The Terminator: 7/10

Rating: 7/10 (30 June 2003)

The Terminator may be the action movie with the most quotable lines, such as `I'll be back,' `Come with me if you want to live,' and `F**k you, a**hole.' Not only that, it's remained one of the most popular action films of the last twenty years, it's continued to delight young and old alike. Added to the mix is icon Arnold Schwarzenegger, and you have yourself one fun romp through both the present and the future.
When offered his job in The Terminator, Schwarzenegger was supposed to play good guy Kyle Reese, who became Michael Biehn. Schwarzenegger then played The Terminator, a cyborg from the future that came to the present (aka 1984) to kill Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton), whose son Michael would start in a giant war, etc. You'll figure out the plot as you go along for the ride.
The Terminator has something that most action movies now need: action! Instead of PG-13ing it and making it look hokey, James Cameron decided to make it as lifelike as could be, and it really did look lifelike. The effects on Schwarzenegger when he was half-human, half-cyborg looked very real, and would be considered impressive by today's standards. Not being a gigantic gore fan, I did cringe a little, but it was very cool.
My rating: 7/10
Rated R for violence/gore, some language, and brief nudity.