Terminator

After his debut in Piranha 2, where he was more of a puppet in the hands of an Italian producer, John Cameron found himself in Terminator and despite the low budget delivered a technically proficient action flick that is a perfect image of 1980s tastes, with the hard-bodies cult of the period, typical synthesizer sound and violence that is you no longer see in today's impotent times. (18/09/2015)

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)

After all these years, I prepared my raised eyebrows as a precaution, only to completely forget about them. Only Brad Fiedel's synth soundtrack has become brutally obsolete, but otherwise Cameron's cyborg is still doing great. While the effects tend to make you laugh, Cameron's unique sense of tension and impressive characters look like a metal skeleton over a pile of human skulls. Perfect camera work, great editing and very good actors led by Arnie, who acts like an unruly Nazi on a trip. The script doesn't try any big tricks, yet the story of saving the future is extremely impressive, and the insights into the apocalyptic age still have urgency and a pretty decadent mood after all the years. I can't find anything to criticize. The Terminator embodies the poetics of the 1980s in every way, and to this day it should serve as an insurmountable textbook of dramatic action spectacle for hit-makers. A clear gold fund, a film top class without compromise. (07/04/2005)

Suffocating and adrenaline-fueled sci-fi that time's tooth can't seem to gnaw away. Arnold probably will never inspire as much respect and fear again. Moreover, without this series, temporal paradoxes and the entire science fiction genre would be completely different today. Ideas like the one about a robot that has to change the past in order to alter the future occasionally come up, but fitting them into the right screenplay is already a form of cinematic art. (02/04/2006)

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)

The sci-fi genius of James Cameron is a classic genre now. The battle for the future that is being fought today with Arnold Schwarzenegger in his best role. Each frame of film is soaked in a wonderful atmosphere and the tension could be cut by a knife. Iconic moments await on every corner and Cameron’s sense for detail is also incredible (the little joke about cigarettes, the close up of the careering truck). The screenplay is faultless and believable in the sense that it doesn’t contain anything too unreal. The special effects are excellent for the time and everybody’s acting, headed by Arnold, is immaculate. Just add the best theme music of all time and we get a unique movie experience. (19/11/2006)

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)

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)

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)

One of the films that had a powerful influence on me growing up. Like many others, I saw it on a VHS copy of a copy of a copy, and I instantly loved it. So much so that I still enjoy watching it today. True, the effects correspond to the time it was made. Even though they are of a high standard, the scene in which Arnie takes out his eye is just not as impressive today because of the obviously rubber face. I don't mean the film is bad, on the contrary, I think it’s definitely one of the best sci-fi thrillers ever made. Arnie was born to play T-800 (minimum acting and maximum thick German accent) and it was thanks to him that I sided with the dark side of the force for the first time. (01/08/2016)