Strong combination of story and action make this a winner: spoilers

Rating: Null/10 (30 January 2003)

Released in 1984, "The Terminator" featured a then-unknown Arnold Schwarzenegger in the principal of an emotionless, seemingly invincible killer cyborg. The film is viewed today as cult classic, and watching the film makes it very easy to see why.
In 2029, mankind has become overrun by cyborgs, who rampage throughout Earth, killing humans wherever they find them. Two warriors are sent back through time to 1984 with the aim of finding Sarah Connor, whose as yet unborn son will be mankind's saviour in this apocalyptic future. The first warrior is the Terminator (Schwarzenegger), sent back by the machines to kill Sarah Connor before her son can be born. To protect her, the human resistance sends back a lone warrior, Kyle Reese (Michael Biehn), who has a bigger role to play in humanity's future than he first believes....
As the film is set in the Eighties, alot of the hairstyles and fashions give it a very retro look when looked at now. This is never more apparent when the Terminator stalks Connor at a nightclub, where teens and twenty-somethings bop away under the tacky neon disco lights.
The story and script are very inventive, relying very heavily on building suspense rather (as the sequel did) on slightly overblown, big-budgeted action sequences. The main core of the story is the relationship between Connor and Reese. Whilst romantic liasons come as part of the package in films like this, the time-travel side to the storyline gives their relationship a clever and unusual twist.
This is helped by the central performances of both Biehn and Hamilton, who give their characters development and depth. Biehn is initially scarred but resourceful, before we see his more vulnerable, emotional side. By comparison, Hamilton begins the film as a scatty, bumbling waitress and ends it a very tough and embattled woman who is forced to stand alone.
Completing the trio of principal parts is Arnold Schwarzenegger as the Terminator. Largely walking through the part with a cold menacing stare, and uttering sparse (but highly quotable) dialogue, he is a unique and memorable presence in the part.
Special effects, particularly the model effects, seem a little dated and unconvincing now, but these are used very sparingly as Cameron directs the action scenes (the aforementioned disco scene and the final chase sequence in a hydraulics factory) with his trademark precision and flair.
Along with its 1991 sequel, "The Terminator" is still a fine example of how the traditional action movie elements of sex and violence can still be great entertainment when fused with a superb story.
A classic.