The Terminator

“The Terminator” is a perfect example of a film overcoming its low budget. The actors are perfectly cast, the breaks between the action are few but meaningful, the premise terrific and it contains many iconic moments thanks to one of the all-time greatest villains.

In 2029, mankind is at war with Skynet, a self-aware artificial intelligence that wants us extinct. Sensing an imminent defeat, the machine sends an assassin back in time to the year 1984. This Terminator (Arnold Schwarzenegger) searches for Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton) in order to kill her before she can give birth to her son, who will eventually lead the humans to victory. To prevent the past from being altered, John Connor manages to send a single soldier, Kyle Reese (Michael Biehn) to protect his mother.

You can’t talk about “The Terminator” without discussing Arnold Schwarzenegger. With his Adonis-like physique, he’s the opposite of Michael Biehn. It’s an instance where his accent works in the film’s favor. With his harsh, determined stare, the ease with which he wields huge automatic weapons single-handedly and the strange cadence to his speech, he’s perfectly convincing as a machine’s facsimile as a man. He reminds me a lot of Bela Lugosi in “Dracula”.

The pacing and structure of "Terminator" is superb. When the leads aren’t together on-screen, we frequently get flashbacks (flashforwards?) to the bleak future that spawned this desperate ploy by man and machine alike. This means a wider variety of action scenes in a film that already contains exciting car chases and firefights in the streets of Los Angeles and a dynamite climax that’s more reminiscent of a horror film “final girl” standoff than a typical action beatdown. The breaks between the gunshots, tire squeals and explosions give us important breathers and character development. While the villain is one-note – it is a machine after all – Sarah gets a solid arc in which she grows from underdog to capable fighter and Reese gets to show off his soft side, the thing that differentiates him from the machines he’s faced time and again.

“The Terminator” became so influential it’s easy to forget how small its budget was. There are moments where the Blu-ray format doesn’t do it any favors, though, for the most part, the effects fare well. The important thing is that the film’s money shot, that final showdown is gorgeously tense and the stuff the effects are supporting are all so good you'll forget all about whether or not the prosthetic limbs look perfectly convincing.

There are a lot of brains behind the story of “The Terminator”, and you could dissect its themes of man vs machine or masculinity at length… or just enjoy it for the rousing violence, characters, and iconic visuals. There’s no right or wrong way to enjoy this film, a picture that endures. (On Blu-ray, February 5, 2018)