Review of The Terminator (1984) by Victor T — 07 Jul 2014

Ignoring his directorial debut: the god awful Piranha 2: The Spawning, this film is the big breakthrough of James Cameron as well as Arnold's most famous character and the one he will be remember for. The now iconic, classic, often imitated and beloved sci-fi movie "The Terminator".

In the year 2029, nuclear holocaust happened, humans are in a war against the machines that are lead by an intelligent defense network called "Skynet". Skynet decides to send a cyborg assassin named "Terminator T-800" to kill the mother of the leader of the resistance, before he is born, but the humans send a soldier to protect her. A battle between this two, starts for the life of this woman, whose fate could change humanity's destiny.

With an intelligent and creative premise this film has a strong script that changes genres, it goes from sci-fi, action, suspense to a kind of slasher film modernized. Cameron proves here that he can do a solid film with a low budget. The pace is well balanced, it goes from being on the edge of your seat to time were you can take a break from the suspense and relax for a while. With special effects that now are dated, I believe that helps the film now days in the suspense/scary portions (for example: Arnold's makeup in the bathroom scene) but some may have problems with them now days. The acting is solid, each one the main characters being credible in their part. My big complain is that despite a lot of memorable scenes, the film doesn't have a memorable climax, I even forgot what happened to one particular character at the end.

Arguably the best of the franchise, it is an amazing film that still is as awesome as it was in 1984. A must see film.