5 Reasons Why They’ve Never Recaptured The Magic Of Terminator

5. Colour Coding

The cyberpunk-esque red and black of 1984's The Terminator, and the ice cold silver and blue of 1991's T2: Judgement Day were recurring palettes across both films, used in scenery, backgrounds and especially on the villainous terminators themselves. This was kind of typical of James Cameron's bewildering attention to detail. It made the visual style a through-and-through hypnotic and addictive experience.

Colour themes were touched on mildly in the sandy and ragged look of Terminator: Salvation, but otherwise overlooked, making for an ultimately duller visual experience in the later incarnations.

Colour coding makes perfect sense for a story about innocent goodies on the run from ruthless heels. In Terminator 2 the blue, silver and white of almost everything filmed at night time resembled the glossy tones of the T-1000 in his liquid metal form. It projected the impression of never being safe, of being marked by the killer sent to catch the protagonists no matter whereabouts they might be hiding.

And the genius in this technique is that it often has an effect on the viewer without the person even consciously realising.