The kind of film that aspiring screen writers of today wish they had thought of first...

Rating: 10/10 (7 April 2004)

When James Cameron finally got the Terminator made, the studio refused to advertise it as a "science fiction film", which puzzled Cameron. When he asked why, they said it didn't count as science fiction because it wasn't set in outer space like Star Trek and Star Wars. Jim shot back that it was science fiction because it dealt with time travel and cyborgs. This was significant for science fiction film making because, as much fun as those out of this world galaxies are, science fiction can still be compelling when set on Earth. The film also made a star out of Arnold Schwarzenegger. Well, technically "Conan the Barbarian" did that, but "Terminator" helped him break out of costume films and get into the shoot 'em ups.
Arnold plays the title character, a robot in human skin sent back to 1984 LA to kill Sarah Connor (a 28 year old Linda Hamilton with her hair dyed dirty blond), a good natured but lonely, somewhat scatter-brained, hapless waitress who has no idea of just how important she really is: she's the mother of John Connor, the man who will save what's left of the human race in the year 2019 when the machines have almost succeeded in taking over the world. Sarah's only hope is Kyle Reese (Michael Biehn, who later starred in James Cameron's "Aliens" and "The Abyss"), a soldier sent back from the future to protect her from the Terminator. Chaos and mayhem ensue, along with a high body count and the unexpected love story between Sarah & Kyle, the latter who turns out to be John Connor's father. Oh the irony of Kyle's response to Sarah's question about John's father: "John never said much about him... I know he dies before the war."
Yes, some of the special effects are dated (namely the puppet head used for the scene where the Terminator cuts out its damaged eye and a few of the stop motion effects) and it's set in its era and it kind of runs out of steam towards the end, but the rest of the film is great: it's dark, it's eerie, it's seamy, it's atmospheric, it's violent, it's got pretty much everything. Arnold dominates pretty much every scene he's in. Michael Biehn and Linda Hamilton are sympathetic protagonists.
Personally, I like this one better than the sequels, possibly because there's no Edward Furlong in it. The big difference between the films is that the original was more of a thriller, an extended chase scene, whereas the sequels were more about style and special effects and blow you away action sequences. But it's all good in the end. This is also a great examination of what could happen should technology get out of hand, ala "Blade Runner".
The DVD has two options of sound effects, the old mono system and a newer, more sophisticated one. I highly advise you not to listen to the newer sound system because it makes everything in the film sound really fake. The DVD also has deleted scenes, mostly notably a scene where Reese suffers an emotional break down over being displaced in time, an angle that never surfaced in the film but would have been very interesting to bring up.
"I'll be back."