Terminus

Yes, this film could have been a six or seven, but the plot of this thing is so incomprehensible at times that it seems like a film they just started filming without a script. I got the basic gist, but so much stuff happens that goes nowhere or seems a bit out of place and man those lips! Absolutely horrifying! Then there is the fact they got a known actress to be in this and she is so obviously sleep walking through this thing for a paycheck and you have Terminus!

The plot is something along the lines of some sort of game being played. A woman, named Gus and play by Karen Allen from Raiders fame, must drive what looks like part of the vehicle from Damnation Alley to a location without getting caught and if she accomplishes this, she gets her weight in gold. Add a bizarre kid that seemingly is doing something, another kid who hitches a ride, a dude with red hair and who looks messed up, but you do not find out what he is doing, a truck driven by a crazy guy full of what looks like creatures from the film The Dark Crystal and the real hero of the piece a dude with a robotic arm and you have your film! Like I said, I get the gist of the game, but not why they play it or what is up with anything else.

The acting coming from Karen Allen is so obviously just for a paycheck. Everyone else hams it up to the point a bad guy who I thought would be important is killed in rather quick fashion. The lead guy is okay, I guess, playing the part of a Mad Max type lead as he drives this wreck through what is sort of a wasteland, but at the same time nothing like a wasteland. Not sure what is going on in this place as you have medieveil villages complete with castles, rave bars and various other places one normally does not associate with the apocalypse.

So, the film had interesting elements, perhaps had they tried to explain what was going on better or what this world was it may have worked. Had they dedicated more time to the strange guy driving the truck that became invisible or the weird guy with the red hair it could have been a rather cool futuristic film. As it is, you just kind of wonder what the heck is going on.

There are great designs here. Interesting ideas. But it seems noone really tried writing a script. No stakes are given. No real goals. The hero truck tries to get to Terminus. How far they have left? No clue. Is there an impending deadline? Maybe. At the beginning they talk about shaving off an hour of transport time. Great. Then they stand still for a day or so. No penalty.

Terminus is much more about style than story. It embodies that second half of the 80s where bizarre and unexplained aesthetics were cool for their own sake. You want a gender-ambiguous evil boss with bright red hair? You got it. A man randomly doing dumbbell presses in the background of the henchman's lair? Okay, fine. Primitive wire-frame 3D graphics with no purpose other than to "look cool"? Naturally. A truck run by a talking computer with real lips? What more could you ask for?

Well, a cohesive plot for one. Terminus drops you into its world with many questions and only a few answers. It makes the viewer the fish out of water and you either go with it or you don't.

The loose plot revolves around "The Game". The goal of the game is for "The Driver", piloting what looks like a large armored motor home outfitted with a talking computer and several gadgets, to reach the end. If they reach the end they'll win their weight (literally) in gold. What is the broader purpose of the game? Entertainment? A bread and circuses tool of the government? It's never quite explained.

Having grown up on video games in this era, where many had only the barest suggestion of a plot and your imagination was left to fill in the blanks, I wonder if it's vagueness was intentional. Very often the goal of video games was simply to get to the end of the level and onto the next. The "why" was a distant second to the joy of dodging and shooting enemies, racing against the clock or using your arsenal of weapons and gadgets.

This isn't necessarily a bad thing, particularly in contrast to the way many modern films set up questions but then beat us over the head over-explaining the answers. Leaving a few questions unanswered makes these worlds feel bigger and full of possibilities. Though, even if this was the intent with Terminus, one might decide it went too far and simply leaves us confused.

I was first attracted to Terminus because of Karen Allen, who is only in the film for the first third and was obviously hired to lend star power. Still, after the excellent Star Man (1984), it's hard to believe this is what she chose to do next.

Terminus is trying to be a great many different films in one. Part Mad Max, part techno-future dystopia, part American tough guy 80s action film, part super vehicle (Knight Rider, Airwolf) - all while infusing everything with a Euro-jank earnestness. In its defense, it never feels like it's ticking off boxes to achieve this. It falls short, but it does try.

This isn't a good film and only recommendable to those who seek out this kind of below grade trash.

It's cheesy '80s visuals and sounds have aged well and will definitely take you back to those simpler times when the imagined dystopias of back then sometimes seem preferable to the daily reality of today.

If you love the semi-post-apocalyptic car warrior movies then this one isn't off the mark. It's got a bit of cheesiness to it but the main plotline is on the mark, and the surrounding story and action fit the theme just fine.

On the other hand if you love Rifftrax/MST3K then this is a film that is basically written just for that genre.

Either way it's campy and fantastically so. No - it's not "good" in any normal sense of the word, but it is definitely in the so-bad-it's-good camp of campy movies.

The set work and costumes are probably the most professional part of this work. They were right on target for this theme... except maybe for the main bad-guy who seemed to have no connection to the actual plot but had very strong transvestite Ronald Macdonal vibes, and the talking truck... not really spoilers - just watch the thing and see for yourself.

There are definitely things to criticize: The supporting actors all appear to have recieved their lines only the morning of their shoot, and the writing for the main characters and their character names were apparently penciled in the day before. However, the main actors forge on and do their best, although the editing cuts the scenes together in such an discordinate way that even their amazing acting powers dcannot save the film.

Doomily set within a dismal, undisclosed totalitarian future, a fancy schmancy, AI-powered Monster Truck navigates this increasingly hostile terrain, part of a secretive, underground anti-establishment game. The participant's dangerous travails are masterminded by a playful, preternaturally precocious, genetically modified boy genius, Mati. Jürgen Prochnow as a trio of tweaked Tuetons, a Tank Girlish Karen Allen, and grizzled, steel-fisted hero Johnny Hallyday are perfectly cast in this dazzling roustabout cyberpunk actioner!!! This consistently entertaining Franco/ German production benefits hugely from its excellently charismatic actors, a catchy score, beautifully designed sets, futurist vehicles, and the snazzy Sci-future costuming. There's plenty of zest to stylishly neon-hued dystopian actioner 'Terminus', plus there's a despotic Comic Book evil scientist to B-Movie boost the explosive vehicular action!!! Glenn's locomotive Cyberpunk classic is an appealing admixture of Mad Max, Damnation Alley, Knight Rider, attractively garlanded with a uniquely European savour.