TERMINATOR (1984)
This potential grade-Z kitsch candidate for the Golden Turkey Award actually became one of the surprise hits of 1984, and its popularity over the last two decades has established it as a genre classic. [1] The Terminator is a triumph of style over plot, smartness over intelligence, and a combination of elements that outstrips its parts. Its circular narrative about the future trying to control the past in order to take control of itself - hence, changing the very premises of its own state - is a familiar one to all fans of postwar science-fiction literature (Harlan Ellison, Philip K. Dick, and others) and TV shows (such as Outer Limits and Star Trek). [2] Fresh from low-budget effects work for Roger Corman and John Carpenter, director-screenwriter James Cameron adapted the disarming humor of his mentors to deflect all possible objections to the film's many plot holes, head-on with a dumbfounded shrug or knowing wisecracks from the protagonists. The vision of a dark, dirty, and apocalyptic future was very much in vogue at the time, as witnessed by titles such as John Carpenter's Escape from New York, George Miller's Mad Max II / The Road Warrior (both 1981), Luc Besson's The Last Combat (1983), and Lars von Trier's The Element of Crime (1984). [3] Cameron's assured style - tech noir, as it was called after a nightclub in the film - and his kinetic energy combined with a sparse economy of narration in enfolding the many twists and turns, keep the viewer sufficiently distracted from the sheer absurdity of it all. [4] Even Arnold Schwarzenegger - the very epitome of bad acting with his bland facial expression, heavy Austrian accent, and body language from the school of Frankenstein's monster - becomes a major asset to the film. All his violent acts and his ten or so lines are delivered with a mechanical dullness and a mock-grim look that makes them charged with an irresistible, multilayered irony. [5] Virtually all his dialogue consists of short, unremarkable phrases. Yet, everybody who saw this sleeper phenomenon knows most of them by heart, down to Schwarzenegger's quirky pronunciation. [6] ''I’ll be back" is probably the most quoted among them - frequently used as a catchphrase in radio and TV shows.
If The Terminator's ability to engage the audience in such an interplay is reminiscent of The Rocky
Horror Picture Show's (1975) ritualistic cult following, then the nudging irony and frequent winks to the audience points forward to the Scream trilogy's (1999-2000) puns about generic clichés. The same goes for the sadistic but playful slapstick splatter-violence and the "final girl" twist at the end. Under the surface of this bric-a-brac of science-fiction elements actually lies an even less original slasher movie, complete with a (literally) mechanical killer and a tomboy (Linda Hamilton) discovering her resources to fight and overcome evil. [7] But, as I remarked above, The Terminator's unique combination strategy is greater than the sum of its parts. The response to the film, like that to all great genre movies, lies not in a presumed originality. Rather the opposite is true: It is in the way that the director fuses all these familiar elements and breathes new life into them that makes for such a memorable experience.
Need translations? English to Portugueses? click here https://tonyed35.wixsite.com/traduzindo
SHORT TRANSLATION
This potential grade-Z kitsch candidate for the Golden Turkey Award actually became one of the surprise hits of 1984, and its popularity over the last two decades has established it as a genre classic. [1] The Terminator is a triumph of style over plot, smartness over intelligence, and a combination of elements that outstrips its parts. Its circular narrative about the future trying to control the past in order to take control of itself - hence, changing the very premises of its own state - is a familiar one to all fans of postwar science-fiction literature (Harlan Ellison, Philip K. Dick, and others) and TV shows (such as Outer Limits and Star Trek). [2] Fresh from low-budget effects work for Roger Corman and John Carpenter, director-screenwriter James Cameron adapted the disarming humor of his mentors to deflect all possible objections to the film's many plot holes, head-on with a dumbfounded shrug or knowing wisecracks from the protagonists. The vision of a dark, dirty, and apocalyptic future was very much in vogue at the time, as witnessed by titles such as John Carpenter's Escape from New York, George Miller's Mad Max II / The Road Warrior (both 1981), Luc Besson's The Last Combat (1983), and Lars von Trier's The Element of Crime (1984). [3] Cameron's assured style - tech noir, as it was called after a nightclub in the film - and his kinetic energy combined with a sparse economy of narration in enfolding the many twists and turns, keep the viewer sufficiently distracted from the sheer absurdity of it all. [4] Even Arnold Schwarzenegger - the very epitome of bad acting with his bland facial expression, heavy Austrian accent, and body language from the school of Frankenstein's monster - becomes a major asset to the film. All his violent acts and his ten or so lines are delivered with a mechanical dullness and a mock-grim look that makes them charged with an irresistible, multilayered irony. [5] Virtually all his dialogue consists of short, unremarkable phrases. Yet, everybody who saw this sleeper phenomenon knows most of them by heart, down to Schwarzenegger's quirky pronunciation. [6] ''I’ll be back" is probably the most quoted among them - frequently used as a catchphrase in radio and TV shows.
If The Terminator's ability to engage the audience in such an interplay is reminiscent of The Rocky
Horror Picture Show's (1975) ritualistic cult following, then the nudging irony and frequent winks to the audience points forward to the Scream trilogy's (1999-2000) puns about generic clichés. The same goes for the sadistic but playful slapstick splatter-violence and the "final girl" twist at the end. Under the surface of this bric-a-brac of science-fiction elements actually lies an even less original slasher movie, complete with a (literally) mechanical killer and a tomboy (Linda Hamilton) discovering her resources to fight and overcome evil. [7] But, as I remarked above, The Terminator's unique combination strategy is greater than the sum of its parts. The response to the film, like that to all great genre movies, lies not in a presumed originality. Rather the opposite is true: It is in the way that the director fuses all these familiar elements and breathes new life into them that makes for such a memorable experience.
Need translations? English to Portugueses? click here https://tonyed35.wixsite.com/traduzindo
SHORT TRANSLATION
TERMINATOR (1984)
O
Exterminador do Futuro é um triunfo do estilo sobre a trama, da
esperteza sobre a inteligência e onde a combinação de seus
múltiplos elementos supera a qualidade individual dos mesmos.
Revigorado
pelo trabalho nos efeitos especiais de Roger Corman e John Carpenter,
apesar do baixo orçamento; o diretor e roteirista James Cameron
consegue repelir as possíveis críticas aos diversos furos
encontrados na trama. Para isso lança mão do humor cativante de
seus mentores, e segue em frente com um desdenhoso dar de ombros e as
piadinhas tão batidas dos protagonistas.
O
estilo tech-noir - como ficou conhecido por causa do filme - de
Cameron, combina uma vigorosa energia de cena com uma narrativa
repleta de reviravoltas surpreendentes que acabam por manter o
espectador distraído dos absurdos de toda a estória.
Até
mesmo Arnold Schwarzenegger - o exemplo perfeito de canastrão - com
sua inexpressividade facial, pesado sotaque austríaco e linguagem
corporal oriunda de uma escola para monstros tipo Frankenstein, se
torna peça principal do filme, ainda que todos seus diálogos
consistam em frases curtas e nada marcantes.
"I'LL
BE BACK" é provavelmente a mais lembrada delas e um bordão
frequentemente utilizado em shows de rádio e tv.
Mas
como frisei acima, a genial estratégia de combinações de
Exterminador do Futuro é maior do que a soma de suas diversas
partes.
A
popularidade do filme, como em todos os grandes filmes do gênero,
não se deve a uma suposta originalidade.
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