The Terminator (Arnold Schwarzenegger, Linda Hamilton) 1/2
Of all the stretches in Arnold Schwarzenegger's career -- spanning from pregnant male, obsessed Christmas shopper, ancient barbarian, and twin brother to Danny DeVito -- perhaps his part in The Terminator is the most difficult to swallow. Who would go through all the trouble of creating a cybernetic organism with a thick, Austrian accent? Why would the anemically thin robot inside need a conspicuously muscular exterior when all of its strength comes from its steel? What does the cyborg do with its spare time during those long stretches when human folk are spending hours doing other stuff?
Perhaps these questions aren't really necessary when one considers the wild idea that it is Kyle Reese's (Michael Biehn's) own son John that sends him back in time to meet his own mother. The more you bend your head around these kinds of temporal questions, the more you come to appreciate the creativity behind the making of The Terminator. It stars Schwarzenegger as the T-800 model sent from the future to kill Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton), a seemingly simple woman with a minimum wage job. Why do so many movies from the past twenty years feature the lead female character as an inept waitresses in a diner? Anyway, Sarah begins to suspect something is up and heads for the local police station (enter Paul Winfield and Lance Henriksen in hopelessly clich?d parts). By this point, however, she has met Kyle Reese, and together they try to evade the evil clutches of the relentless robot.
Despite some relatively hokey effects late in the picture, The Terminator delivers on most of its promises. It's got action, it's got a neat premise, and Hamilton and Biehn's performances are mostly up to snuff. The film would introduce an unknown director by the name of James Cameron to the world, and he would never look back (The Abyss, Aliens, Titanic, and the stellar blockbuster sequel, Terminator 2: Judgment Day). While here Cameron appears to be working on a stiff budget in some scenes, there is no denying his energetic camera work and his screenplay, co-written with Gale Anne Hurd, shows a lot of insight and humanity in what could be deemed an apocalyptic premise. The film also gave Hollywood its first mainstream look at Ah-nold, who landed many more action roles in big hits after this successful turn.
The Terminator has had to be content to enjoy a kind of cult following over time, because the sequel so thoroughly overshadowed it in many aspects. Several lines from the franchise have become catch phrases, which is no big surprise. Neither should it shock to know that Terminator 3: The Rise of the Machines is slated for release in 2003. Indeed, it looks like somehow or other, the T-800 will "be back".
