Terminator
Released in 1984 as a low-budget independent feature and wasting little time becoming a world wide sensation, James Cameron’s breakthrough film about a cyborg sent back through time to kill the mother of a future resistance leader (and the human soldier also sent back to protect her) works on so many levels it is almost mindboggling: as a bleak, nihilistic, uncompromising view of a horror that we still face today; as a snapshot of the 80s and its culture; as a super fast-paced white knuckle action film; as a science fiction masterpiece; and most importantly, as a beautiful love story that still resonates to this day. As the villainous title character, Arnold Schwarzenegger achieved superstardom in a role that required him to be little more than a menacing presence, but the real irony here is that (unlike the sequel) this is not so much Arnold’s movie as it is Michael Biehn’s as Kyle Reese, the human soldier sent from the post nuclear war future who must use his survival skills that he has honed his whole life in a civilized yet very strange world that he finds himself in, and sets out to protect Linda Hamilton’s Sarah Connor from the unstoppable killing machine whose utter contempt for human life (as demonstrated many times throughout) is perhaps its most frightening feature. The whole affair unfolds in a way not akin to being considered cinematic poetry, as The Terminator and Reese literally tear down LA in order to achieve their diametrically different missions. Biehn and Hamilton for their part exhibit amazing chemistry and bring extra ample amounts of the humanity to their characters as opposed to Arnold, who seemingly was led around by the nose by Cameron and told what body movements or facial expressions to emulate in a given shot. Even Arnold’s voice, with his thick Austrian accent, adds to the effectiveness of about the forty words of dialogue that he speaks: the machines may have created the perfect infiltration unit, but they haven’t quite gotten the human voice patterns right. As said, the film moves at a relentless, blistering pace, with the various chases and shootouts (including the legendary police station massacre) keeping the viewer on a rollercoaster ride that never lets up, combined with a haunting, iconic Brad Fiedel score, and an absolute pitch perfect script that remembers all the little details like making the two cops in charge of the case (Paul Winfield and Lance Henriksen) a couple of likable goofballs who are always kidding around with each other, to making other minor characters like Sarah’s roommate and her boyfriend sympathetic and relatable with VERY little screentime. Then there is the love story between Sarah and Reese, laid out magnificently in the writing and acting and ultimately coming across as THE greatest tragic, bittersweet romance in cinema history. And of course the ending, one which leaves the viewer with such a deep sense of foreboding doom (that would be addressed in T2) that it penetrates to one’s very soul. Add up all these elements and more and only one conclusion can be reached: Forget about Star Wars, The Matrix, and all the other audience-pandering crap we’ve seen over the years, for this here is THE single greatest science fiction film ever made…
10/10