6. The Terminator Fights His Programming - Terminator 3: Rise Of The Machines
It's a laughable cliche of science fiction that a computer or brainwashed being can fight their programming or the spell they've been put under. It's much more ridiculous when it's a machine, because of course, they're not subject to free will but merely mission parameters. After the T-X reprograms the T-850 to kill John, it manages to shut itself down when John basically convinces it to, telling it, "You don't have to do this", and causing its previous mission objectives (protect John and Kate) to come bubbling back to the surface. Basically, the audience is supposed to believe that the T-X, a substantially more advanced model, couldn't just overwrite or completely erase the machine's previous goals, which is really, really silly, even for a movie revolving around time traveling robots.
5. The T-1000's "Past Lives" - Terminator 2: Judgment Day
Surely one of the most challenging effects shots in any of the Terminator movies takes place as the T-1000 falls into the molten steel and finally dies. As it thrashes around, screaming, all of its "past lives" are revealed (as in, all the people it's copied), such as John's foster mother, the cop from the hospital, the biker cop, and its "pure" liquid metal form. It's a haunting and awesome death scene befitting one of the cinema's all-time greatest villains, and a marvel of visual effects.
Stay at home dad who spends as much time teaching his kids the merits of Martin Scorsese as possible (against the missus' wishes).
General video game, TV and film nut. Occasional sports fan. Full time loon.
