|
|
|
Terminus
[Blu-ray]
Blu-ray ALL - America - MVD Visual Review written by and copyright: Eric Cotenas (2nd August 2025). |
|
The Film
 In the near future in defiance of the government, sinister parties have devised an elite new sport combining rally races with American football in which chosen drivers of a monster truck – appropriately called "Monster" – must outmaneuver gray trucks and make it to the end point "Terminus" to claim a cash prize. So far, no one has won the event due to their skills and the incidental casualties as they race through populated areas. The designer of the game is a young child named Mati (Robocop 2's Gabriel Damon) has been genetically-engineered and psychologically-conditioned by his doctor (Das Boot's Jürgen Prochnow) – under the orders of the mysterious and powerful Sir (also Prochnow) from his lair – to ignore his human conscience in game-playing and is remotely controlling the latest truck Monster through its guidance system (voiced in the French version by Louise Vincent and by someone best left unidentified in the English version) while being piloted by Gus (Raiders of the Lost Ark's Karen Allen). When Monster's guidance system inexplicably misses a detour and ends up in a hostile area where the local gypsy population is lorded over by ex-Foreign Legion mercenaries lead by the Major (Cop's Honour's Dominique Valera). Gus attempts to reason with them but is imprisoned and shares a cell with drunkard "Stump" (legendary French singer Johnny Hallyday, The Man on the Train), so called because of his non-functioning steel replacement had, who tries to impress upon her the dire nature of her predicament. When Gus is unwilling to divulge the location of an atomic bomb concealed in the truck – Gus herself unaware that the bomb is a fake prop of the game – she is brutally tortured and with her dying breath, she gives gypsy child Princess (Julie Glenn) the password to Monster and tells her that Stump must carry on the race. With Princess stowing away onboard, Stump escapes the mercenary fortress and proves his own ingenuity to unknown observer Mati by utilizing Monster's technology to avenge Gus but beyond the military guarding the border are The Grays. Monster continually frustrates Stump by parceling out information in the spirit of gamesmanship, but even the guidance system itself is questioning some of its own logical failures that have put them at a disadvantage. Meanwhile, at Terminus, Mati similarly suspects that someone is rigging the game while the doctor and Sir are trying to conceal the presence of a third player code named "Little Brother" (also Prochnow) piloting and invisible truck to foil some of The Grays maneuvers for the sake of entertainment but also to ultimately stop Monster from reaching its destination with no concern for human life. A forgotten big-budget eighties French/West German science fiction film directed by renowned French cinematographer Pierre-William Glenn (Série noire), Terminus could be described at best as "quirky" and at worst as "frustratingly incomprehensible." Beautifully-shot by Glenn's regular operator Jean-Claude Vicquery (Death Watch) in France, West Germany, and tax break-friendly Hungary with pioneering digital effects by Thomson Digital Image – a joint venture between the Institut national de l'audiovisuel and French defense contractor Thompson CSF – the film falls appallingly short in its script which is simply incoherent, touching upon authoritarian governments, ethical issues involving genetic engineering – it is never confirmed by two of Prochnow's roles may be clones of Sir rather than actual brothers while Mati is definitely a clone but may or may not be derived from Sir – and media manipulation but nothing about it actually feels satirical or even pointed in its criticisms. There is no explanation as to why the game justifies so much incidental loss of life, why Sir needs to cheat, and most of all who Sir is supposed to be since Mati threatens to expose his identity (the English version changes the threat to exposing his whereabouts suggesting that he is in hiding beyond the reach of the law). The English version features some alternate dialogue takes for Prochnow and additional dialogue scripted by Wallace Potts – one-time lover and biographer of Russian ballet dancer Rudolph Nureyev – added offscreen or when characters either have their faces averted or are too far from the camera for their mismatching mouth movements to be noticed and does not seem to provide additional information from the script or even conjecture its own take on the story so much as try like the viewer to make intuitive leaps about the backstory from what little we are given, ultimately sounding over-expository and silly at the same time. Out of everything else in the film, the rushed relationship between Gus and Stump and Allen's inexplicable early exit – which apparently was intentional and not a hasty rewrite for an actress exiting a production early – and the superimposition of a shot of her periodically for poignancy seem symoblic of the earnest but ultimately wasted efforts of the cast, particularly in the final scene where the last line of dialogue and accompanying freeze frames feel unearned dramatically. 
Video
A critical and box office failure in its native France upon release, Terminus' French version runs 115 minutes while the English version runs 83 minutes but the disparity does not seem to have been an issue one version being hacked down. Although we do not have references to the running time upon French theatrical release, OFDb has a record of a French television broadcast at 79:50 (PAL speed) in French and the German video and DVD releases are also sub-eighty minutes at 25fps. The French version is presented in 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.66:1 widescreen from a master provided by Studio Canal with richly-saturated colors and better delineation of the more subtle hues while the the English version – which uses the French version's end credits computer graphics up front and a different mix of Stan Ridgway's "End of the Line" with clearer vocals which fought with the instrumentation on the French end credits – of the film was given a scant theatrical release by Hemdale and is presented here in a 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.78:1 widescreen transfer provided by Multicom and looks faded and darker by comparison (Monster's red paneling looks burgundy metal on the French version and like rust and gives the impression of the tacky wood paneling on some seventies automobiles). The cooler hues still look vibrant and punchy in the French version while the Goth look of Sir's minions look more zombified on the English materials, Prochnow as the doctor looks gray, and Sir's orange wig in the French version looks more coppery on the English transfer. The two versions are of equal value in terms of representing the film as it played to audiences at different points. The English version falls short in image quality but both ultimately fail at entertaining and conveying the film's plot. MVD's early specs cited a 2.35:1 aspect ratio for the French version and Studio Canal uses the 2.35:1 version of their logo at the head but it appears that reports online that the film was shot in Super 35 and matted this way are inaccurate given that the French and English verisons come from different sources and neither look like they could sustain additional matting. 
Audio
The longer cut features a French LPCM 2.0 stereo track in which Prochnow is dubbed as the doctor by Mathieu Carrière (Malpertuis) and as Sir by Howard Vernon (The Awful Dr. Orlof) while he delivers his own limited French dialogue as "Little Brother" while Allen is dubbed. On the English LPCM 2.0 stereo track accompanying the shorter version, Prochnow voices all three of his performances (behind the scenes video shows him delivering his lines in English and French phonetically) while the revoicing of Monster might actually have been Hemdale's addition to the version rather than part of the export cut since Vincent is still credited with the voice of Monster on the English end credits which might also just be an oversight or the revoicing was a last minute decision to the export version. The French mix sounds more dynamic than the English one but the latter may be a side effect of all of the alterations (we do not have a copy of the shorter French or German versions to compare). Optional English subtitles are available for the French verison and English SDH subtitles for the English version. 
Extras
Extras start with a new interview with star Jürgen Prochnow (15:55) in which he reveals that he started out dubbing Sylvester Stallone in the German version of Rocky leading to the sequel and more dubbing jobs and how promoting Das Boot in the U.S. lead to him getting Hollywood representation and his role in Michael Mann's The Keep and Dune followed by steady work. Terminus came during a turbulent period when in Germany there was concern about safety from Chernobyl leading to him and his wife traveling and her contracting malaria. He discusses the thematic aspects of the script that attracted him and provides his own interpretation of the confusing story which seems as good as anyone else's. He also discusses his three roles, acting in both English and French – with behind the scenes video showing alternate readings of lines in those languages – and his memories of working with Damon and Hallyday.  "We All Descend – The Making of Terminus"(49:30) is a documentary built around archival interviews and masterclass excerpts with director Glenn and new remote interviews with his son Vincent Glenn and daughter Julie Glenn who both went onto their own filmmaking careers, him in documentaries and her in fiction. Vincent Glenn discusses the ten year development period of the film, the shoot, conveys how big a star Hallyday was to the French public, while Julie Glenn recalls working with him and her father (her previous acting experience had been in uncle Claude Miller's L'effrontée). They both recall the critical and audience failure of the film – Vincent Glenn appreciates the work his father put into it but admits that it does not make sense – the effect on their father who they felt never got over it even though he went back to cinematography and directed a handful of other films, the financial impact on their family at the time, as well as their reactions to that impact making Julie Glenn more cautious in her own career while Vincent Glenn has learned to "minimize expectations" even to the extent of deciding to restrict his own work in science fiction to prose fiction. The disc also includes a photo gallery and the U.S. theatrical trailer (1:33) built around the image and opticals of the French trailer along with other trailers. 
Packaging
The disc comes housed in with a reversible cover and the first pressing includes a slipcover. The foldout poster was inadvertently left out of the packaging and MVD are planning to make them available to purchasers in the near future.
Overall
A forgotten French/West German big-budget eighties sci-fi film, Terminus is no hidden gem, at best it is "quirky" and at worst "frustratingly incomprehensible."
|
|||||
|