The Terminator
The Terminator
In the post-apocalyptic future, reigning tyrannical supercomputers teleport a cyborg assassin known as the "Terminator" back to 1984 to kill Sarah Connor, whose unborn son is destined to lead insurgents against 21st century mechanical hegemony. Meanwhile, the human-resistance movement dispatches a lone warrior to safeguard Sarah. Can he stop the virtually indestructible killing machine?
Tubeman72 reviewedMay 6, 2025
A classic sci-fi action spectacle that marked the big breakthrough for director James Cameron and lead actor Arnold Schwarzenegger.
The film was a major success and spawned two sequels. This is unmistakably Schwarzenegger’s film. Since then, he has mostly played the hero throughout his career, but here he is an extremely effective villain. His cold demeanor and, of course, his massively pumped-up physique are perfect for the killing machine. Whether he would actually be a good infiltration unit, as the film claims, is debatable. Even when silent, Schwarzenegger stands out in a crowd, and once he starts talking, he certainly doesn’t sound like your average American. Luckily, he doesn’t have much dialogue, but he does deliver the now-iconic line “I’ll be back,” which has since become immortal.
Written by Cameron and producer Gale Ann Hurd—who would marry a year later—‘The Terminator’ is fast-paced, features likable characters (except for the cyborg, of course), and offers plenty of action.
The special effects by Stan Winston were groundbreaking at the time, and although some elements (notably the scene where the Terminator removes one of his eyes) haven’t entirely stood the test of time, the visuals still hold up quite well. The endoskeleton beneath the Terminator’s somewhat human appearance looks even more menacing. Still, it’s clear that the film was made in the 1980s. This is most evident from Sarah Connor’s (Hamilton) hair, which definitely qualifies as “big hair,” and from the archetypal disco scene in “Club Noir.”
Hamilton gives a decent performance as the timid Sarah, whose bad day as a waitress only keeps getting worse.
As the film progresses, she gradually shows more spirit, but she would have been eliminated almost immediately had she not been helped by the tough Kyle Reese (Biehn, a Cameron favorite). Reese is sent back by the resistance to protect Sarah from the Terminator, and he goes on the run with her in an attempt to stay ahead of the unstoppable cyborg.
Earlier that day, two other women named “Sarah Connor” had already been shot dead by the Terminator in Los Angeles, and two detectives are now searching for the third woman with that name.
The detectives are adequately portrayed by Winfield and Henriksen. They come across like an old married couple, so well are they attuned to each other, and it seems like they’ve worked together for years. In a tiny cameo as a punk, Bill Paxton also makes an appearance—he would go on to collaborate with Cameron in several more films.
‘The Terminator’ is a must-have for any DVD collection and a textbook example of how a well-crafted action movie should be made.