Fun to be had, but...

Rating: 7/10 (13 June 2015)

No-one is going to deny that there is a lot of excitement and fun to be had here, but there are gaping plot holes ( a time travel plot will do that I suppose) and some pretty terrible writing. ("In the short time we had together we loved enough for a lifetime" is one notable stinker) But can we mention a couple of things.
1) The soundtrack. Surely the least effective collection of '80's synthesiser sounds trying to sound portentious ever recorded. Really a shocker. It clanks and plonks along with little connection to what's happening on screen and sounding like it was recorded in a barn. Horrible.
2) Who was responsible for Linda Hamilton's hair? Sure it was the '80s, but seriously her hair looks like something a cocker spaniel might reject. And then it gets messed up and she gets it redone in the same style, just to prove it was deliberate. There's no excuse.
3) The special effects... yes, I know the movie was done on the same amount as the catering budget Cameron used for Avatar, but even so, those effects where Arnie is pulling out his eyeball are a nonsense, they must be the least effective pipe bombs in history and the metal skeleton at the end - well, don't get me started on the metal skeleton. Ray Harryhausen could make an army of skeletons look believable and even charming in Jason and the Argonauts, but this thing is pretty damn lame.
I suspect that when people say "I love the Terminator movies", what they really mean is "I love Terminator 2" - a rip snorter, exciting, innovative movie. If ever there was a movie series that came into its own with the sequel it's this one.