(0:36-end mark from the theme from the final season of American Gladiators original run play the camera moves back to see James on top of the slab with the words “The Last Of The Americans” on it then the camera zooms to the backside of the slab with the word editorial on it)
I'm James Faraci, The Last Of The Americans and the views I'm about to express are that of my own & some of yours. We've all seen "The Terminator" & "Terminator 2: Judgment Day" (Show the intros to both "The Terminator" & "Terminator 2: Judgment Day" then cut to clips of both movies with James doing a voice over)
TLOTA (Voice over): Now for the moment push out of your mind Terminator 3 & Terminator Salvation and the supposed "Reboot" that's coming up out of your mind for a while and remember how innovative the first two were. It had great practical & digital effects, The stories were self contained and told well, the acting was for the most part solid and James Cameron pushed the potential that cinema could have at that point. But let's look at the endings and what the meaning behind them were. Because this does also mean an analysis of the movies on their own merit and combined. (Cut to James physically.)
TLOTA: I know that everyone knows these movies backwards and forwards but here is where they differ is at the endings and I will be talking about those only, it goes without saying that there will be spoilers & I will be talking about the last moments after the villain have been well lack of a better term. (Cut to T2 Clip where Arnold says "Terminated" then cut back to James physically.) Thanks Arnie. Let's start with the first "Terminator" ending (Show ending of "The Terminator" while James does a voice over.)
TLOTA: We know that Kyle Reese played by Michael Biehn sacrificed himself so that Sarah Connor played by Linda Hamilton could survive to give birth to the hope of the resistance against Skynet, their son John who in the second movie is played by Edward Furlong and as Sarah is driving in her Jeep a kid takes a photo that both John & Kyle will keep to remind themselves of what they fight for and what they would eventually lose. Kyle would lose the woman because he fell in love with her in the middle of a fight for survival & John would lose the only parent he would know. The only reason John doesn't know about Kyle Reese is because Sarah is reluctance to let her son know he's the only hope for the future in the first movie and as she rides off, She doesn't ride off into a bright and hopeful future. She rides head first into a storm knowing that there will be danger involved and she's ready to take on that danger head on. But let's think about this. A woman is carrying the only hope for humanity and sees on the horizon the chaos that is to come. Wouldn't you be afraid? I guess after being chased by a murderous creation with one intent in mind which is to kill you. Looking at a storm on the horizon and not being afraid is about right. But however things may look bad on the horizon there is a light at the end of the tunnel and I think that is what Sarah is seeing. (Cut to James Physically)
TLOTA: But why did she become the way did in "T2" I have no clue and speaking of "T2". (Show ending of "Terminator 2: Judgment Day" while James does a voice over )
TLOTA (Voice over): So yeah after we discover that Arnold's Terminator was reprogrammed by the resistance to Protect the young John Connor and going through so much to learn about the ways of humanity decided to sacrifice himself so that Judgment Day will never happen. (Cut to Poster of Terminator 3: Rise Of The Machines trying to sneak over James physically and James holds the double barreled handgun from "The Green Hornet" to said poster.)
TLOTA: I said Judgment Day will NEVER HAPPEN! (Poster runs off as scene cuts to the ending of Terminator 2: Judgment Day as James does a voice over)
TLOTA (Voice over): John discovers what humanity feels like. Remember he didn't feel much for anything until his life was on the line what his life what the value of human life was. Even as a cold and calculating machine which at the beginning had the same value on human life was shown through John's eyes. John became a bit of a father to Arnold's terminator. The Terminator Arnold plays becomes a father to John and so at the end when John is saddened at the loss of the only father figure he knew. Arnold says the line(Show clip of Arnold saying " I now know why you cry." then going back to James doing a voice over) Arnold 's Terminator discovers through a sub conscious thought in John's head. He's not only crying for Arnold's Terminator but the father he had yet to meet in the future but never knew when John before John was born. So Arnold's Terminator is lowered into the molten steel hoping that the future he came from will never exist.(Cut to Poster of Terminator 3: Rise Of The Machines trying to sneak over James physically and James holds the double barreled handgun from "The Green Hornet" to said poster.)
TLOTA: I said WILL never exist! (Poster runs off as scene cuts to the ending of Terminator 2: Judgment Day as James does a voice over)
TLOTA (Voice over): And Sarah begins to see the light at the end of the tunnel come closer while at the end of the first movie she sees that light at the end of the tunnel of chaos, there is that tunnel of chaos before hand and while at that end she has gone through a lot to get to that light she can never forget what got her to that point and while it may be a part of her. It's never going to be the defining point for her. She will move forward in life and see things with a bit of hope. But she also knows that eventually she won't be able to protect the son from the fallout from the chaos she caused from going into the storm from the first movie's ending. But she also hopes her son will go through that chaos without the same problems she did or maybe She knew that John wouldn't be afraid of the Chaos because of what he went through. But whatever happens the future is theirs for the taking. (Cut to James physically)
TLOTA: Well I hope I gave you some insight into two of the finest movies in the Sci-Fi, Action Adventure genre redefining movies ever made and the endings that went with it. Because something tells me, this next one will make my review list but it will remind me of how great and untouchable the first two were and still remain. (Cut to footage from the first two Terminator movies as James does a voice over.)
TLOTA (Voice over): Because the first two remain some of the most revolutionary movies ever made, their legacy, even after bad sequels, bad spin-offs and bad attempts to reboot the franchise, are reminders of how cinema can be used and should be used for great story telling and not just flashy effects and cardboard cutouts of cliché characters. Which is why when these movies come on, I will watch(Cut to James Physically)
TLOTA: I'm James Faraci, The Last Of The Americans and (Puts on shades and does an Arnold Schwarzenegger impression) I'll be back!
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