Relentless and Unstoppable, all you need is Love

Rating: 10/10 (7 August 2005)

An instant classic, The Terminator succeeds on so many levels, it's still a benchmark with which to test other films, whether they be science fiction, action thriller, horror, romance or even comedy. We begin with the title character himself, uh, itself, essayed by Arnold Schwarzenegger. No one can deny this film has a sense of humor when you first see Arnold strolling in the nude toward a trio of punks. Keep in mind, these are the sort of punks you hope you never run across at night, but, in the next moment, you feel nothing but sympathy for them and now Arnold is the source of a kind of horror. It unbalances an audience (seeing this for the first time) but it's done with such confidence, such smooth panache, you're caught helplessly in the undertow of this film's wild yet controlled progression.
You're with Arnold, and Michael Biehn, and Linda Hamilton, and you're overwhelmed by how the story unfolds, presenting concepts of a dark, ugly future while the action gets better & better with each scene. One should realize at this time, over 20 years later, that a good portion of the audience had no idea that Arnold was a robot (ok, cyborg) for the first half hour of the picture when it was first released. To them, unless they read a secret paragraph in a sci-fi magazine, Arnold was just a creepy human killer from the future. This was just another brilliant stroke by writer-director Cameron who, forced into creative decisions by a low budget, transcended all expectations of what a sci-fi B-movie should be. The script never lets us down as far as the Terminator character - it continually proves to be as Biehn describes it - remorseless & unstoppable. The story fools the viewers not once but twice by massacres which happen in places designated 'safe' (the disco and, more so, the police station). By the end, you're as exhausted as Linda Hamilton.
When the film veers towards the romance, it's not at all awkward, it's inevitable from the desperate circumstances. Like two souls trapped in a war only they understand, the time-crossed lovers seem thrown together by cosmic forces outside their control. We all seem to sense their time together will be brief, very brief - it's both a very touching and intense moment. In the end, the film proves to be flawless in execution - every scene works and builds on the previous scene. It's astounding how many things could have gone wrong, such as Arnold's rumored initial role as the hero. Hell, this even has Dick Miller selling guns. You can't go wrong there.