An excellent film, highly original

Rating: 10/10 (30 January 2005)

Terminator is an extremely low budget movie. In fact, just about everything used in it didn't cost much at all, but it is a very effective movie. Back in the '70's and 80's, movies could be very low budget, but still be great(think of John Carpenter's Halloween).
The Terminator is a story about how nuclear war causes the end to mankind and the end result could be the start of an even greater tragedy than the war its self. The entire message of The Terminator is an anti nuclear war message.
Many people think that a few parts in the beginning of the movie are just some random things thrown in. I can understand why, but these seemingly random scenes actually do have a lot to do with the story.
Arnold does a great job as the cyborg who is programmed to kill without mercy or remorse. For those who don't know, this is the movie where the line "I'll be back" was spoken. The other actors do a good job in this. Linda Hamilton made a great choice doing this movie and she really improved her career through it(the movie she made before this was the horrible Children Of The Corn).
This is better than Terminator 2(which is still great by the way), because this movie has more of a story and is more involved. I would recommend watching this movie at any time, it is very well paced and never gets boring, and if you have the time, watch T2 right after this.