He blinks when shooting


In his autobiography, Total Recall, Arnold says:
"I worked with guns every day before we filmed, and for the first two weeks of filming I practiced stripping and reassembling them blindfolded until the motions were automatic. I spent endless hours at the shooting range, learning techniques for a whole arsenal of different weapons, getting used to their noise so that I wouldn’t blink. As the Terminator, when you cock or load a gun, you don’t look down any more than Conan would look down to sheath his sword."

Also, earlier in the book:
"I had a very clear vision of the terminator. I told Cameron, “One thing that concerns me is that whoever is playing the terminator, if it’s O. J. Simpson or whoever, it’s very important that he gets trained the right way. Because if you think about it, if this guy is really a machine, he won’t blink when he shoots. When he loads a new magazine into his gun, he won’t have to look because a machine will be doing it, a computer. When he kills, there will be absolutely no expression on the face, not joy, not victory, not anything.” No thinking, no blinking, no thought, just action."

However:
- he blinks multiple times when shooting Ginger crawling on the floor
- I believe he looks at the Uzi when reloading in Tech Noir just as he's about to shoot Sarah on the floor, although I can't tell for sure

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This is such a nitpicky thing to complain about. Maybe you think Arnold shouldn't have blinked but it's hard not to blink. i mean, blinking is a natural thing to do. Maybe not natural for the character of the Terminator but it is for the actor playing him. So what? He blinked. Get over it.

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Nitpicky? possibly , but ...
But they are being paid to "act" (hence the name actor) , not to do whats natural.

It might have been natural for Tom Cruise to stand up during making of "Born on the 4th of July" , but he was acting as a disabled character .....

And acting like a robot has to be one of the easier acting gigs!

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The director is equally at fault as well. I don’t think it’s a nitpick.

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Not so easy.

Arnold watched Westworld and studied Yul Brynner's performance. He has spoken about how difficult it was to act like a machine.

The blinking? I'd have to look but if he blinks while shooting the gun it was an oversight.

A minor goof. Arnold did a good job overall imo.

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Yeah, I caught the blinking too. But, like the others said, hard to not do.

AND, another thing to consider, just how many times did you have to watch it, before you noticed?

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It happens.
Alan Rickman had an uncontrollable flinch when gun shots go off. So, whenever Hans had to shoot in Die Hard they would pan the camera away from him.

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Yes, I noticed that too, it's a glaring mistake and it is annoying.
I also hate in T2 and T3 when it turns to face people when talking, like humans do.

We could pretend it does so to mimic people more accurately, but I find it bad acting from Arnold. He is otherwise great.

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"it's a glaring mistake"

What?!

It is a minor and insignificant "goof". If it is a goof. Maybe his computerized eye is programmed to blink under certain circumstances. I'd have to go back and look.

A lotta Monday morning quarterbacks here if you ask me. Looking for one tiny moment he didn't act like a machine.

Balls. Arnold was great in this film.

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That's a glaring mistake in my book, and they SHOULD HAVE reshot the scene with the right acting.
I would even be fine with a digital fix now to have him shoot with his icy stare, it's not the gospel, you can correct little mistakes later if you are able to (like the explosion of the Death Star in SW, that has always bothered me as crap, and I am glad they fixed it later. Of course, most of the other additions in the SE are overdone and unnecessary).
Same for the other moments that I mentioned in T2 and T3.

Like I said, I find it bad acting from Arnold. He is otherwise GREAT.

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Thank God for Movie Chat to point this out because without Movie Chat, no one would've batted an eyelash at Arnold blinking and were too caught in the moment Ginger was going to end up as fodder??

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I agree, the blinking while shooting Ginger is distracting, and completely contradicts what Arnie said about ‘not blinking’.

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