The Beginning of an Incredible Franchise

Rating: 7/10 (12 September 2010)

In the year 2029, the robots have taken over but are losing the war... and they have devised a plan: send a robot back to the past to destroy the mother of the human leader, thus causing him never to be born. Unfortunately for the evil robots, human Kyle Reese has been sent back, too.
While I think the sequel is flatly better, and I do not feel this film deserves to be in the top 250 of all time, it is a good film by all accounts. Action, good plot, decent acting... horror icons Michael Biehn, Lance Henriksen, and Dick Miller are all here. A young Bill Paxton even shows up.
James Cameron has had an amazing career, and this was an early triumph. Even if he walked away from the franchise after the first film (a great science fiction tale), he would have kicked off an amazing series and a television show. With consistently strong writing, plot and continuity, we have to thank Cameron.