Solid but not more

Rating: 6/10 (16 January 2019)

"The Terminator" tells the story of a killing machine that was sent into present times by other machines in their war against humanity in order to kill the mother of the leader of the human rebellion. Unprepared, the young woman has to fight for her life side to side with a friend of her future son to save the future of humankind.
The film was a bit more serious than I feared it would be, it has elements of a dystopia and some kind of theory for the background of the plot, even if that is not always brilliantly thought-through. For this reason it doesn't exclusively consist of action, which is a definite plus. The effects aged rather well and even today don't look embarassing. Unfortunately I have to say that in terms of plot and dramaturgy the film is at best mediocre. What it tells is more or less an episode, like a scene of a movie that is enlarged into a whole production. That leads to a Terminator that has so many lives that it is on the edge of being ridiculous. I would have loved to see a bit more background and future times rather than fighting sequences that don't take an end.
All in all this isn't just a movie of action and destruction, even though many scenes include both. Through solid acting and a somewhat consistent story it becomes an okay film that aged rather well and is widely considered a classic.