Arnie's finest hour.

Rating: 10/10 (26 December 2003)

The Terminator was one of the many films I grew up with as a child. It was what started off my fascination with science-fiction. The aspects of time-travel are very interesting, and in the case of this film, it demonstrates what a fundamental impact it can have on the world altering the events of yesterday to affect tomorrow.
I imagine just about everyone in the world must have seen the Terminator, since this is the film that launched Arnold Schwarzenegger's film career. This is by far his best film (and performance) when compared to some of his later films.
The Terminator begins in the future, 2029 A.D. amongst the ruins of Los Angeles. This is indeed a grim, bleak vision of the future, since there has been a nuclear war, and a war that is currently raging between man and machine. A sophisticated computer, Skynet, has declared war on the human race. Ironically, Skynet was built by humans to act as a defence for humanity. But the computer became self-aware, and decided all people were a threat. So it began the system-wide extermination of the human race.
To carry this out, Skynet has built an army of machines to destroy humanity. But a young man, John Connor, formed a resistance movement, and managed to turn the war to our favour. But Skynet is not so easily defeated. It sends a machine called a Terminator (Arnold Schwarzenegger), back through time to 1984, to kill John's mother, Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton) before she can give birth to John.
In response, the resistance sends one of their soldiers, Kyle Reese (Michael Biehn) back through time to intercept the Terminator before it carries out its mission. Reese must protect Sarah at all costs, or humanity's future is doomed.
Arnie is perfectly cast as the Terminator (or T-101), because he manages to give a very believable performance of a machine. He portrays the Terminator as something that is not clouded by compassion or feeling. Completely emotionless. He will hunt down Sarah to the ends of the Earth if necessary to complete his deadly mission. There is a great scene when Reese is describing to Sarah what it is they're up against:
"Listen, and understand. That Terminator is out there. It can't be bargained with. It can't be reasoned with. It doesn't feel pity, or remorse, or fear. And it absolutely will not stop. Ever. Until you are dead."
Arnie is utterly without mercy, tracking down Sarah with total efficiency and clinical detachment. He murders people left, right and centre in his pursuit of Sarah. He allows nothing to stand in his way. Probably the scariest aspect to Arnie's character is he is not evil. He is just doing what he has been programmed to do. If that means committing unspeakable acts to complete his mission, then so be it.
The film is extremely suspenseful, as the Terminator cuts a swathe of destruction in pursuit of Sarah. One of the best scenes is when Sarah is in a police station, and the Terminator just barges right in and kills nearly 20 policemen. This is a brilliant example of how single-minded the Terminator is. That scene alone was probably influenced by Assault on Precinct 13, but still the scene is a moment of shocking intensity.
Both Michael Biehn and Linda Hamilton put in good performances. Sarah's character shows a great deal of evolution in this film. At first, she is a slightly scatty waitress. But when told she is the mother of the future, her experiences harden her until she becomes a brave soldier in the face of adversity. The stunning climax really shows how far she has come from her introduction at the beginning of the film.
Michael Biehn's performance is pretty good, because the audience is not really sure what to make of him at first. The script constantly keeps you guessing, and for all we know, Reese might be the bad guy too. He's got a good chemistry with Linda Hamilton, and we get to see his world through his eyes. The scenes of war-torn L.A. are good, and shows the constant struggle humanity must contend with against the machines they created in the first place.
Because this was James Cameron's first feature film, it has a rather modest budget when compared to the other two films. Wisely, Cameron uses suspense to keep the audience hooked. Some of the chase scenes are helped no end by the pounding music from composer Brad Fiedel. They feel even more gripping, and send chills down my spine.
Admittedly, the FX have dated considerably. E.g. the scene when Arnie must remove one of his human eyes. Other technologies like CGI were only in their infancy at this stage. But still, the endoskeleton looks very impressive, and still scares me at the film's finale.
There is a very interesting paradox involving Sarah's son, but for those who haven't seen the film, I won't reveal it. Some of the science seems rather nonsensical, but when talking about time-travel, there are lots of unanswered questions. The paradox is explained further in the other two films, so you may not completely understand the paradox until you've seen all the films in the trilogy.
The film that introduced Arnie's catchphrase "I'll be back" has never sounded better then in this film. Arnie's movements, mannerisms are all perfect. Everything about this film is superb, and is the best of the Terminator trilogy. From the great beginning and that theme music, to the shocking outcome. It constantly keeps you guessing, and hits you right between the eyes with all of the intensity of an unrelenting nightmare.
Simply marvellous.