But the cyborg, chillingly impersonating her mother's voice, tracks Connor down. Minute by minute the Terminator, and the war machines it represents, becomes more invincible, until its emergence from an explosion as a monster of steel places Sarah Connor's survival in real doubt. Human resilience prevailed, but first we had to be pushed to the edge. Her transformation crystallizes what must happen for a world of soft, myopic humans to shake off the shackles of the machines already starting to dominate them. Linda Hamilton effects this metamorphosis beautifully.
Some shots have a wry flavor that's carefully double-edged.
When the cyborg runs over a child's toy on the way to kill the wrong Sarah, it's cheeky, but it also reinforces the killer's ruthlessness, which Schwarzenegger so unnervingly brings to life. Despite other ballyhooed films, The Terminator should still be the calling card for Cameron, Schwarzenegger and Hamilton alike. My favorite moment occurs in one of the flash-forwards, as Reese walks through a refugee warren. But the shot changes, and we see that they're staring emptily into a little fire burning inside an old TV case. All rights reserved.