Explosive
Summary
Terminator Zero looks gorgeous and manages to have more characterization and blood-filled action sequences than most of the sequels combined. Even if you’re not a big Anime fan (like me) this is definitely worth investing your time in.
Plot: Caught between the future and this past is a soldier sent back in time to change the fate of humanity. She arrives in 1997 to protect a scientist named Malcolm Lee who works to launch a new AI system designed to compete with Skynet’s impending attack on humanity. As Malcolm navigates the moral complexities of his creation, he is hunted by an unrelenting assassin from the future which forever alters the fate of his three children.
Review: It’s been a long time since there has been a truly great Terminator movie, and I think we all figured the franchise was pretty much dead. I had no expectations for Terminator Zero as I’m not normally a big anime guy, but this is arguably the best piece of Terminator storytelling since T2.
Zero captures the impending horror and doom of the first movie with a somber storyline a d surprising emotional depth. I thought this was going to be an anthology of multiple storylines set in the Terminator universe but it’s just the one and that works perfectly, so we get involved with the plot and characters.
Malcolm Lee works for a technology company and keeps having nightmares about a post-apocalyptic future ruled by Skynet. He creates his own A.I. called Kokoro as he thinks it will be able to save mankind from its inevitable destruction. While busying himself over the years he becomes an absentee father where he is never around for his 3 children leaving his nanny Misaki to look after them.
Zero is easily the most violent Terminator product I’ve seen to date with hilarious amounts of gore and is more daring than all the sequels after part 2. It’s well paced with plenty of action including gunfights, explosions and gruesome kills.
We get to hear the main theme briefly early on, but I do wish it was used more often. It must be a right issue or something as to why we never get to properly hear Brad Fiedel’s main theme these days which is a shame as it’s one of the all-time great movie tunes.
This show is Terminator at its most philosophical with Kokoro asking why Malcolm believes humanity deserves to be saved; he struggles to come up with an answer and despite being in animated form this very much still feels like a Terminator story. Fate has always been a big theme of the series, and it’s explored in detail here.
There are 8 episodes all under 30 minutes long and there are several twists to keep things unpredictable. Each episode had me curious as to what would happen next and there was some amazing dialogue too giving this series more depth than you’d expect.
Overall, Terminator Zero is the best addition to the lore in many years with surprising depth, stunning visuals and plenty of bloody action scenes to keep fans entertained. If this is the future of the franchise, then I don’t want to change it.