The Terminator (1984, 107 min)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088247/
The first in the very popular Terminator series from all the way back in 1984. For some reason I had never seen this film all the way through in one sitting. I'd seen parts of it on television, but always just pieces here and there.
We follow Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton) as she tries to escape from the Terminator (Arnold Schwarzenegger). Helping her is another man from the future, Kyle Reese (Michael Biehn). Each of these characters is the stereotypical portrayal. For example, the Terminator is the stereotypical silent assassin (I was surprised by just how few lines the Terminator actually had). It works for the film, because what we really watch The Terminator for is the action.
It's hard to judge The Terminator without wanting to compare it to Terminator 2: Judgment Day. While The Terminator is pretty good in it's own right, it falls quite short of Terminator 2: Judgment Day. The action scenes are still enjoyable but they're not as lavish and crazy. The soundtrack here seems to be lacking (or at least not feature prominently) the famous beat that I associate with Terminator. Perhaps it doesn't really appear until the sequel. Besides that, the soundtrack is very very very much 80s which does date the movie in a bad way.
Overall, I gave this film a 7/10. It's good and definitely required viewing if you like Terminator 2: Judgment Day. But it's just a really good action flick and not the heart-pounding, amazing adventure that the sequel is. The characters just aren't as scary, thrilling, or memorable I think.
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