Review of The Terminator (1984) by Cooper C — 29 Dec 2015

Watching this movie for a second time without immediately following it up by watching T2 was exactly what I needed. For the longest time this movie was dwarfed in my mind by the awesomeness of its sequel, but now I see that Terminator is a good movie on its own.

I love the use of time travel in any plot, and I think they do a nice job of explaining what's happening, but not spending too much time on how it happened. This allows us to just enjoy the story that's being presented, and not waste time thinking about nit-picky details or potential plot holes.

It's really exciting watching this tale of an unstoppable machine with a singular focus and the one guy who is bound and determined to stop him. I love all of the action, and the practical effects work perfectly, with the exception of the stop motion stuff that is used for the full-metal Terminator (it's so clunky and takes you right out of the scene.

) Arnold is obviously perfect casting because he doesn't need to do much acting, and can just tear right through every scene with his intimidating physical presence. The only downfall of The Terminator is Linda Hamilton.

It is my opinion that she was truly blessed to be cast in these movies, because the quality of the movies have somehow tricked people everywhere into thinking she can act. Her performance is AWFUL! If it weren't for Michael Biehn making me care, I'd be rooting for The Terminator when watching this movie.

I think she's more tolerable in T2 because she no longer is stuck being strictly a damsel in distress, so there's less whining, but here she's a big turn-off. Otherwise, I find The Terminator to be a brilliant film, and it stands up well on its own without any sequels needed.