"It doesn't feel pity, or remorse, or fear. And it absolutely will not stop, ever, until you are dead."

Rating: 10/10 (28 September 2016)

There used to be a time I thought the sequel blew this movie completely out of the water, because it's bigger and more epic in scale and the action is a lot stronger, but this is one of those films where it gets stronger with every re-watch. There's always something I pick up on every time I see it.
The Terminator is an unrelenting experience to say the least and the whole premise of this where an almost indestructible machine only has one thing in mind, to kill you, and will stop at absolutely nothing to do it, is terrifying. It is such a simple premise, yet the way James Cameron writes and directs these characters makes this film almost perfect in my eyes.
Linda Hamilton as Sarah Conner is a much more grounded and vulnerable character in this film compared to the badass she would become in the sequel. In fact, she was completely unrecognisable to me once the second film roles on, yet it never feels far- fetched she would become this way because of how good the character development is in this film. You see her gradually become the soldier she is truly destined to be and all of it feels real. Plus, you've gotta love that mullet :)
Michael Biehn as Kyle Reece is terrific in this film and again he also feels like a grounded character. In fact straight away it's impossible not to see the vulnerability of the character when you see all the marks and scars all over his body as he comes through the time portal. He is completely outmatched by The Terminator he is assigned to protect Sarah from so he has to out smart it. You see that life as a soldier in a post-apocalyptic world where man fights machines, is the only thing he has ever known in his life, and there's a lot of great flashback scenes that really emphasise that point so effectively. Linda Hamilton and Michael Biehn share great chemistry together as well, I really did buy the fact they loved each other despite the fact they only know each other for a day.
Of course, how could I not mention Arnie as The Terminator. He's another one of those badass villains that has very little dialogue, but you you feel the intensity amp up every time he's on screen. To say he is a presence would be an understatement, he is friggin' scary as a villain because all he cares about is killing Sarah Conner... that's it, that is the only thing he was sent to do and he stops at absolutely nothing to do it. It is just so intense, when you see a scene where Kyle shoots him multiple times, and all it does is buy some time. And it just returns to the deadly game of cat and mouse.
There are only brief fleeting moments where the film allows you to breathe. There is not a single scene in the film where I felt like it was filler or just there to kill time, it is a tightly edited masterpiece of cinema that just never lets up. It doesn't dumb itself down so that its more accessible to the audience either, there's a good 45 minutes or so where you don't know why this thing is targeting Sarah, or why she is so important and it doesn't matter because the film allows the atmosphere to take over. When she does find out why she's being targeted, it never feels tacked on, forced or drawn out with exposition.
I would not change a single thing about the story or the characters in this film. There are one or two effects in this such as the 'eye' scene are dated by today's standards, but given the films budget was only $6 million, significantly smaller than the blockbuster sequel, there's bound to be a few dated scenes here or there, but it doesn't hurt the experience. There's still something about that final scene with the stop motion exoskeleton that just has my skin crawling. It is such an intense final act, that had me gripped right to the end! It is a filmmaking achievement and one of my favourite films of all time :)