An incredible film, and one that needs no introduction

Rating: 10/10 (17 July 2003)

I first saw Terminator when was a kid (way under 18 years old
which was the certificate at the time) because it was the film to
see. When we were 8 years old this was our equivalent of a video
nasty and when my mother found out I'd seen it she went berserk!
Of course, anyone who's seen it and appreciated it will understand
that it's far from nasty and in fact isn't very violent at all considering
that most of the violence is carried out against a machine.
Nowadays I still regard this as a 'must-see' film but for completely
different reasons.
Until recently I looked at the IMDb top 250 films and wondered why
this was rated so highly. I liked it, but didn't think it deserved to be
in the top 250 films at all. Now I look at it and think it should be
higher. The story behind The Terminator is excellent, and the
action scenes that go along with it are breathtaking. There are so
many moments of high tension in this film you will definitely not be
able to look away from the screen. I'm very rarely scared for a
character's life in films, but there are some moments in this where
I seriously think James Cameron is going to kill one of them off
unexpectedly. A lot of scenes are very powerful too, probably
because of the musical score which has stuck with the series
through to the new T3 (at least I have gathered that from the
trailer). The acting is top class too, and I find it hard to believe that
Schwarzenegger was original cast as Kyle Reese, the good guy,
when he is so perfect in his role as The Terminator. No one could
have fulfilled the role better than Arnie!
As I've said, this film needs to introduction as I'm sure most
people have heard of it, but those who haven't seen it should do so
most definitely. It's not just a Schwarzenegger action flick, it's a
brilliant powerful sci-fi too, and should be seen by all film fans.