Terminator - The Hunt for Sarah Connor

This is a fantastically made edit that creates a cool build-up of the T-800's full reveal.

This feels even more like a horror film compared to the original. The original is a horror film to me, anyways. In this edit the viewer learns as the character Sarah Connor learns what is going on. Someone is going around the city killing other women named Sarah Connor and she is concerned about it. Then, Sarah has to trust a strange man that saves her life, and seems to tell her the truth about a dystopian robot future.

I love the slower-burn build up of the plot. It's a seemingly standard Thriller for awhile, with no cyborg stuff going on, talked about, or shown. If it wasn't called The Terminator you wouldn't know where the plot is going, until the reveals. The setup for this is very clever, and edited together to a T. Sarah doesn't really suspect something is going on until the Tech Noir scene when Arnold stands back up, after being shot multiple times by Kyle.

The stock footage of the city is a little distracting right up front at the beginning. I'd add a soft filter/mask layer to it to make it look like it's from the 80s a little more, and add a little grain over it to get it to blend even better. Or get rid of it. Or maybe yet, use footage from another film from the 80s that has a city-wide shot.

Other than that, the video quality and audio quality is fantastic. This does not replace the original for me. I love the original too dearly. This is a new experience, since the reveal is a build-up, rather than letting it be known straight away that we are in a sci-fi universe with robots and laser guns. It's fantastic for those who have never seen the original and just bought it, but it's still fantastic for fanedit aficionados.

Fresh alternative to the original. Needless to say. It works!!!

Could this be the groundwork for some Grindhousing? Liscence to paste in some sexy scenery and better CGI is just what the doctor ordered. Not to mention better 80's music. But who dares??

Its difficult to critique this as soundtrack and scenes are already set up perfectly. It may be a good idea to alter some arrangements to amplify the (aforesaid) mystery romance appeal. Only marginal additons of Terminator footage are sought after in my mind. In the end this is entirely satisfactory as is. Good intro to the movie too. I can't say I was suspecting our soldier of fortune at any point but the blinkering of the man on the hunt and the phone-book killer themes does succeed at a focused intrigue. I'm sure first time viewers will be suspicious though. And then the entrance of our cyborg of fate will be massively impactful, I'm sure. Still its good for a muse. Its really interesting to the highlighting of Sarah Connor's vulnerability and confusion with a gradual move towards her acceptance of an imminent Judgment Day. Its one to watch with the girlfriend!!!

tl;dr. Turns the beloved campy thriller into a fun, exciting, mystery romance thriller, in the best possible way.

Stunning edit! The other reviews do a great job summarizing - great, fast pace, super interesting to view from Sarah's perspective and makes her the main character. As someone who became a Terminator fan in the early 2000s, I watched the first movie under the expectation that Arnold was a villain protagonist. This movie really reset me, framing Sarah as the hero protagonist. Definitely a good watch.

Not mentioned in the other reviews - this edit also really plays more into the Sarah-Kyle romance, which I liked. The original has their romance as a jokey, forced Virgin Mary, who will birth the messiah, romance. Whereas this edit really does a slow burn on their relationship. As ridiculous as it sounds, this edit makes it make sense that Sarah Connor would trust this Kyle a man who says he's from the future and fell in love with a picture of her that her unborn messiah son gave her. Another review said more of the romance could've been cut, but I really enjoyed it.

This edit also breathes new life into the franchise. The mystery element was really well done. While I love the series, 1, 2, 3, and 6 all have the same plot. This edit has inspired me to think of how future iterations (or fan edits) could breathe new life into the series. It makes want Terminator 7 to be a mystery - two terminators come back from the future, and they fight to 'protect' the future great leader, but you don't know which one is the good guy, which one is the bad guy. Imagine, Terminator 6, but Sarah (who we know is a hero) meets Dani first. We don't know if Grace or Gabriel are good or evil. They're both chasing after Sarah and Dani, and fight each other along the way. But neither get close enough for us to know which is the good one or bad one until the end. Both use vague dialog like "i'm saving humanity from its future" and say each other is here to "destroy earth as we know it" which could mean Grace is protecting humanity's future hero, or Gabriel is terminating Dani to protect humanity from itself. Not sure how it would end, but this edit shows how something like that could work. Thanks for revitalizing the franchise! lol

My first review, so 10/10 for enjoyment and narrative. 9s for the others since it was well done, but I don't have enough basis of comparison, so I gave it a 9.

A great cut of this classic. Those first fifteen minutes really build nicely with a lot of ambiguity as to Reese's intentions, My only nitpicks would be that opening credits/titles would really lend a lot to a film like this. I understand wanting to cut right to the chase, but the pace and typography and music of an opening credits all let the viewer know what kind of film they're in for and start to sink into the mood. Other than that, a great edit overall.

Firstly: I love this edit. It was like seeing this classic movie from a new angle.

MINOR SPOILERS BENEATH
Small things I think could be improved is within the first minutes. I did not fancy the title card, it does not fit the rest of the movie in my opinion. Also the first scenes with Reese are a little to sudden, and could probably be edited differently. But don't let that keep you from this edit. The rest is pure movie magic. How the Terminator is subtly introduced to the plot. The new use of the photo of Sarah. Wow, I did not know that the movie could be told from this perspective. Well done!

The picture and sound quality is really good. Editing is seamless. I will watch this again. I totally recommend it.