One of the best movies you'll ever see...[spoilers]

Rating: 10/10 (19 November 2000)

The Terminator is a lot of things. For one thing, it's scary. Well, the movie itself isn't scary, nor was it intended to be, but the message it projects certainly is. It shows us a future full of killing, suffering, and pain. Another holocaust really. And we all brought it upon ourselves because we went too far with our technology.
It's exciting. The movie never gets dull. The action sequences really stand out from other films.
It's well acted. Arnie plays the emotionless cyborg to perfection. No one else could've played the T-800 but Arnold. Michael Biehn is probably the best actor in this film, showing many sides to his character. We really do get a sense of where he came from. Linda Hamilton was a great heroine as well and her character certainly develops well. Lance Henriksen and Paul Winfield play entertaining cops. Everyone else was adequate at least. Look for Bill Paxton as one of the earlier Terminator victims.
It's a mix of genres. We have the T-800 knocking people off like in a horror movie. He even walks in and slaughters a couple after they've made love. The action parts of the film is obviously. It's Sci-Fi, with the whole time travel + cyborg stuff. It's also a love story.
Speaking of which, this movie is also emotionally touching. The sex scene between Kyle and Sarah actually enhanced the plot rather than be an excuse to see some cleavage. Not to mention, the music for that scene was just right and so were the camera angles. And when Kyle died in the end, you really felt something. Especially when Sarah pulls him over and sees that he isn't breathing. Also when she sees him being zipped up in the body bag.
All in all, the Terminator is a reason why I love movies so much. It's a good, exciting, and touching story that makes you think...I highly recommend this to anyone.