The new Terminator Blu-ray box set comes with five discs including all four Terminator films as well as an extra bonus features disc. All five discs come in a sort of book which folds out to the left and right. This package slides into a sleeve with a cutout “T” that lets the 3D Termintor’s face poke through.
I ended up watching the films backwards for some reason, from most recent to oldest. But really, the story makes so many time jumps anyway, it kinda works.
Disc Breakdown:
1. The Terminator – The first installment of the Terminator films looks decent. I can’t say the video or audio blew me away to any degree but we are talking about a film that came out back in 1984 before HD cameras. It comes with featurettes and seven deleted scenes which are interesting to see. Usually deleted scenes are deleted for a reason and it’s really easy to see why when watching them. It wasn’t quite the same with these. There was actually one scene in particular between Reese and Sarah that explained a lot of backstory which the final cut sort of glosses over.
2. Terminator 2: Judgement Day – When I put the disc in a menu popped up saying that Skynet couldn’t connect to the internet and asked if I wanted to retry or cancel. Since my Blu-ray player isn’t wireless or plugged into an ethernet cable I hit cancel and the whole screen went blank. I couldn’t get it to do anything else and it wouldn’t let me watch the movie. Lame.
3. Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines – This disc comes with commentaries, featurettes and trailers but my favorite is the gag reel. Serious films usually don’t come with one so I was pretty excited. It wasn’t the greatest gag reel but it was interesting to see the actors goof around on the set during/between takes. The film itself was decent as well. Again, not a bad transfer but nothing amazing, either.
4. Terminator Salvation – It had been a while since I saw the film so I was able to experience it again almost as if it was for the first time. The story seems as though it could’ve been better. I still think they skipped over too much as I found myself wondering things like: What happened when the Connors emerged from the bomb shelter? How did he form the resistance? These loose ends, coupled with Bale’s bland performance, in my opinion, lessened the impact of the significance of John Connor to the overall story, in spite of all the hero worship the other characters keep giving him.
I had also forgotten some of the cornier moments like when John Connor’s old lady Katherine Brewster-Connor asks him what should she tell the guys about his leaving and he says: “I’ll be back.” Nyuk nyuk.
All that aside, this is definitely the best Blu-ray of all the films in the anthology due to simple fact that the visuals are so clear and vivid, it just makes the entire experience more engaging. The audio is outstanding as well. This 2 disc set includes the Director’s Cut, storyboards and featurettes.
Watching this made me realize that the Blu-ray format is geared more toward films already in HD. The older films look great as well but the newer ones definitely make you appreciate the beauty of the Blu-ray experience.
Rating: B+
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