Excellent, holds up unbelievably well

Rating: 9/10 (1 December 2008)

There are a lot of marvelous reasons to love this. What exactly they are may vary, but I can give you my suggestions for a couple: It mixes a bleak, dystopian future vision with breathtaking, mind-blowing action(and without becoming a film that can't inspire you to think, and that goes for others done by the man who helmed this), and does so extremely well. It is blessed with the enthusiastic and perfectionistic direction of James Cameron, and it shows. The pacing is utterly impeccable. I could not tell you how many times I've watched this. The plot and science fiction are both fantastic, well-thought out, and hold up to thorough scrutiny, I've yet to find a genuine problem in them. The concept is terrifying, smart and thrilling. It all unfolds rather well. The script in general is spectacularly well-done. This never runs out of steam, and in spite of intensity, it doesn't overwhelm, either. All three of the listed genres are masterfully achieved here, and I would agree with anyone suggesting that "horror" should be mentioned, as well. The acting is magnificent, the performances are spot-on. Not sure I'd say that there are any exceptions to that. I became a fan of Biehn from viewing this. Schwarzenegger does pretty darn amazing. Henriksen is a lot of fun to watch, intentionally so. Lines are well-written and equally well-delivered. The score is synthesized and is a perfect fit. The music, clothes and special effects(which are almost invariably still incredible) are the only aspects of this that date it any. The guns are tremendously well chosen and handled(read the Trivia to see Arnie's efforts in that area). There is violence and some relatively disturbing sights in this, as well as a little sexuality/nudity, and a moderate amount of language, that can get strong. I recommend this to anyone who enjoys the notion of an exciting movie with gun-fights, car-chases, a dark tone, well-done sci-fi, that just might provide food for thought, if you go in looking for that. 9/10