Terminus

Unlike Mad Max, we do not much about any apocalyptic event occurred before the time of the story which takes place in a near future. A strong government is ruling, rogue-military and police are keeping peace, borders are close and secured, and above all, no game is allowed. "Game leads to thinking, and thinking to rebellion". On the other side, an underground mad scientist called "Sir" (Jurgen Prochnow, excellent as usual)is trying to perform cloning experimentations and cybernetic enhancement of the human brain, by helping his own clone (called "Doctor") to create two children whose brain has been upgraded and own will annihilated. The boy "Mati" is the last product of the "Doctor". In order to test him, "Sir" has organized a forbidden game which consists of a truck race across forbidden areas and borders, to reach the "Terminus", i.e the hidden base of the "Doctor". In fact, "Sir"'s purpose is to create an army of young devoted and intelligent fellows in order to take power over the government. Leading the truck race, Mati has created a new era of a computer, "Monster", integrated to a truck driven by Gus, a female truck driver. Somehow, "Monster" experiments failures which do not appear to be purposeless.

Relationships between the two drivers and "Monster", Mati, an orphan girl met in a prison camp, are the heart of the story, and their hope and faith in freethinking, love and protection of the most defenseless ones, is considered to be the main danger for both the government and "Sir".

This movie is dealing with a chase, a race, manipulations and strange hope.

The cinematography is very unusual, the Grey/green/red colors remind the visual universe of sci/fi comics. You need to enter this very personal environment to be delighted in watching this movie.

I remember I was astonished as a teenager, seeing this movie in theaters, long ago.

Karen Allen, Johnny Halyday and Jurgen Prochnow, as well as "Monster" performed this unusual movie as if they were part of Glenn's universe and bad dreams.

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.

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.

Do not be fooled be the PG rating. Within the first 8 minutes F-bombs were dropped twice plus other expletives. There were harsh comments about war and ethnicity. I stopped watching.