Schwarzenegger's body looks even more impressive than in the Conan films, and he brings a certain inhumanity to the role which is entirely appropriate. He and Cameron even manage to get together for a few mildly comic moments. Linda Hamilton is properly paniced as the Terminator's target, and Michael Biehn heroic as the soldier from the future. Paul Winfield is wasted again in the role of a police lieutenant who discovers too late that he is out of his depth. The Terminator is true to its genre.
Many bullets fly, cars crash and explode, and a lot of people die.
For the most part, the violence is not terribly explicit. Cameron does not insist on showing us closeups of bullets impacting on Schwarzenegger's victims, which is a welcome change from the usual style of presentation in exploitation films. The effects, by Stan Winston, are not terribly convincing, but the mere concept of presenting them for our viewing pleasure is pretty gross. The Terminator also has a few more science fiction tricks up its sleeve than is customary. There are extended sequences set in the future that make good use of some fairly good model work.