The Terminator Review

Disclaimer: Contains spoilers!

Plot Summary: A cyborg, known as a terminator, is sent back in time to prevent the savior of humanity from being born by killing his mother.

Review: "The Terminator" is a timeless (yay puns!) classic that made Arnold Schwarzenegger a household name and launched James Cameron's career. The story is great despite the allegations of the plot being a ripoff of some old stories; apparently there was even a lawsuit that Cameron lost. The three main characters, Reese, Sarah, and the terminator are all memorable, interesting, and well acted; even the background characters are fun. The effects are starting to show some major dating, but the story is what's most important. There is a lot of complexity to the whole time travel issue and whether time is set or can be changed. People have discussed the paradoxical issues for nearly 30 years now, so I'll save anyone the effort; the fact that people still discuss this film 30 years later should tell you how pivotal to film it has become. Sarah and Reese have nice chemistry trying to stop the seemingly invicible terminator, and, admittedly, Reese's desire to be with Sarah as his reason to time travel is quite touching. I really liked the imagery of the future where humanity is suffering, and at any moment a terminator can come along to make things even worse; there is a haunting scene where Sarah imagines the future and we see the hopelessness of the people as a terminator kills everyone. The dark tone, great action, classic music and story, and infamously quotable lines make "The Terminator" one of the best sci-fi films in history. If for some reason you've been living under a rock and haven't watched this, what are you waiting for?!

Notable Moment: After being blown up, when the terminator rises out of the fire and we see the full metal skeleton.

Final Rating: 9.5/10