Directed by:
James CameronCinematography:
Adam GreenbergComposer:
Brad FiedelCast:
Arnold Schwarzenegger, Michael Biehn, Linda Hamilton, Paul Winfield, Lance Henriksen, Rick Rossovich, Earl Boen, Dick Miller, Franco Columbu, Bill Paxton (more)VOD (5)
Plots(1)
Arnold Schwarzenegger stars as the most fierce and relentless killing machine ever to threaten the survival of mankind. An indestructible cyborg - a Terminator (Schwarzenegger) - is sent back in time to kill Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton), the woman whose unborn son will become humanity’s only hope in a future war against machines. This legendary sci-fi thriller from Academy Award®-Winning Director James Cameron, fires an arsenal of action and heart-stopping suspense that never lets up. (20th Century Fox Home Entertainment)
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Reviews (11)
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.
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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 :).
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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.
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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.
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The fever that James Cameron reportedly experienced during the production Piranha 2 has borne some really tasty fruit. I've kept this cult film in reserve for quite a while and after watching it, I can say that Cameron simply knew how to make first-rate films back in 1984. I'll say right off the bat that I won't give it a full score because I was bored at times. But technically and visually this film is perfect for its time. The cast was quite good and the music gave it more pizzazz. So bravo "Iron Jim"!
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Gallery (438)
Photo © Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
![The Terminator - Photos](http://image.pmgstatic.com/cache/resized/w663/files/images/film/photos/168/490/168490051_7t5npl.jpg)
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