40 Years of The Terminator: Lessons on Human Life

The 1980s was the decade that saw many action movies dominating the box office lists year after year with actors like Sylvester Stallone, Chuck Norris, and others. Another name that comes to mind is Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Before going into acting, he was a bodybuilder. The 80s saw him breaking out into the action movie genre. Particularly, one movie that propelled him into an acting career was the release of The Terminator in October of 1984.

This also featured the first of three actor/director pairings of James Cameron and Arnold Schwarzenegger in cinema. John Ford and John Wayne are all alone with 11 pairings during the golden era of cinema. Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio is not that far.

Schwarzenegger plays a cyborg that is known as a terminator in the guise of a human person that is sent to the year 1984 by a program called Skynet. Its mission is to kill Sarah Connor (played by Linda Hamilton), the mother of the future leader of the human resistance John Connor.

Skynet was created has a type of military defense systems, yet it was corrupted and reprogramed to destroy humanity that resulted in a nuclear fallout that became known as Judgment Day. The survivors would rally to destroy Skynet.

In the year 2027, John Connor sends his best soldier, Kyle Reese (played by Michael Biehn). His mission is to protect Sarah at all costs from the terminator.

This battle across time features romance and edge of your seat action. The 80s decade did it better (change my mind).

As a fan of the first two films, I couldn’t help that there was a surprising pro-life message hidden in the film. First, James Cameron is pro-choice, yet he gave us two extraordinary action films with pro-life messages. Both films teach us how much value life has.

Second, let’s see how Sarah Connor, the Terminator, and Kyle Reese were able to craft out the message clearly in the film that began a popular franchise.

Sarah Connor

Sarah is an innocent woman navigating adulthood with a job as a waitress. She rooms with a close friend. Her life would soon change. Sarah teaches us that women have a unique gift to bring life into the world. For her, it was someone who can change or save the world.

She may not have asked for this honor, but it was for the common good. Even his futuristic son gives her a message, ““You must survive, or I will never exist”.

After losing Kyle, she crushes the cyborg that was sent to kill her. In the end, she accepts her destiny to bring the future leader into the world.

Terminator

When Cameron wrote the character, he wanted to ensure that one thing stood out about this cold-blooded killer from the future. It never spoke. It was silent and relentless in its mission to kill Sarah Connor. Further, the main antagonist in the film, in the words of Kyle Reese, “It doesn’t feel pity, remorse, or fear and it will not stop until you are dead”.

Kyle Reese

Kyle’s mission is to protect Sarah. He was willing to die for her to ensure John would exist. There is a deleted scene that could’ve change the movie completely. While running and hiding from the Terminator, Sarah brings up the idea of destroying a company that is creating robots (that would be brought up again in the movie’s sequel becoming the No.1 action film of all time).

In the scene, Sarah is tired of hiding and felt that she needs to be proactive and prevent a war from happening. She flees with Kyle on her tail. After stopping her, Kyle points a gun at Sarah. She encourages him, yet he stopped because he is surrounded by something that doesn’t exist in the future. He feels out of place because he came from somewhere that was destroyed by war.

Kyle came to the realization that the mission was more than just protecting Sarah. It was to prevent something from happening. Kyle even relayed a message to Sarah from her son that he memorized by heart. “There is no fate for what we make for ourselves.” She would later record that message for her son.

Kyle would lay down his life to complete his mission.

The Terminator became a classic sci-fi film. It was well received in the box office. Despite a plot hole, it lives up to its standards today.