A career highlight for Cameron and Schwarzenegger.

Rating: 10/10 (3 November 2012)

Filmmaker James Cameron had already showed a real style and vision when working for Roger Corman's special effects and art department, also learning well how to shoot fast and on a low budget. Here his talent and experience paid off with this breakthrough film, truly a model action picture with its unflagging pace and intensity level. It moves forward quite well while also remaining coherent, telling an interesting story that owes a debt to not only the works of Harlan Ellison, as is credited at the end, but Michael Crichtons' "Westworld". Arnold Schwarzenegger delivers a credible star performance as the title character, a cyborg sent to 1984 from the future by an omnipotent artificial intelligence. It wants to ensure that its primary human enemy, a man named John Connor, is never born, so the terminator is sent back in time to assassinate his mother Sarah (Linda Hamilton). Fortunately, a protector for Sarah is also sent back, a sensitive soldier named Kyle Reese (Michael Biehn). Reese will have his work cut out for him not only trying to keep Sarah alive, but convincing her that his wild sounding story is indeed reality. "The Terminator" has incredible atmosphere, in both its present and future scenes, and has some wonderful eye popping visuals, not to mention fantastic special effects work by Stan Winston. Brad Fiedel's music score is catchy and iconic, but sounds even more haunting and effective when it's done as a simple piano melody. The editing (by Mark Goldblatt), art direction (by George Costello), and cinematography (by Adam Greenberg) are all first rate. The movie does date itself in certain ways (fashion styles and music), but that merely adds to the appeal in this viewers' humble opinion. It's also not wall to wall action, as it takes some breathers here and there, and is really quite touching in some of its quieter moments. The casting is spot on all the way down the line. Schwarzenegger is perfect as the relentless killing machine, especially as the role doesn't require a lot of dialogue, the under-rated Biehn does a nice job of selling his character and the material, and appealing Hamilton does a fine job with her character arc as Sarah changes from being kind of a mousy person to being more take-charge. The excellent supporting cast features such reliable people as Lance Henriksen (who's a hoot), Paul Winfield, Rick Rossovich, and Earl Boen, and there are some wonderful bits for Bill Paxton, Brian Thompson, and Dick Miller. Cameron and co-writer / producer Gale Anne Hurd inject the film with a decent dose of humour (such as the terminator cycling through various possible responses to a question) that never becomes too prevalent. "The Terminator" is simply one of the best films of its kind, and its impact on pop culture (including Arnolds' best known cinematic one-liner of them all) is undeniable. A must see for sci-fi and action lovers. Followed by three sequels and the 'Sarah Connor Chronicles' TV series. 10 out of 10.