Tension build up on a higher level.

Rating: 9/10 (13 July 2017)

The Terminator is a great movie according to me. The tension build up for the scenes are executed extremely well. The movie hints with similar but subtle choices of scene blocking, and soundtrack at different parts of the movie to create a form of dramatic tension.
The story is interesting and the symbolism that lies under it. The symbolism can be found both in visual gags and in the story concept. Example: Bill Paxton's character has a tire track mark as a tattoo on his face. This mirrors the scene from the future war were a Machine Tank drives over a stack of human skulls. And what happens? Bill's character gets figuratively driven over by the machines. (He gets killed by The Terminator).
The visual effects works for all but maybe one scene. The close up of The Terminator's face just before he puts on his famous sunglasses (to hide his now visible robot eye), looks kind of too dummy looking. The rest of the effects works great. The context helps some of the effects. Like that the Terminator skeleton's walking style is a bit weird. They added a concept of which that the Terminator was damaged in the foot. Which in universe makes the weird walking style more appealing.
The movie follows the Chekhov's gun principle in many ways. There is nothing wrong with filler details though. This movie is good at planting such Chekhov objects. Some require multiple viewings to notice.
Things the movie did right: The plot, both overall and subplots. The love story. The soundtrack. The technique used for tension building. The less is more editing. Multiple minor gags that I find entertaining. Hidden symbolism.
Things the movie could have done better: The close up of the dummy Terminator face could have been shot differently for more belief. They should have kept the deleted scene at the end.
10/10