The Terminator (40th Anniversary) (4K UHD Blu-ray Review)
It’s hard for me to imagine a cinematic world without The Terminator. The iconic cyborg tale turns 40 years old this year, and astonishingly, we are only 5 years away from the 2029 that he travelled from. I also hold The Terminator in high regard that the first film was one of the things that terrified me as a child, but also its incredible sequel, T2, is the first R-rated movie I was allowed to see, at age 5. Read more on the timeless and timely classic below. I’ll also include some related links to the Terminator universe that we’ve shared here over the years!
Film: 
Disguised as a human, a cyborg assassin known as a Terminator (Arnold Schwarzenegger) travels from 2029 to 1984 to kill Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton). Sent to protect Sarah is Kyle Reese (Michael Biehn), who divulges the coming of Skynet, an artificial intelligence system that will spark a nuclear holocaust. Sarah is targeted because Skynet knows that her unborn son will lead the fight against them. With the virtually unstoppable Terminator in hot pursuit, she and Kyle attempt to escape.
I always work on these reviews first and foremost to get the basic plot details and then my critique out to the readers. It’s always a real treat to revisit catalog titles and this instance is no different. The Terminator has a big distinction in my life as being one of the only non-horror films to terrify me as a child. Arnold Schwarzenegger as the titular cyborg going from Sarah Connor to Sarah Connor murdering them without any feeling gave me the ultimate ick as a kid. I was younger, think preschool age, and the TV version still had those kills in it. I recoiled to my room and had bad dreams for a few days. I was so scared that when my parents rented T2 from Blockbuster, I watched with my eyes covered before I realized that the 1991 T-800 was not the same as 1984’s was.
Looking at The Terminator now, it’s so easy to see the imminent influence the film has had on others. James Cameron, who we now know as a perfectionist who strives for top-tier effects, emotionally overwrought dialogue and crystal-clear picture quality. Then, Cameron was the director of Piranha II. The villain T-800 chasing Sarah Connor, a quickly toughening Linda Hamilton, and Kyle Reese, a human who comes to protect her from Skynet’s Terminators has been a now well-worn formula. Of course, the formula can deliver even without the science fiction aspect.
The Terminator hits many action film tropes along the way. Shootouts, chase scenes, impending doom… It’s all here. But in this case, these tropes were NEW! The freshness of the film’s storytelling continues to be incredibly interesting, fresh, and for new viewers maybe even surprising. When you realize that Sarah and Kyle are set to become romantic, it’s evident that the pair do have a mutual interest and care for one another. Their will to survive is palpable.
There are some things that now, 40 years on, feel so relevant to 2024. The oncoming AI threat that is written in the screenplay is now a smaller scale reality. We are unsure of the newness of AI, and the film has that same sense of unease running through it. It’s kind of crazy to think that we aren’t far off from having robot or cyborg type technology coming down the pike. It’s also kind of crazy that we are barrelling towards the “future” that begins with the film. I hope the hell we don’t witness the end of our world by the time we get to 2029 though.
See Brandon Peters’ review of Terminator 2: Judgement Day HERE
See Brian White’s review of Terminator: Genysis HERE
See Brian White’s review of Terminator: Dark Fate HERE
Video:
Encoding: HEVC / H.265
Resolution: 4K (2160p)
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Layers: BD-100
HDR: Dolby Vision
Clarity/Detail: The Terminator has always had a decent life on disc. The DVD from 2001 was loved in its time and not one, but two Blu-rays have been released in a few iterations. In 2006, the film came to the Blu-ray format early in its time, and then remastered in 2013. Fans have been asking for a 4K release of the film since 2016, and now here we have it. The Park Road gang has worked on the previously done 4K transfer here and they’ve cleaned things up but not at the sacrifice of grain or detail. The film is the most filmic of their work and fans should certainly be pleased with the clarity that comes through without compromising the sharpness we all want out of the preferred physical media format.
Depth: Depth survives the remastering process, looking like 1984, but with the sharper focus of a modern film. Softness crops up during some of the admittedly primitive special effects work, but that’s to be expected. I’d venture to think if those softer moments weren’t present, we’d hear some complaints.
Black Levels: I am happy to report that the elements of crush that somewhat hindered previous releases are no longer present. Blacks have a deepness but keep the darker details of the image intact.
Color Reproduction: Colors are the typical 80’s variety we are used to. With Dolby Vision HDR the color spectrum widens, but this was never the film we went to for a color spectacle. I’d say the overall look color-wise is just as it should be, made better by the HDR work.
Flesh Tones: Except for the appalling fake T-800 head that mars a couple of shots, Flesh Tones are spot on.
Noise/Artifacts: Clean, but not AI clean, thankfully.
Audio:
Audio Format(s): English Dolby Atmos, English Theatrical Mono DTS-HD MA 2.0 (split), English Dolby Audio 2.0, French DTS-HD MA 5.1, Germain DTS-HD MA 5.1, Italian DTS-HD MA 5.1, Spanish DTS-HD MA 5.1, Czech Dolby Digital 2.0
Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish, French
Dynamics: The Terminator has had an Audio overhaul with a new Dolby Atmos mix. Fans will also be thrilled the original theatrical mono track is finally resurrected here. The Dolby Atmos mix is complimentary to the synth heavy score and some well-placed effects. Nothing sounds like it’s been redone to my ears, at least not since it’s lossless 5.1 remix over a decade ago. The sound field is open and spacious, with nothing sounding out of place or too modern in the mix.
Height: Height channels complement the score and some of the future earth battle sounds bounce around the room too! Explosions and car chase sounds also come at you from up top.
Low-Frequency Extension: A bombastic explosion here, a deep synth note there, and some rumbling engines too! Bass is reserved for a good portion of the film, which is fine since it’s 40 years old! But when the Subwoofer comes into play, the floor will rumble, and you’ll love the bass extension.
Surround Sound Presentation: Surrounds make the nightclub scene shine, with that awful 80’s dance rock and that alt. crowd filling them. Of course, more comes into the surround channels, such as outdoor ambience, engine sounds, gunfire and explosions.
Dialogue Reproduction: Dialogue sounds older than much of the mix, but when you consider it comes from a mix that was originally mono, that can be forgiven and faulted to the source without issue.
Extras:
Extras are a mixed bag. As has become customary with Warner Bros. releases of late, the studio is forgoing releasing new 4K editions with Blu-ray’s bundled, so there seems to be a pick and choose process for what special features come with the new editions. In this case, we get a few that have been missing which is a surprise. The newest release of The Terminator comes as a standard edition and a new steelbook! Each release comes with a digital code.
Special Features:
Deleted Scenes (7 scenes) – You can watch these with newly reinstated optional commentary by James Cameron
Creating The Terminator: Visual Effects and Music (Featurette)
The Terminator: Closer to the Real Thing (Featurette)
Unstoppable Force: The Legacy of the Terminator (Featurette)
Summary:
The Terminator has aged extremely well in its 40 years. Dated clothing, dated music and dated effects only add to the timeless quality of the film. If I had to choose, I’d easily choose T2 over the original, but there’s not denying that The Terminator is a thrilling, non-stop action masterpiece that was written and created to stand the test of time. Without this film I can imagine quite a few other titles we know and love would not be here to love. This new edition of The Terminator has a near perfect look to it, and the sound is fabulous too. Spotty extras be damned, but I feel this is a more than worthy upgrade to an exceptional film!
Buy your copy of The Terminator in 4K HERE!
Buy the Steelbook edition of the film HERE!
Adam Toroni-Byrne
Adam is a lifelong physical media collector. His love of collecting began with a My First Sony radio and his parent's cassette collection. Since the age of 3, Adam has collected music on vinyl, tape and CD and films on VHS, DVD, Blu-ray and UHD Blu-ray. Adam likes to think of himself as the queer voice of Whysoblu. Outside of his work as a writer at Whysoblu, Adam teaches preschool and trains to be a boxer although admittedly, he's not very good.
