Classic Future Technology

Rating: 10/10 (25 January 2007)

This was a film set before Arnold Schwarzenegger hit the big time, however we can see from his performance in this that it was well deserved. This was one of SChwarzenegger's rare performances as a villain and it was played brilliantly. This film was very low-budget however with the superb performances by Schwarzenegger, Biehn and Hamilton and the classy and stylish directing by James Cameron (A enormous career booster) this film becomes an instant classic.
The film opens with a glimpse at the way the world has become in the year 2029 with all of Los Angeles being a nuclear mess run by the highly sophisticated machines known as terminators. The audience is the shifted back to 1984 where both the terminator (Arnold Schwarzenegger) and Kyle Reese (Michael Biehn) have been sent back through time. The Terminator is a bad-ass with a 'serious attitude problem' who approaches a couple of punks, beats them up and takes their clothes. Reese however finds it less easy to acquire some decent clothing, being chased by a couple of suspicious cops through an alley-way. Reese soon steals a gun off a cop and gets his clothes from a department store (with the pants being stolen by a destitute drunk). The next day, the Terminator and Reese go their separate ways, the terminator stealing several automatic weapons and looking up every "Sarah Connor" in the phone book, ready to do whatever it takes to kill all of them, only one being significant. Meanwhile, Reese is perfecting his gun, ready to protect the 3rd "Sarah J. Connor" from this terminator. After the terminator has killed the first two Connors he goes to kill the 3rd who fortunately has gone out for the evening. Sarah later realizes she is being followed by Reese and ducks into the nearest nightclub, 'tech noir' trying to blend into the crowd. Unfortunately this isn't even enough to stop the terminator and she is spotted. Reese also spots the terminator, blows him out a glass window and the two make a run for it. Non-stop action here on. This is very impressive for such a small budget, especially with some of the very impressive visual effects. Like most sci-fi films of this genre, it alludes to other works and was successfully sued by author Harlan Ellison for chunks being taken from two of his episodes of "The Outer Limits" in the 1960's. That however doesn't diminish this masterpiece. A notable performance by Schwarzenegger. Biehn shouldn't be forgotten either for his role as Reese with his superb acting skills and most significant character to the plot.
5/5