Good? Yes. Great? Hmmmmm...

Rating: 7/10 (9 November 2010)

Is it heresy to suggest that The Terminator may be a tad overrated? That perhaps fans who so love the whole Terminator saga and mythology remember the original film as being a little better than it actually was? This low budget sci-fi action thriller is certainly an enjoyable film. And considering the franchise it spawned and all the other films it so obviously influenced it's also an important film. But does that necessarily make it a truly great film? Probably not. It's a good film, very good in spots, but there are enough things holding it back to leave it a touch shy of greatness.
By now most everyone knows the film's story so a plot rehash seems rather unnecessary. In a nutshell a cyborg Terminator is sent back from the future to kill Sarah Connor, the mother of the as yet unborn human resistance leader who in that post-apocalyptic future will lead the fight against the machines which seek to exterminate humanity. Convoluted? You bet. Of course the Terminator has not come from the future alone. Human resistance fighter Kyle Reese has been sent back to protect Sarah. He must stop the unstoppable Terminator. Good luck with that. Shootouts and car chases and explosions ensue. Plot? Story? Dialogue? Sorry, don't have much for you here. But have I mentioned the explosions? Everyone likes seeing things get blown up right?
As I've implied, after the story initially sets itself up there really isn't much of a story at all. The whole movie is one big chase. Certainly there are moments of great excitement but in between the big moments...well there's often not much. At times things are rather sluggish. But there's enough good stuff here to make this at least an enjoyable flick if not some kind of all-time classic film. Of course there are some very memorable characters starting with the Terminator himself (itself?), played by Arnold Schwarzenegger. As a stiff, robotic, inhuman, largely mute killing machine Schwarzenegger's perfect. I'm not sure if that says much for Schwarzenegger's acting ability but for this role in this movie who could be better? The Terminator doesn't have much to say but whenever he does speak you remember it. Seriously, it seems every line Arnold speaks in the movie turned into a catchphrase. Sarah Connor is a character who undergoes a serious evolution in the course of the film and Linda Hamilton portrays that wonderfully. From the sweet, innocent girl at the film's beginning to something else entirely by film's end Hamilton traces the character's journey terrifically. Schwarzenegger and Hamilton are remembered best but it may actually be Michael Biehn who gives the best performance of all as Kyle Reese. It is left to his character to explain to Sarah, and by extension to us, what the heck this movie is actually about. No small task that, making a truly preposterous, unbelievable story sound convincing. Now if you stop and think about that story you will realize there are plot holes large enough to drive an exploding tanker truck through. Time travel stories have their own peculiar issues. Paradoxes and all that. And this film's got a doozy of a paradox. So don't think about it. Just enjoy the movie for what it is. Even if it's not truly as great as it is generally remembered to be what it is ain't bad at all.