The Role Arnold Was Born To Play!

Rating: 8/10 (4 March 2007)

"The Terminator" is arguably the role that Arnold Schwarzenegger was born to play. It is, in my humble opinion, his best film. It's the only time in his career, I believe, where he played a totally villainous character with no redeeming qualities (forget about "The Iceman" in that Batman film).
Written and directed by James Cameron, the action and suspense are non-stop from start to finish. And the best part is that Arnold has minimal dialog, which I believe adds to the sinister nature of his character.
The Terminator (Arnold) is sent back to the present (i.e. 1984) from 2029 to terminate Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton) who will give birth to a futuristic leader, John Connor. Also traveling back in time is Kyle Reese (Michael Biehn) who is sent by Connor to stop the terminator.
We learn from Reese that the terminator is a cyborg, part machine, part human who is programmed only to seek out and kill Sarah Connor. He has no feeling and cannot be reasoned with. Two other women with the same name are murdered by the terminator before Sarah realizes the Reese is trying to help her. We also learn that neither Reese nor the terminator can return to the future.
The police, led by Lt. Ed Traxler (Paul Winfield) and Detective Hal Vukoviich (Lance Henriksen) try to give Sarah police protection. When the terminator tracks her down to the police station. Arnold utters his now famous line: "Ah'll be back!" And back he is.
The rest of the film has Reese and Sarah encountering and escaping from the terminator until....................................
Arnold makes a terrifying villain. Its a wonder, he didn't seek out more such roles. Hamilton makes a fetching heroine. she was or was about to be marries to James Cameron around this time. Watch for Bill Paxton as the leader of the punks who confront Arnold at the beginning of the story.
Followed by two sequels where Arnold reprises his role, but as a good terminator.