The Terminator

This definitive (for now) "Special Edition" does justice to James Cameron's 1984 B-movie, guerilla-filmmaking, sci-fi classic about a futuristic cyborg (Arnold Schwarzenegger) sent back in time to kill the mother-to-be (Linda Hamilton) of humanity's savior. Digitally re-mastered and presented in the widescreen format, the movie itself never looked or sounded better, and two fascinating documentary segments take viewers behind the scenes of this intense production. Did you know that O.J. Simpson was at one point considered to play the iconic role of the Terminator? Or that Schwarzenegger was originally recruited to play the role of the back-from-the-future hero Reese before he wrested the title role--his first as a villain--from actor Lance Henriksen? With several deleted scenes (that can be played with or without Cameron's commentary) and a DVD-ROM script to screen comparison, Terminator-philes will be back. Highly recommended. (K. Lee Benson)[Blu-ray Review—May 24, 2011—MGM, 108 min., R, $34.98—Making its second appearance on Blu-ray, 1984's The Terminator sports a nice transfer with Dolby Digital 5.1 and PCM 5.1 sound. Blu-ray extras are identical to the previous Blu-ray release, including “Terminator: A Retrospective” featurette (21 min.), “Creating The Terminator: Visual Effects & Music” (13 min.), deleted scenes (10 min.), and trailers, newly packaged in a 24-page digi-book. Bottom line: if you own the earlier Blu-ray release, you won't need this one; if not, this edition is highly recommended.]