ever made, I will concede that Terminator 2: Judgment Day is easily one of the best examples of a blockbuster that, above all else, ensures that its story and character beats are just as well-developed as its visuals and action sequences. Thus, just like what Cameron managed to accomplish with Aliens, Terminator 2 more than holds its own when compared to the first film… and is why many have argued that this is where the series ultimately peaked in terms of quality. Terminator 2 was the last film in the series to be directed by Cameron himself (not counting the 1996 Universal theme parks spin-off Terminator 2 3-D: Battle Across Time), and while the series would continue without him, it’s never managed to achieve the same level of success that it had with Judgment Day. The reasons why have largely varied from film to film, whether it was 2003’s Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines’ efforts to undo the optimistic ending of the previous film so that it could continue the story, 2009’s Terminator Salvation toning its action down to achieve a more marketable PG-13 rating, or… basically any major creative decision made on 2015’s Terminator: Genisys. Cameron did finally return to the series in 2019 by writing/producing Terminator: Dark Fate, but even that film couldn’t revitalize the franchise regardless of its efforts to return to its narrative roots. But regardless of where you stand on the Terminator franchise (case in point, yours truly has gone on record in the past admitting that he has liked some of the later Terminator films), it’s practically impossible to deny that Terminator 2: Judgment Day still stands as being nothing short of a masterpiece.

Rating: 5/5!

TRUE LIES (1994)

With a second masterpiece from the Terminator franchise under their belts, James Cameron and Arnold Schwarzenegger would team up once more (literally, in fact, because this is the most recent film that they’ve made together) on a project that would end up being considerably different than the films that made them both household names. Sure, it’s still the kind of big-budget action extravaganza (the first to have a budget of at least $100 million (though it should be noted that Terminator 2’s budget has sometimes been reported as having been over that threshold as well)) that we’ve come to expect from this dynamic filmmaking duo… but I bet that no one would’ve expected them to do, of all things, a remake of a French action comedy. Yes, 1994’s True Lies is one of the rare instances of a Cameron film that wasn’t based on an original story of his; instead, it’s a remake of a 1991 French film named La Totale!. Like that film’s plot, True Lies follows a man named Harry Tasker (Schwarzenegger) who’s an elite secret agent for a highly classified counterterrorist agency known as Omega Sector. It’s a profession that he’s kept secret for many years from his wife Helen (Jamie Lee Curtis) and their daughter Dana (Eliza Dushku), who believe him to be nothing more than a boring computer salesman. However, in his efforts to track down a terrorist group known as the Crimson Jihad, Harry soon finds himself having to balance his work life with his personal life when Helen [somewhat inadvertently] gets caught up in his daily proceedings. Upon its release, the film was both a solid critical and commercial success, ultimately earning over $378 million worldwide. And while, as I noted earlier when talking about The Abyss, both that film and True Lies spent several years without a proper home media release, True Lies did tend to be the more widely seen of the two because it popped up far more often on premium movie channels like HBO, Showtime, and Starz.

As a result, while it may be one of the lower-rated films of James Cameron’s career amongst critics, True Lies does seem to be well-regarded by many as another great addition to Arnold Schwarzenegger’s extensive resume of classic action flicks. Sure enough, True Lies delivers on being just that and then some when it comes to its action sequences. Cameron’s mastery of the visual medium is arguably the finest that it’s ever been up to that point with plenty of great action set-pieces that effectively mix practical stunt work with some solid visual effects work by his then-newly established visual effects studio Digital Domain, which didn’t keep Cameron’s Visual Effects Oscar win streak going that year (they lost to Forrest Gump) but still got nominated, nevertheless. But as we’ve noted, True Lies is also a comedic action thriller and Cameron handles the comedic aspects of the script quite well, undoubtedly helped by Arnold Schwarzenegger’s well-established action star persona as an unparalleled gold mine for great comedic quips. This also extends nicely to how Cameron unabashedly ups the ante when it comes to how utterly over the top this film’s action sequences can get. In other words, this all starts out relatively tame enough with an espionage sequence that feels like it was ripped straight out of a James Bond film… and then concludes with a scene where Harry Tasker pilots a Harrier Jet and kills the main antagonist by getting him caught on a missile that he then proceeds to fire at an enemy helicopter, all while delivering a classic Arnold one-liner, “You’re fired!”. On paper, that all sounds like one of the most insane things that I’ve ever typed… but thanks to Cameron’s strong direction, you’re fully hooked by this film’s gleefully chaotic nature.

But while True Lies more than succeeds with its action sequences and its sense of humor, there are, admittedly, a few parts of it that have aged considerably. For starters, being that this is a 90’s film, it goes without saying that its portrayal of its Middle Eastern villains now comes off as incredibly stereotypical to the point of being quite arguably culturally offensive. It may also help to explain why the 9/11 attacks have largely been cited as the reason why Cameron and Schwarzenegger never got around to making a sequel. But perhaps the most talked about ‘dated’ aspect of this film is that many have argued that it sports something that you wouldn’t normally see in a James Cameron film; a noticeable misogynistic streak. This mainly comes into play by way of the film’s primary subplot in which Harry starts to suspect that Helen is having an affair with a sleazy car salesman named Simon (Bill Paxton). His subsequent efforts to investigate this to the point of using his agency’s own resources to ‘capture’ her and forcefully coerce her into partaking in a staged ‘secret mission’ have been criticized by many as being excessively cruel. And to be fair, it doesn’t help that this whole sequence ends up overtaking the plot for nearly an hour to the point where main antagonist Aziz (Art Malik) and the Crimson Jihad are absent from the film for the entirety of that stretch of runtime. But if there’s any sort of silver lining to this, it’s that Jamie Lee Curtis, despite everything that Helen is put through in the film, does own her role. And as much as the film’s humor with Helen revolves around how utterly out of her element she is in the world of espionage, it is nice that, by the end, she becomes a spy just like her husband. In other words, while it may be Arnold’s name at the top of the marquee, this film quite arguably belongs to Jamie Lee Curtis, who deservedly won a Golden Globe that year.

In general, the film sports the usual strong ensemble for a James Cameron film. Arnold is, of course, the same great Arnold that he always was at the time, Bill Paxton is, as usual, a prime source of comic relief as the scummy con-man Simon; heck, even Tom Arnold, the notoriously polarizing comedian that he is, is an excellent foil to Schwarzenegger as Harry’s field partner Gib. And because of all this, True Lies still stands as a highly entertaining piece of cinematic bombast. Does that mean that it’s as much of a masterpiece as James Cameron’s other films? No, not really since its outdated global and gender politics does make it one of the prime examples of a film that you just can’t make today in the current landscape of the film industry. But without ignoring the more problematic aspects of its plot, there’s still a lot to love about this film, such as how it unapologetically presents some of the most delightfully ludicrous action sequences that have ever come out of a film from this era. Case in point, I’ve often seen a bunch of people refer to True Lies as the film that served as the peak for the kind of over-the-top action films that thoroughly defined the careers of stars like Bruce Willis, Sylvester Stallone, and, of course, Arnold Schwarzenegger. And simply put, it’s easy to see where they’re coming from when it comes to how one could potentially describe this film. You take arguably the most popular action star of the '80s and 90’s and pair him up with one of the best action directors in the industry to make the kind of film that the former is best known for (rather than the latter’s usual sci-fi-oriented fare) and you have a film that can best be described as ‘peak Schwarzenegger’.

Rating: 5/5!

This concludes today’s installment of Rhode Island Movie Corner’s Directorial Retrospective series on the films directed by James Cameron. As I noted in the intro, I decided to split this retrospective up into multiple parts simply because I figured that it’d be more appropriate to give his last three films their own full-length reviews given how significant they are within the pop cultural zeitgeist. With that in mind, the next time we return to talk about James Cameron films, we’ll be looking at the film that made him ‘the king of the world’, 1997’s Titanic. So, until then… well, I’ll let Arnold say it for me 😉…

Terminator: Dark Fate (2019) review

The Terminator franchise has gone through quite a fascinating run over the years that has mainly been defined by its repeated yet ultimately unsuccessful attempts at kick-starting a full-fledged franchise. It all began, of course, with the original Terminator from 1984. This low-budget, noir-inspired sci-fi thriller went on to become a landmark entry in the sci-fi genre and effectively launched the legendary career of its director, James Cameron. Cameron would then return to the world of Terminator 7 years later with Terminator 2: Judgment Day. Judgment Day was a far bigger sequel in every sense of the word, and upon its release, it too became a critical and commercial success to the point where it’s often regarded as not only one of the finest films of its genre but also quite arguably a superior sequel to what was already a sci-fi masterpiece. However, this is where things start to get… complicated, since the ending of Terminator 2 was very much a conclusion to the story of the Connor family and their efforts to stop a self-aware artificial intelligence system from starting a nuclear war. And yet, a third Terminator film, Rise of the Machines, ended up getting made in 2003 without any involvement from James Cameron that straight-up retconned its predecessor’s ending. Despite this, however, the film managed to be a decent enough hit with both critics and audiences and ended up spawning its own sequel, Terminator Salvation, in 2009. However, in contrast to its immediate predecessor, Salvation was both a critical and commercial disappointment, most likely due in large part to the controversial decision to opt for a lighter PG-13 rating. To make matters worse, the film’s main production company, The Halcyon Company, ended up filing for bankruptcy two years later, effectively nixing any plans for a follow-up within the context of this current continuity.

Thus, the series ended up getting a major reboot in 2015 with Terminator Genisys. While the film would ignore the events of Terminator 3 and Salvation so that it’d be more in line with Cameron’s films, it would also make the bold move of setting up its own continuity by establishing an alternate timeline a la the 2009 reboot of Star Trek. But just like Salvation’s decision to be a PG-13 rated film, this alternate timeline plot did not go over well with fans of the franchise. This, along with other highly criticized aspects of the production that range from the second trailer’s reveal of its biggest plot twist to the widespread mockery of the ‘unique’ spelling of the Genisys subtitle, ultimately led to the film being yet another disappointment for both critics and audiences. And while the film wasn’t necessarily a commercial underperformer like Salvation (at least in terms of worldwide box-office since it didn’t do so well here in the U.S.), it was once again decided to cancel any follow-ups that would maintain its continuity. Thus, this brings us to what is now the third major attempt at continuing the franchise after Terminator 2, Terminator: Dark Fate. Like Genisys attempted to do before it, Dark Fate, directed by Tim Miller as his first directorial effort after the first Deadpool back in 2016, ignores the events of the most recent films in the franchise to be a clear-cut sequel to Terminator 2. And yet, perhaps this film’s biggest coup was securing the involvement of not only James Cameron as a writer/producer but also Linda Hamilton as the series’ iconic female lead, Sarah Connor. As a result, this does help the film succeed in several ways that the previous films didn’t despite being one of the most egregious examples in recent memory of ‘been there, done that’.

It was in 1995 that Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton) and her son John managed to destroy all evidence of the artificial intelligence system known as Skynet to prevent it from wiping out over 3 billion lives via a nuclear holocaust on August 29th, 1997, a date that would’ve become known as ‘Judgment Day’. And yet, even after all these years, that hasn’t stopped Sarah from continuing her efforts to hunt down any of the machines known as Terminators that arrive from the future to eliminate those who stand in their way. Sure enough, in 2020, a young factory worker from Mexico City named Daniella ‘Dani’ Ramos (Natalia Reyes) finds herself being hunted by Rev-9 (Gabriel Luna), an advanced Terminator model who can separate itself into two autonomous units. At the same time, Grace (Mackenzie Davis), a cybernetically-enhanced soldier, is sent back in time from the year 2042 to protect her, with Sarah soon joining the fight as well. It is through Grace that Sarah and Dani learn that, despite the former’s successful destruction of Skynet, a new A.I. system known as Legion ended up taking its place as the catalyst for nuclear Armageddon. And just like how Skynet sent numerous Terminators back in time to kill their greatest enemy, John Connor, Dani is now Legion’s primary target due to her playing a pivotal role in the rise of the future human resistance. Thus, Sarah, Grace, Dani, and eventually an aging T-800 unit that goes by the name ‘Carl’ (Arnold Schwarzenegger) band together to combat what is easily the most dangerous adversary that any of them have ever faced before.

A lot has been said about why the last three Terminator films haven’t been as well-received as the first two, and it could be argued that this was primarily due to some of their ‘questionable’ ways of trying to continue the story. This includes everything from Terminator 3’s implication that the events of Terminator 2 only delayed the inevitable incident that was Judgment Day to Genisys’ decision to flat-out ignore the events of the first two Terminator films in favor of its new alternate timeline that turned John Connor into an antagonist. Dark Fate manages to avoid this, for the most part (aside from maybe one key moment at the very beginning that radically changes the franchise’s dynamic), by maintaining a ‘back to basics’ approach with its narrative. However, there is one notable downside to this since Dark Fate ends up having quite a lot in common with its predecessors when it comes to the plot. Granted, I’m usually not one to ding a film for being ‘derivative’ since I know that it’s hard to be ‘truly original’ nowadays, but Dark Fate literally has the exact same plot as most of the other films in this series save for Salvation and Genisys. A Terminator is sent back in time to kill a target who becomes a major threat to them in the future while another being (usually someone who’s either partially or fully cybernetic) is sent back as well to protect the target. At the very least, director Tim Miller always keeps things moving thanks to the film’s rapid pace even if that doesn’t allow for a lot of moments to take a breather… that and the finale ends up feeling a bit too overlong.  

Right from the moment that the film’s first promo image was released, it was made perfectly clear that Terminator: Dark Fate was primarily going to revolve around its trio of female leads, and sure enough, they’re arguably the best part of the film. Obviously, it all begins with Linda Hamilton’s heralded return to the franchise as Sarah Connor for the first time since Terminator 2 (or Terminator 2 3-D: Battle Across Time if you want to be specific). Prior to this, the character was unceremoniously killed off-screen in Terminator 3, reduced to a voice cameo in Salvation, and was recast twice, with Emilia Clarke taking on the role in Genisys and Lena Headey playing the character in the short-lived TV series The Sarah Connor Chronicles. But now the original Sarah Connor is back in triumphant fashion as Hamilton seamlessly slips back into the role with ease, once again finding that perfect mix of sardonic snark and devastating emotional pathos that defined her iconic turn in the role in Judgment Day. Meanwhile, Mackenzie Davis and Natalia Reyes are both excellent as well in what could best be described as this film’s ‘Kyle Reese’ and ‘Terminator 1 era Sarah Connor’, respectively. Davis’ Grace immediately establishes herself as a formidable action heroine while Reyes shines in what will surely be her breakout role thanks to her wonderful handling of Dani’s character arc where she transitions from an unassuming ‘nobody’ to a far more confident leader. But, of course, you can’t have a Terminator film without Arnold Schwarzenegger, and while he technically doesn’t show up until the second half of the film, Dark Fate does give him one of the most interesting characters he’s ever played in this series as we learn that this T-800 unit has a ‘very specific’ bit of history with Sarah. Finally, to close out the main cast, Agents of SHIELD breakout star Gabriel Luna also does an excellent job as the new main antagonist Rev-9. Like Grace and Dani before him, Rev-9 is admittedly best described as ‘this film’s T-1000’ given the many similarities that he shares with Robert Patrick’s iconic antagonist from Judgment Day. Still, Luna’s take on the character perfectly syncs up with the characterization that Patrick went with as the completely unassuming cybernetic being who could impeccably transition into his real identity as a stone-cold killer in the blink of an eye.

I’ll openly admit that I wasn’t quite sure what to expect from Dark Fate going into it and that had a lot to do with my overall experience with the Terminator franchise. Obviously, I love the first two films just as much as everyone else, but at the same time, I’m not afraid to admit that I do like some of the sequels. I think that Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines isn’t as bad as it’s often put out to be, and as long-time visitors of this site may recall, I was one of the rare people who gave a genuinely positive review of Terminator Genisys back in 2015. Heck, it even managed to make my Top 10 that year. As such, there was legitimately a part of me that hoped that they would try to do a follow-up to Genisys but perhaps manage to secure the involvement of James Cameron (since he did go on record stating that he did like the film) so that it could be a lot better. Obviously, though, that didn’t end up being the case, and instead, Cameron and Tim Miller decided to truly take the series back to its roots, for better or worse. In other words, Terminator: Dark Fate does indeed feel like the legitimate follow-up to Terminator 2: Judgment Day in terms of both its story and action beats. However, with that said, the film is somewhat hindered by the fact that it arguably tries a bit too hard to be like Cameron’s Terminator films to the point where it straight-up rehashes their plots practically beat-for-beat. And yet, despite how much it stringently adheres to the franchise’s long-running formula, the triumphant return of Linda Hamilton in the role of Sarah Connor is ultimately enough to make Dark Fate one of the better entries of this series. Let’s just hope that if any of these supposed sequels that Cameron has been teasing end up getting made, they try to do something a little different next time.

Rating: 4/5

Alita: Battle Angel (2019) review

In the early 2000s, James Cameron acquired the film rights to the popular manga series Gunnm, also known as Battle Angel Alita. Created by artist Yukito Kishiro, it told the story of a young female cyborg named Alita who struggles to understand her past but then gradually learns that she comes from a line of powerful warriors with martial arts training. This nine-volume series ran from 1990 to 1995 and sold around 50 million copies during that time, later spawning several manga spin-offs and a two-part animated short film (or ‘original video animation’, as it’s referred to in Japan) in 1993 that was based on the manga’s first two volumes. And in 2005, it was announced that Cameron would be directing an adaptation of the manga alongside another project of his that was initially codenamed Project 880. Ultimately, though, the latter came first in 2009 and would go on to become the highest-grossing film of all-time, Avatar. And because of its success, Cameron decided to start developing sequels to his $2 billion-grossing blockbuster, resulting in Battle Angel being pushed back several times over the next few years. It wasn’t until 2016 when the project finally started to move into production, but by this point, Cameron was already well underway on directing the sequels to Avatar. Thus, a new director had to be found, and Cameron quickly found his choice in Robert Rodriguez, making this the biggest-budgeted film that the Texas-born director has ever made at around $200 million. But after nearly two whole decades of development, Alita: Battle Angel finally graces the big screen in a highly ambitious but still all-around engaging sci-fi adventure that is visually stunning.

The year is 2563. After a devastating war known as ‘The Fall’ left the planet in a state of total ruin, the people of Iron City struggle to survive in their harsh environment while floating paradises like Zalem loom large in the skies above. One day, while rummaging through the scrapyards full of Zalem’s trash, scientist Dr. Dyson Ido (Christoph Waltz) comes across the head and torso of a female cyborg whose cybernetic brain is surprisingly still intact. Ido then proceeds to give the cyborg a new body and calls her Alita (Rosa Salazar). Alita, however, finds herself in quite the predicament as she’s unable to remember anything from her past even when aided by Ido and a charismatic young man named Hugo (Keean Johnson) who shows her the ins and outs of Iron City. This begins to change, however, when Alita learns that Ido secretly moonlights as a member of Iron City’s elite faction of bounty hunters known as ‘hunter-warriors’. While helping him fend off a bunch of vicious cyborg assassins, Alita finally starts to remember that she comes from a line of cyborg warriors who were trained in the zero-gravity based martial art form known as Panzer Kurst on the planet Mars. This, along with the discovery of a more powerful cybernetic body that also originated from Mars, prompts Alita to become a Hunter-Warrior herself so that she can combat those who threaten the good people of Iron City. In doing so, she runs amok of Vector (Mahershala Ali), a businessman with ties to Zalem who promptly puts out a bounty on the girl who’s been putting a dent in his criminal operation.

James Cameron has noted that the film primarily serves as an adaptation of the manga’s first four volumes. As such, it’s safe to say that this film attempts to cover a lot of ground in its two-hour runtime and not every major plot-line or bit of character development that’s introduced here gets as much attention as they probably should. But aside from what the film does to set up future installments of this potential franchise, it does do its job when it comes to immersing you within this dystopian future. A lot of this comes from the overall handling of Alita’s origin story, which is arguably the best aspect of the plot as it does a nice job of showcasing her transition from innocent cyborg girl to confident warrior while also providing the film with some genuinely effective emotional depth. The biggest draw to the film, however, is its excellent visual effects. It’s been said that one of the reasons why the film took so long to get made was so that visual effects technology was advanced enough to properly tell this story, and it does indeed show in the final product. From the seamless integration of CG-based characters into a live-action setting to the truly visually stunning action sequences, this film boasts the amazing visual polish that one can expect from a James Cameron production. But, of course, it was Robert Rodriguez who was behind the camera for this one, not James Cameron, and while it’s quite arguably the most streamlined outing of his career, Rodriguez’s direction is still excellent, and he does provide the film with the same energy that’s defined many of his independently-produced directorial efforts.

Ultimately, though, one of the most talked about aspects of this film is how it brings the title character of Alita to life. Actress Rosa Salazar portrays the character via motion-capture and the film maintains a key artistical aspect of the manga by giving Alita large anime-style eyes. However, this decision was initially met with skepticism when the first trailer was released, with many pulling the ‘uncanny valley’ card when describing how it looked in a live-action context. And yet, as is the case with any film’s marketing campaign, this first trailer was clearly released before most of the visual effects were finished, and I can assure you that the larger eyes look far more natural in the final film than what they initially seemed. Simply put, Alita is another excellent addition to the growing cavalcade of mo-cap created characters, and Rosa Salazar shines in what will surely be her breakout role as the sympathetic, badass heroine. The other big standout of the cast is Christoph Waltz, who gets some solid character development as well through some gradual reveals regarding Ido’s past and how it connects him to Alita. Salazar also works well off Keean Johnson as Alita’s love interest Hugo, even if his character arc is sometimes waylaid by everything that the film tries to cover over the course of its run-time. Everyone else in the film admittedly plays more of a supporting role by comparison, though they’re all solid as well. This includes, but is not limited to, Ed Skrein as Zapan, an extremely cocky cyborg bounty hunter who’s a constant thorn in Alita’s side, and Jennifer Connelly as Dr. Chiren, a scientist who works for Vector but also has a deeply personal history with Ido.

As I’ve probably made it clear in the past, I don’t have a lot of history with manga and anime, meaning that I don’t have the same connection that others do with franchises like Dragon Ball or Ghost in the Shell. And this was certainly the case with Alita: Battle Angel, as I went into this film without any prior experience with its source material. Ultimately, though, this scenario didn’t have any sort of effect on what I found to be a solidly entertaining sci-fi adventure. Granted, I wouldn’t necessarily call it ‘perfect’ because it does feel like it’s trying to cover a lot of ground when it comes to setting up its world and characters despite it being only two hours long. In other words, the amount of story material that’s introduced here could practically be enough to fill at least two whole films. However, that doesn’t mean that what’s there doesn’t make for an engaging story that boasts some gorgeous visuals and excellent action sequences. And thanks to an excellent performance by Rosa Salazar in the title role of Alita, this lavish sci-fi action flick about a cyborg girl from Mars who was trained in martial arts does indeed have a genuine heart to it. Thus, while Alita: Battle Angel is perhaps a bit too ambitious for its own good, this Robert Rodriguez/James Cameron collaboration is a visual spectacle unlike any other. Obviously, I can’t say much about whether this film does complete justice to its source material but considering some of the most infamous live-action adaptations of popular manga and anime like Dragonball: Evolution, I think that this one will fare much better with fans of the medium.

                                                                    Rating: 4.5/5       

Alien Series Retrospective (1979-2012)

In 1979, a sci-fi horror film was released to theaters, with one of the most iconic taglines in film history; ‘In Space, no one can hear you scream’. This tagline was for director Ridley Scott’s classic, Alien, a film that has gone on to become one of the most iconic films of the sci-fi genre while also spawning a highly successful media franchise in the years since. And this weekend, Scott returns to the franchise that he helped create with Alien: Covenant, a follow-up to the franchise’s 2012 ‘prequel’ Prometheus, which he also directed. By the looks of it, this new film is returning to the series’ original roots as an intense sci-fi horror flick. And in honor of its release, today we’ll be looking at the films in the Alien franchise when it was at its highest of highs… and its lowest of lows. Specifically, we’ll be looking at its four initial installments, which starred Sigourney Weaver in the role of Lt. Ellen Ripley, and Prometheus. I won’t be covering the two Alien vs. Predator crossover films that came out in 2004 and 2007, respectively, for multiple reasons. First off, if I did decide to cover these films, I’d have to look at the Predator films as well, and I’m saving that for the upcoming Predator film, directed by Shane Black, which isn’t set to come out until next summer. Also, I’m aware that both AvP films have attracted a generally negative reaction from both critics and audiences. So… I didn’t want to bother with them anyway. Though with that said, I guess that I will have to cover those eventually when I do that Predator post next year. Well, until then, grab your big guns and avoid those alien eggs because here is my look back at the films of the Alien franchise.

ALIEN (1979)

We start things off, of course, with the original Alien from 1979; Ridley Scott’s classic tale of a spaceship crew who are awoken from stasis to investigate a mysterious transmission from an uncharted planet. This investigation, however, soon results in the crew being hunted by a terrifying alien creature that’s literally ‘birthed’ from one of their own crewmates. While initially polarizing amongst critics upon release, it has since gone on to become one of the most iconic films of the sci-fi genre, and rightfully so as it’s an excellently-made space-set chiller. A lot of this is due to Scott’s direction. His use of long, slow-moving, and uninterrupted takes helps add to the overall suspense, along with the general nature of the film’s setting. The film is primarily set within the dark and cramped confines of the crew’s ship, the Nostromo, and it results in an effectively intense and unsettling atmosphere because of the claustrophobic feeling throughout. Even moments that don’t involve the Alien, like when crew member Ash (Ian Holm) is revealed to be an android, have a great and suspenseful vibe to them. In fact, the Alien doesn’t even appear until just under an hour in. Like I said before, this is a slow-moving film but there’s never a dull moment in this. Thus, it’s easy to see why Alien is still regarded as one of the best films in both the science-fiction and horror genres. While I’m not that big a fan of the latter genre, this film does succeed in being a part of it thanks to Ridley Scott’s excellent direction and a solid cast that includes the likes of Sigourney Weaver, Tom Skerritt, Ian Holm, and John Hurt. Heck, this wouldn’t be the last time that a sci-fi film directed by Scott would overcome initial critical reception to become a seminal classic of the genre… but more on that when Blade Runner 2049 comes out.

Rating: 5/5!

ALIENS (1986)

After making a name for himself in 1984 with The Terminator, James Cameron was brought on to write and direct the follow-up to Alien, titled Aliens. However, Cameron faced some scrutiny during production from the primarily British crew, who felt that he was inexperienced for a project of this magnitude. However, upon release, Aliens would go on to become just as beloved as the original Alien. This, of course, leads to the primary debate of the franchise; Alien or Aliens? Me personally, I lean slightly more towards the latter. I’ll admit that this may be because I’m not a big horror fan but this shouldn’t take anything away from Ridley Scott’s masterpiece. As for Aliens, though, while Cameron does lean more towards the action genre in this sci-fi story, it doesn’t mean that he completely shies away from the franchise’s horror roots. There are still some incredibly tense and creepy moments throughout this film along with the same great dark and claustrophobic set designs that the first film had. Ultimately, though, this film is more action-oriented than the first and it delivers on that aspect brilliantly. Plus, this film has arguably the best ensemble cast in the history of the franchise. Of course, it’s all led by Sigourney Weaver as Ripley, who went from being the secondary protagonist of the original film to one of cinema’s most badass action heroines in this film. Heck, she was so good in this film that she got nominated for an Oscar for Best Actress, a rarity for the genre. But the rest of the cast is excellent as well, including Carrie Henn as the scared young girl Newt, who Ripley becomes a surrogate mother to, and Lance Henriksen as this film’s android, Bishop. Even minor characters like Hudson (the late Bill Paxton (RIP); “Game over, man, game over!”) and Vazquez (Jenette Goldstein) are extremely memorable. In short, Aliens is just as much of a masterpiece as its immediate predecessor, but if you forced me to choose one over the other, I’d go with Cameron’s sci-fi action epic.

Rating: 5/5!

ALIEN 3 (1992)

I’ve talked about this film before in my Directorial Retrospective on its director, David Fincher, way back in 2014 so I won’t repeat myself too much here. Bottom line; Alien 3 was, unfortunately, a disappointing follow-up to the first two Alien films, namely because it went through one of the most tumultuous productions of all time. Several writers and directors were brought in to try and figure out its overall plot, from William Gibson’s HIV-influenced storyline to Vincent Ward’s concept of a ‘wooden’ planet that held a monastery. Ultimately, David Fincher was brought in to direct; sadly, his directorial debut put him through hell. He was given little time to prepare and didn’t have a full script when filming began. To make matters worse, the studio blocked many of his ideas during the shoot; thus, it’s easy to see why Fincher has since disowned the film. I don’t blame him; the primary flaws of the film aren’t his fault. Alien 3 makes the questionable decision of going down a dark and gloomy route that goes against the optimistic ending of the previous film. Case in point, the opening scene sees most of the surviving cast of the previous film killed off, with Ripley being forced into an all-male prison. Of course, Fincher is well-known nowadays for his dreary thrillers but here, it just doesn’t translate as well. The supporting characters are all bland, partially because they’re predominantly a collection of similar-looking bald white men. Not to mention, these are all murderers, rapists, etc.; they’re not exactly a sympathetic bunch. Thankfully, Sigourney Weaver is still great as always as Ripley and the film’s ending is a highlight, as Ripley sacrifices herself when she learns that an Alien has manifested within her to keep the Weyland Corporation, the primary ‘evil corporation’ of the franchise, from using it for nefarious purposes. Had it not been for the next installment of the series, this would’ve at least ended the franchise on a decent note despite the film that it came from.

But now, let’s talk about the film’s alternate cut. Each of the first four Alien films has gotten a ‘Special Edition’ released over the years. But while the first two films didn’t add ‘that’ much to their Special Editions (though James Cameron and Sigourney Weaver have expressed preference towards the ‘Special Edition’ of Aliens for having more depth to it), the ‘Assembly Cut’ of Alien 3 adds in 30-plus minutes of material to try and improve upon the original theatrical cut. And for the most part, it does manage to do that. Some additions are welcome aesthetic changes, like having Ripley end up on the prison planet’s beach instead of being found in the crashed ship (which fixes a few plot-holes from the theatrical cut) and having the Alien emerge from an ox instead of a dog. But then there are some additions that improve the narrative, like a greater focus on the inmates’ religious beliefs and how Ripley’s arrival puts that into chaos, allowing for some additional character development for some of the main inmates. Crazed inmate Golic (Paul McGann), particularly, is focused on more in this version of the film as we see him become fascinated with the alien, so much so that he begins to compromise the protagonists’ efforts to destroy it. However, despite the improvements that it makes over the clearly truncated Theatrical Cut, I still can’t go as far as to say that it completely saves the film. Parts of it are still a chore to sit through, especially considering that the extended cut is almost two-and-a-half hours long. In conclusion, if you’re going to watch Alien 3, stick to the ‘Assembly Cut’ as it’s more in line with what Fincher was going for. Still, it isn’t enough to save the film, which will easily go down as one of the most hellish productions in film history, from being a mediocre conclusion to the Alien trilogy, a designation which lasted five years until…

Ratings: Theatrical Cut: 1.5/5 Assembly Cut: 2.5/5

ALIEN: RESURRECTION (1997)

While Alien 3 ended with the death of Ellen Ripley, the studio ended up reviving the franchise half a decade later with Alien: Resurrection. To bring back Sigourney Weaver, the plot involves scientists cloning Ripley, who gains ‘alien’ abilities due to her DNA being mixed with the Alien queen that was first introduced in Aliens. Like its predecessor, this film was primarily developed by a soon-to-be-famous filmmaker; in this case, the film’s writer, Joss Whedon, before he became known for his hit TV shows like Buffy the Vampire Slayer and way before The Avengers. And like with Fincher and Alien 3, the flaws of Resurrection are not primarily his fault. What we have here is a film that suffers from major tonal inconsistency. Whedon intended for the film to have a tongue-in-cheek feel to it; however, the film’s director, Jean-Pierre Jeunet (Amelie), decided to play everything straight-faced. Thus, the film maintains a ‘serious’ tone throughout despite various moments that are extremely over-the-top, especially those that involve Brad Dourif as one of the scientists in charge of the whole process. This over-the-top nature also extends to the cast. Sigourney Weaver is still just as great as she’s always been as Ripley but the rest of the cast is hit-and-miss because many are just hamming it up. And while the supporting characters are more memorable than the ones from Alien 3, they’re still a generally expendable group. Overall, Alien: Resurrection is more ‘enjoyable’ than Alien 3, partially because it doesn’t carry the same grim tone. However, the film’s tone is all over the place, resulting in unintentionally hilarious moments that were trying to be serious. Thus, what was intended to be a better conclusion to the series than its predecessor just made the whole situation worse.

Rating: 2/5

PROMETHEUS (2012)

And finally, we conclude with the film that has become one of the most polarizing films in recent years; the pseudo-prequel to the Alien franchise, Prometheus. Ridley Scott returned to direct this film which, for the record, is not technically a prequel to the original Alien. It takes place in the same general universe as the other films but it is, ultimately, its own thing (e.g. this film does not take place on the same planet visited in the original Alien, despite the clear similarities). And to the film’s credit, it does a solid job of being its own separate story in this larger universe. Its overall plot, which delves into the mystery of humanity’s origins, is a fascinating one and I wouldn’t say that there’s a dull moment in the entire film. The production design is fantastic, particularly due to Scott emphasizing the use of as many practical effects as possible. And the film’s ensemble cast is solid as well, particularly Noomi Rapace as main protagonist Dr. Elizabeth Shaw, a much different kind of character compared to Ripley, Michael Fassbender as the enigmatic android David, and Idris Elba as the ship’s charismatic captain, Janek. But while the film is well-made on a technical level, its writing has been the main source of its polarizing response. Many have criticized the film for bringing up tons of questions that went unanswered. My thoughts on the matter? Well, I do agree that there are some plotlines that were only given vague explanations, like why the crew comes across a gigantic statue of a head during their mission. I think it’s safe to say that the ambition of the filmmakers might’ve surpassed what they could do in just one film. However, from the looks of it, Alien: Covenant will at least answer some of the unexplained mysteries that this film explored. And overall, I wasn’t too bothered by some of the more mysterious elements of the plot; I’d argue it makes the whole film more interesting. Thus, you can say that, overall, I’m still in the camp that likes this film. Admittedly, it may partially have to do with the fact that I have a personal connection to this film because it’s the first R-rated film I ever saw in theaters, but I do think that it’s still worth checking out if admittedly more for its technical aspects than the writing.

Rating: Way back in 2012, my first year on this blog, I had reviewed this film and gave it a 4.5/5 rating. Upon re-watch, I decided to lower that initial rating down to a 4/5 rating, which is still a strong rating on my scale.

"Final report of the commercial starship Nostromo, third officer reporting. The other members of the crew — Kane, Lambert, Parker, Brett, Ash and Captain Dallas — are dead. Cargo and ship destroyed. I should reach the frontier in about six weeks. With a little luck, the network will pick me up. This is Ripley, last survivor of the Nostromo, signing off."

Terminator Genisys: SPOILER POST

WARNING!!!

The following post contains spoilers for the film ‘Terminator: Genisys’. If you have not seen the film yet, please instead refer to my spoiler-free review of the film, of which a link will be provided below, as I will be discussing key plot points and elements of the film in spoiler-y detail.

(http://rimoviecorner.blogspot.com/2015/07/terminator-genisys-2015-review.html)

Whenever I do a spoiler post for a film on this site, it is usually for a superhero film, having started with ‘Iron Man 3’ and most recently for ‘The Avengers: Age of Ultron’. I’ve only done one Spoiler Post for a non-superhero film and that was for ‘Star Trek Into Darkness’ in regards to the big ‘Khan’ reveal of that film. But today, I’m finally doing another non-superhero Spoiler Post and today’s subject is ‘Terminator: Genisys’, the fifth installment of a film franchise that many people feel should have ended after the series’ second entry, ‘Terminator 2: Judgment Day’. You can definitely tell that just by the reviews for ‘Genisys’, the under-performance of the film here in the U.S. box-office wise (thankfully it has fared much better overseas), and the overall uneasiness amongst film fans leading up to the film’s release due to the aforementioned feelings towards the franchise post-‘Terminator 2’. But, as you will recall from my original review for ‘Genisys’, I actually quite enjoyed it. Was it the absolute best entry in the franchise? No, not by a long shot. But of course what do you expect when James Cameron’s original two masterpieces were such hard acts to follow? Ultimately though I do feel that ‘Terminator: Genisys’ was a pretty darn entertaining sci-fi flick that perfectly balanced action and humor while also staying faithful to the legacy of the franchise’s first two installments. And it did this while also setting out on a unique new path brought on by none other than…

AN ALTERNATE TIMELINE

As I’ve no doubt stated in the past, one of my favorite films of the past few years has been the 2009 ‘Star Trek’ reboot, which made the bold move of creating a brand new alternate timeline. While this clearly was a controversial move in the minds of long-time ‘Star Trek’ fans, I for one was 100% supportive of this decision as I feel that the franchise can now move on in new directions without having to strictly adhere to series canon… and yes, I say that even after the last ‘Trek’ film, ‘Into Darkness’, proved to be even more polarizing amongst ‘Trek’ fans for its callbacks, though seriously not as many as ‘Trek’ fans claim, to ‘The Wrath of Khan’. Clearly the success of the ‘Trek’ films inspired Paramount when they developed ‘Terminator: Genisys’ as it too goes with the ‘alternate timeline’ storyline. The film opens up basically re-telling the original plot of the first ‘Terminator’ film but from the perspective of the future war. In the midst of the war against Skynet, resistance leader John Connor (Jason Clarke) learns of a plot by Skynet to send one of their Terminator robots back in time to the year 1984 to kill his mother Sarah, thereby erasing him from existence. John’s top lieutenant, Kyle Reese (Jai Courtney), volunteers to go back in time to save her. But once he gets into Skynet’s time machine, that’s when things start to change. Before leaving, he sees John being attacked by another ‘soldier’ (more on this character later) and before he arrives in 1984, he starts to have new memories of his childhood that are much different than what he previously remembered.

It is established at the beginning, through narration by Reese, that he was born in 2004 after Judgment Day, which for the record has been reverted back to the original August 1997 date from ‘Terminator 2’. In other words, this film straight up ignores ‘Terminator 3’ and ‘Salvation’, which had Judgment Day occur in July 2004. But now his childhood is different as the world, for some reason, hasn’t ended yet and his younger self repeatedly tells himself about how ‘he can shut down Skynet before it is born’ and that ‘Genisys is Skynet’. He arrives in 1984 and basically goes through the same beats that we saw in the first film. He steals a pair of pants from a bum (“That son of a bitch stole my pants”) and rushes into a store to avoid the cops. But this time the cop (Lee Byung-hun) happens to be a T-1000, the liquid metal shape-shifting Terminator who can take the form of anything it comes into contact with. Before the T-1000 can kill him, however, he is saved by Sarah, who is not the scared and vulnerable young woman who Kyle was expecting to find based on what he was told by John in the future. Instead, she is already a badass warrior who just so happens to be protected by a T-800 Terminator. Slowly realizing that he is now in a new alternate reality, Kyle learns that in 1973, Skynet had sent a T-1000 (presumably the same one that the trio deal with in 1984) back in time to kill Sarah when she was a child. However, a as of yet unconfirmed party sent back a T-800 to protect her, who ever since has trained her in combat to prepare her for the impending apocalypse.

Now this new ‘alternate timeline’ storyline has been referred to by some of the film’s biggest critics as ‘lousy fan-fiction’. But you know what? ‘Star Trek’ basically did the same thing and you don’t see anyone complain about that (Oh wait…). The fact of the matter is that, as I noted earlier, I don’t mind this at all because I like the idea of re-writing the canon to allow for new storyline possibilities that may or may not go down the familiar paths that we had seen in the first two ‘Terminator 2’ films. If this new alternate reality wasn’t real then this would be nothing more than a remake of the first film. Maybe then it would be ‘lousy fan-fiction’ like those critics say but as is, it is by no means that at all. I for one am intrigued to see what happens now for this film franchise as it begins to uncover some of the mysteries that are established in ‘Genisys’, like who is responsible for sending Sarah’s T-800 back in time. I also like how this film challenges some of the pre-conceived notions of what we saw before, namely in regards to the relationship between Sarah and Kyle. As we know from the first ‘Terminator’, the two of them ended up falling in love, resulting in the birth of John Connor. But in this film, that future relationship is put into question. For one thing, Kyle learns about his fate from the other timeline; that he dies protecting Sarah, and also has difficulty coming to terms with the fact that he’s John’s father. Throughout the film, Kyle and Sarah have, to put it lightly, a rather strenuous relationship. I mean at the end of the day, they do get together but seeing how Kyle doesn’t die in this film, it’ll be interesting to see where their relationship will go from there, especially since they come across his younger self and even go as far as giving him the memories that the grown-up Kyle experienced while traveling through time.

ARNOLD!!

Whether or not you like this film, you cannot deny that one of the absolute best things in the entire film is Arnold Schwarzenegger’s heralded return to the franchise that made him a star. He may not be the absolute best actor in the world but that correlates perfectly to his role in these films as a robot that has difficulties trying to fit in with humans. Seriously just admit that you at least laughed once when the T-800 tried to smile. And you know what? For a 67-year old, Arnold still manages to not only kick major ass in what is easily his most iconic role to date but also continues to excel in delivering memorable one-liners (“Old but not obsolete!”). The fight sequence between him and the younger-looking T-800 from 1984 is easily one of the biggest highlights of the entire film. And hey, at the end of the film, he basically becomes a T-1000, having been thrown in a vat of liquid metal by the T-3000 AKA John Connor (again, more on him later) so it’ll cool to see how that will affect the character in future films. He also gets major kudos for the solid father-daughter relationship between him and Sarah, which ultimately is the heart of the film. This leads perfectly into my next point…

SARAH AND ‘POPS’

I’m just going to throw this out there… at the end of the day, ‘Terminator: Genisys’ doesn’t really carry the same emotional depth of the first two ‘Terminator’ films. I’m not saying this as a criticism of the film; it’s just that the first two films, especially ‘Terminator 2’ with the father-son relationship of John Connor and the T-800, were so successful in this regard. But ‘Terminator Genisys’ still manages to have some good emotional depth, primarily in the form of the father-daughter relationship between Sarah and, as she refers to him as, ‘Pops’. I loved the back-and-forth between the two in scenes where they have arguments, like when ‘Pops’ brings up the awkward point about how Kyle and Sarah, as he puts it, are expected to ‘mate’. And while of course he’s a robot that doesn’t 100% grasp the concept of feelings and emotion, there are times where he clearly shows how much he cares about Sarah. One notable example of this occurs when Sarah, Kyle, and ‘Pops’ hide out in the latter’s secret base and Sarah notices that he still keeps photos of her as a child and drawings that she made of them. And while I’ll admit that going in I already knew that this T-800 wasn’t going to die like in ‘Terminator 2’ (or ‘Terminator 3’), the scene where he appears ready to sacrifice himself was handled great from an emotional standpoint, especially when he tells Kyle to ‘take care of my Sarah’.

Sarah Connor is, without a doubt, one of the best female action heroines of all-time and that legacy is done justice once again in this film thanks to Emilia Clarke’s excellent turn in the role. Like Linda Hamilton before her, she does a great job in giving Sarah both her confidence and fearlessness in combat while also doing a perfect job in capturing the character’s vulnerability. In ‘Terminator 2’, Sarah’s vulnerability came from her past experiences in the first ‘Terminator’ film and her distrust of John’s guardian T-800. In ‘Terminator: Genisys’, this is shown primarily through her relationships with both ‘Pops’ and Kyle. Relating to what I talked about in my Spoiler Post for ‘Avengers: Age of Ultron’ in regards to the controversy surrounding the character of Black Widow, I feel that, contrary to popular belief, it’s perfectly fine for female action heroes to show signs of vulnerability because it shows that they’re human. Nothing’s perfect and a character that is meant to be ‘perfect’ isn’t always the best-written character. I know that right now a lot of people on the internet are raving about the character of Furiosa from ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’ but at the end of the day, that character has nothing on Sarah Connor and this film is 100% proof of that.

KYLE REESE

In terms of respect/credibility, Jai Courtney has about as much respect from film fans as Shia LaBeouf or Sam Worthington… in other words, not very much. In fact, this makes ‘Terminator: Genisys’ the second instance in which Courtney has starred in a major film franchise in which the installment that he starred in was one of the worst-rated entries in the entire series, the other being ‘A Good Day to Die Hard’ and I’m pretty sure all of this makes some DC fans hesitant about his involvement in ‘Suicide Squad’. But I stand firm when I say that Courtney is not at all to blame for the shortcomings of ‘A Good Day to Die Hard’ and in response to some people who say that he ‘ruined’ Terminator too, let me be the first to say that this is not true. Contrary to popular opinion, I think Courtney did a fine job in this film. Was he the absolute best Kyle Reese ever? No, not at all, but I do feel that Courtney did a good job in the role as it was written in this film. In this film, Kyle Reese is basically the avatar for the audience as he traverses through this new alternate timeline trying to come to terms with what he’s dealing with. And ultimately Courtney was at his best when he was with Clarke and Schwarzenegger so at the end of the day, he serves his purpose in taking on this iconic role for the revival of the ‘Terminator’ franchise.

EVIL JOHN CONNOR?

It’s time to delve into what is arguably the most controversial element of the entire film, which first attracted controversy when many people (even director Alan Taylor) felt that it was spoiled in the film’s second trailer. And that is the reveal that in this film, John Connor, who is arguably the main protagonist of the entire series, has been turned into a Terminator by Skynet, effectively making him the main antagonist of this new film. Of course, as noted earlier, Kyle notices a mysterious figure grab John before he travels back to 1984 which then results in him ending up in a new timeline. After helping Sarah and ‘Pops’ defeat the T-1000 that’s after them, Kyle and Sarah travel forward in time to the year 2017 while Pops stays behind; in other words, he ‘takes the long way’ to reunite with them in the future. The two end up getting caught by the police but are then approached by John while they are in the hospital. All seems well, despite Kyle and Sarah questioning why he is there, until ‘Pops’ returns and shoots John, who then reveals his new Terminator form. Now he is the T-3000, having been turned into a Terminator by the mysterious figure who attacked him in the future through the use of Nano machines. He is also the only T-3000 in existence as any other attempts at creating this particular Terminator have failed as a result of the human subjects driven mad.

Now I’m not here to talk about the second trailer for the film and how many people feel it spoiled the big twist. Instead, I’m going to say this… as controversial as it is, I’m totally fine with this twist. I mean it’s not like the character of John Connor was ruined by having him be the villain in this film. It’s just an interesting new plotline that, to quote James Cameron, is “a riff against expectations” and also makes the threat a much more personal one for Kyle and Sarah to deal with given their connections to John Connor. As I stated in my original review, I’m also glad that this meant that Jason Clarke, one of the most underrated actors working today, had a much more substantial role than what the very first trailer for the film implied. At first I thought that John Connor would only appear in the scenes that took place in 2029 but thankfully that’s not the case. In fact I’m just going to say it… Jason Clarke has been the best John Connor to date, and yes that is even when taking the whole villain characterization into account. In early scenes before Connor’s transformation, Clarke does a great job in capturing John’s leadership qualities, which are most evident from his speech to his troops before they go off to fight Skynet. And after the big twist, Clarke ends up being a pretty darn entertaining and intimidating baddie, basically being like a much more advanced version of the T-1000 with the ability to regenerate and break apart into particles during combat, the latter of which produces a pretty cool visual for the action sequences.

Most badass 'walking away from an explosion' scene EVER!!!

MATT SMITH’S ROLE

And now to close off this Spoiler Post, let’s end by talking about the most notable secret of the entire film and that is Matt Smith’s (fresh off of his work as the Eleventh Doctor in ‘Doctor Who’) role in the film. Whereas the big ‘evil John Connor’ twist was revealed in the film’s second trailer, Smith’s role was kept secret up until the film’s release, which of course led to speculation over who he was playing in the film. The most common theory that I saw online was that he was John’s best friend Tim from ‘Terminator 2: Judgment Day’ which given the film’s decision to revert Judgment Day back to 1997 could’ve made sense. But in the end, he played a much different role in the film, one that will no doubt play a bigger role in the grand scheme of things because… he plays Skynet. Taking on the form of a super-advanced Terminator, the T-5000, he is the one responsible for turning John into a Terminator and it is implied that he has traveled through various timelines to get to this point. So obviously he’s the one who is primary responsible for the new alternate timeline and I think it’s safe to say that he will also be the primary villain for the rest of the series. Because while Kyle, Sarah, and ‘Pops’ destroy Cyberdyne and stop ‘Genisys’ AKA Skynet from going online, a mid-credits scene shows that Skynet’s primary core survived the events of the finale, meaning that Skynet isn’t defeated yet.

IN CONCLUSION

I know that I’m in the minority when it comes to liking this film. But having now seen the film twice in theaters, I am 100% serious when I say that this film is by no means as bad as critics, and the internet, are putting it out to be. Like I said before, it is by no means the best entry of the series but that’s just because the first two ‘Terminator’ films were so good that they set up insurmountable expectations for any subsequent entries in the franchise to have to live up to. But ultimately I concur with James Cameron in that this truly feels like the true ‘Terminator 3’. Ignoring the events of the original ‘Terminator 3’ and ‘Terminator Salvation’ and instead following off of the first two films, ‘Genisys’ does not go the same route of the former by pulling a shameless retcon that goes against what happened at the end of ‘Terminator 2’. Sure the ‘alternate timeline’ storyline is just as controversial but in my opinion that just made the story much interesting. Alan Taylor also deserves a lot of credit for almost perfectly recreating classic moments from the first ‘Terminator’ film save for a few cosmetic differences that are primarily due to that film being owned by another studio. So in conclusion, ‘Terminator Genisys’ may not be the absolute best film that has come out this summer but I still had loads of fun while watching it, which ultimately makes it one of the most underrated/underappreciated films of the year.