Still cool today

Rating: 8/10 (22 April 2001)

I was fortunate enough to see a new digital print of this film with a new Dolby soundtrack. The new sound rocks and is a major improvement over the Mono from before.
I'm not a big fan of Cameron as a director though. There are no huge comparisons between the terrifying Dark Future LA and the 1984 LA. As most scenes are shot at night in derelict parts of town the whole films looks miserable. It can also be so VERY, VERY 80's. Take a gander at the clothing and the music. The Technoir scene is a great example.
Arnie is super-cool as the emotionless cyborg who just blows everyone away WITHOUT grinning at the camera. Michael Beihn makes for a good hero and Linda Hamilton is just as good as Sarah Connor. But she became really annoying in the sequel. It's a shame Lance Henrikson isn't in it for long and Dick Miller has an amusing cameo.
It is quite scary in parts too. The steel exo-skeleton of the Terminator is not the kind of bad guy I'd wanna go up against and the visions of the robot war is rather ugly. Especially when we see the wheel crush up all the human skulls. Although it is quite unlikely that skulls would be piled up like that. Where are the rest of the bones?
The Terminator theme is very cool but the rest of Brad Fiedel's score is absolutely terrible. It's nothing but inaudible noise. The same applies for T2 and his score for True Lies. Has anyone apart from Cameron ever employed him?
Most of today's sci-fi is junk and quickly forgettable (Forgotten, AvP) but this has stood the test of time and will do for a long time to come, regardless of the 80's feel to it.
But Cameron made it in 1.85:1, which sucks a film of this size deserves scope, but I guess he only worked with what he had. The second film, while not an improvement, is up to the same standard. See the new version of this movie if you can it's a great improvement over the older print.