The Terminator

The beginnings of all the action weekend evenings on television in my childhood and one of the first films with Arnold Schwarzenegger I’ve ever seen. I remember being quite afraid of him. That’s why I prefer the second part. Nevertheless, the first instalment has a firm place in my heart as well. Just so you know, so you don’t think I am some action flick hater :). (30/11/2014)

One of those films that even after 20 years has not lost any of its impact and can easily captivate today's audience. James Cameron is shown here for the first time as a meticulous visionary with an incredible amount of creativity and a range of ideas. What underlines everything is that he himself came up with the story and was the main creator of the excellent screenplay. Casting Arnold Schwarzenegger was truly a risky bet, but time has shown it to be brilliant; his wooden acting was exactly what was needed. The action is great and the clearing of the police station is still a breathtaking experience. The gloominess and depression present at every step, whether due to the dark story or the suggestive dark backgrounds of L.A., give this immensely impactful and gritty film the right edge. One of the milestones of sci-fi. (25/01/2006)

Before The Terminator, James Cameron was an unknown aspiring director who did not offer any guarantees of box office success. He had just finished filming the routine B-movie Piranha Part Two: The Spawning, which did terribly at the box office, and he also worked as an assistant director on several projects, the most significant of which was Carpenter's Escape from New York, where he helped create the special effects. However, Cameron dreamed of a grand, uncompromising, and gritty sci-fi film. His script caught the attention of Orion Studios, and he was able to start filming. The result was a dark action sci-fi film with the successful casting of the rising action star Arnold Schwarzenegger as the cyborg. Originally, the studio suggested Schwarzenegger to Cameron for the role of the soldier later played by Michael Biehn, but Cameron understood the advantage of Schwarzenegger's dog-like, emotionless face, which perfectly suited the character of a nerveless cyborg. Additionally, the film featured dynamic editing by Mark Goldblatt, a clever camera that captured some shots from the cyborg's point of view, and atmospheric music by Brad Fiedel. The character of the cyborg was created by Stan Winston. Cameron decided not to spare the audience and filled the story with corpses. All these ingredients together meant huge box office success and the birth of a hit that launched Cameron's stellar career and confirmed Arnold Schwarzenegger's status as an action star, for whom The Terminator became a defining role. The script included, among other things, an elaborate time loop and a few interesting scenes from the dark future. Overall impression: 75%. (18/01/2008)

It's said that "behind every great man is a woman spinning the foos men", but it's often more likely that behind every great man is a woman editing his scripts. Cameron was socially on the level of a ten-year-old boy at the time of The Terminator, which is consistent with Peter Jackson's mental age when he made his early films. But he had Fran Walsh on hand to create some sort of people out of the characters in the script. Cameron didn't have that luxury, and that's why everyone here is behaving the way an eight-year-old thinks adults behave. While this can actually be a big plus in many other films, unfortunately it doesn't fit here in this otherwise brutal, dirty urban horror, where an unstoppable absolute evil presses on through a rain-soaked anonymous big city full of strange creatures in pursuit of a hapless victim unable to rely on the basic principles of how to stay safe. Broad daylight? Don't care. Club full of people? Don't care. Police station? Don't care. It Follows before It Follows. An emotionless Schwarzenegger shot from behind in leather pants and jacket calmly slaughtering a police pigsty with automatic weapons is an absolutely iconic cyberpunk sequence. (18/10/2022)

More than a legend. With Terminator, Cameron opened his iconic window of visual treats, which he has been successfully expanding and even improving ever since. The amazing storyline, set to the rhythm of depressingly pulsating music and properly lethal action scenes, doesn't give any room at all for all the general shortcomings such as verbosity or monotony, instead presenting a pure exhibition of zany effects, cool catchphrases and fun car chases that never ceases to entertain and at the same time doesn't allow us not to take it seriously. Arnold is iconic, Michael Biehn is likeable, and Cameron is a film terminator himself.... It's a pity that Lance Henriksen was underused, but the director paid him back in Aliens. 95% (19/04/2011)