The Terminator (Blu-ray)

This is a cult classic sci-fi movie directed by James (Avatar, Aliens, and Titanic) Cameron, where we see Arnold Schwarzenegger play the iconic movie cyborg for the first time! Great 80s film with now dated cheesy effects but still brilliant performances from the cast, great story and an iconic movie score!! A must own in any sci-fi fans collection of cult 80s movies!!

This is one of the earliest movie memories I have and I love it. For what is essentially a B Movie it's right on the money.

I can't imagine too many people who will be buying this who haven't seen it already so a review of the movie is not paramount here.

Many believe the sequel is better, which is a rarity, I do not agree. The second is a little too sugar-coated for me, still a fantastic film mind you. But this is darker, meaner and altogether more absorbing.

This is a rollercoaster of fast paced action and ranks in my opinion as Arnie's best movie.

The Transfer.................................

Optimum have granted this film with an MPEG-4 AVC encoded, 1.85:1 framed, 1080p transfer onto a 50GB Blu-ray disc of reference quality.

When this was first released on Blu-ray back in 2006 it was rough to say the least, only an MPEG 2 encode and the master was full of black speckles and white popping damage, when you watch it you're shocked it was allowed.

So lets start with the restoration, it's brilliant, no more errant damage and blotches all over the screen. These were usually witnessed during the effect shots of the future world and all these moments now look prestine.

We have the film grain perfectly intact which is fine and never obtrusive and provides us with alarmingly good detail, clarity and sharpness. The scenes between Sarah and Lt Traxler in the police station look stunning with remarkable skin textures and object detail. The image just pops perfectly. I'm shocked at how filmic the overall presentation looks, and is one of the best looking Blu-rays on the market for early eighties cinema.

Skin tones appear lifelike and accurate. The colours are muted which is in-keeping with the intended look of the movie, it mostly takes place at night so this was never going to rival Ben Hur for colour saturation and vibrancy.

The blacks are inky and strong with only a couple of scenes where they take on a more dark grey appearance and crushing is never an issue. Delineation in these darker scenes is very good with clear object definition.

We have no digital artifacting or compression issues to worry about. No DNR processing or edge enhancement.

This is a stunning presentation and I for one am delighted. It even betters the T2 transfer which is not exactly poor.

THIS DISC IS REFERENCE QUALITY

Movie 5/5 Transfer 5/5

You have to buy this. Stunning.

This is one of the earliest movie memories I have and I love it. For what is essentially a B Movie it's right on the money.

I can't imagine too many people who will be buying this who haven't seen it already so a review of the movie is not paramount here.

Many believe the sequel is better, which is a rarity, I do not agree. The second is a little too sugar-coated for me, still a fantastic film mind you. But this is darker, meaner and altogether more absorbing.

This is a rollercoaster of fast paced action and ranks in my opinion as Arnie's best movie.

The Transfer.................................

Optimum have granted this film with an MPEG-4 AVC encoded, 1.85:1 framed, 1080p transfer onto a 50GB Blu-ray disc of reference quality.

When this was first released on Blu-ray back in 2006 it was rough to say the least, only an MPEG 2 encode and the master was full of black speckles and white popping damage, when you watch it you're shocked it was allowed.

So lets start with the restoration, it's brilliant, no more errant damage and blotches all over the screen. These were usually witnessed during the effect shots of the future world and all these moments now look prestine.

We have the film grain perfectly intact which is fine and never obtrusive and provides us with alarmingly good detail, clarity and sharpness. The scenes between Sarah and Lt Traxler in the police station look stunning with remarkable skin textures and object detail. The image just pops perfectly. I'm shocked at how filmic the overall presentation looks, and is one of the best looking Blu-rays on the market for early eighties cinema.

Skin tones appear lifelike and accurate. The colours are muted which is in-keeping with the intended look of the movie, it mostly takes place at night so this was never going to rival Ben Hur for colour saturation and vibrancy.

The blacks are inky and strong with only a couple of scenes where they take on a more dark grey appearance and crushing is never an issue. Delineation in these darker scenes is very good with clear object definition.

We have no digital artifacting or compression issues to worry about. No DNR processing or edge enhancement.

This is a stunning presentation and I for one am delighted. It even betters the T2 transfer which is not exactly poor.

THIS DISC IS REFERENCE QUALITY

Movie 5/5 Transfer 5/5

You have to buy this. Stunning.

Classic Film with various quality sequels,with Arnie turning from bad guy to good guy in Termie 2 (prob the best sequel) but nothing touches the original. If you cant wait for the UK release You can seek out the region one US version, ( Cat No. M122804) which actually plays on my samsung player which isnt multi region (despite the disc being region A ( according to the info on the packaging), its a unique hard back book type pakage with about a dozen or more pages of info on the cast and making of the film, with photos etc,and also got 7 deleted scenes and a couple of other extras, No way of knowing if the UK release will be same, but be aware its the US release so might not play but as i say my copy plays fine, anyways just a possible alternative, either way classic, enjoy it..

I still believe this is Arnold Schwarzenegger's finest film to date, it's thrilling and exciting with a great storyline. Arnie is perfectly cast as the cyborg from the future and Linda Hamilton is brill, young and sexy as Sarah Connor, Michael Beihn is also very good. Im sure the blu ray transfer will do it justice !