Less is More (The Terminator)
Arnold Schwarzenegger only spoke 65 words in the entirety of The Terminator, and close to half of them come in the scene where he’s selecting his weapons of mass destruction to hunt down and kill Sarah Connor. He knows what he wants: “The 12-gauge auto-loader … the .45 long slide, with laser sighting … the phased plasma rifle in the 40-watt range.” Despite being informed that there’s a waiting period before he can make his purchases, he proceeds to load a shotgun. “You can’t do that,” says the startled shopkeeper. The Terminator’s succinct response? “Wrong.”
Next: First Contact (The Abyss)
First Contact (The Abyss)
James Cameron has always been at the forefront of technology. And never more so than in 1989′s The Abyss, in which a civilian diving team pursuing a lost nuclear submarine encounter aquatic aliens. The movie’s hit-or-miss, but Cameron scores with his special effects. Of particular note are the moments when the glowing ship reveals itself to Lindsay Brigman (Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio) and the “pseudopod” sequence when a CGI water-based tentacle morphs into the faces of Linsday and husband Bud (Ed Harris). Audiences had rarely been treated to such movie magic before, and the pioneering director would use the technology to far greater effect in his Terminator sequel two years later.
Next: Tech Noir (The Terminator)
