James Cameron’s The Terminator is hailed as one of the greatest sci-fi movies ever made. While T2 turned the franchise into a series of all-out action blockbusters, the first movie is a much grittier, smaller-scale noir. It’s a cat-and-mouse thriller in which the “cat” is a bloodthirsty cyborg.
Shot on an ultralow budget, The Terminator introduced moviegoers to both Linda Hamilton’s groundbreaking heroine Sarah Connor and Arnold Schwarzenegger’s unstoppable killing machine, the T-800. Although many movies of its era have aged poorly, The Terminator remains a timeless classic to this day.
Sarah Connor’s Journey From An Everywoman To A Bona Fide Badass
While Arnold Schwarzenegger’s turn as the T-800 is certainly iconic, the performance that anchors The Terminator is Linda Hamilton as Sarah Connor. Hamilton’s portrayal of Sarah’s transformation throughout the movie is wholly convincing.
At the beginning of the movie, she’s a relatable everywoman working paycheck to paycheck as a waitress and struggling on the dating scene. By the end of it, she’s a Terminator-killing badass – and Hamilton really sells that journey.
The Neo-Noir Tone
While the Terminator series has since become a straightforward action movie franchise, the original Terminator is more of a neo-noir. Cameron even placed it in Blade Runner’s “tech noir” subgenre by naming the nightclub that appears in the film “Tech Noir.”
Robotics aside, The Terminator has all the hallmarks of a classic noir: ambiguous morals, urban decay, useless cops, a sleazy motel hideout – and above all, Cameron used a hard-boiled action-driven narrative to capture contemporary fears (the rise of technology).
Perfect Pacing
Getting the pacing right is a key component of any thriller, because it determines how thrilled the audience will be. The Terminator arrived in 1984 as the most perfectly paced sci-fi thriller since Ridley Scott’s Alien.
The screenplay, credited to James Cameron and Gale Anne Hurd, doesn’t spend too much time getting bogged down in exposition. It just sets up the immediate danger faced by Sarah and thrusts her into one terrifying situation after another.
Brad Fiedel’s Tense Score
The Terminator is a pretty unique movie, and Cameron hired Brad Fiedel to approach the music for the film in a unique way. Composed on synthesizers, Fiedel’s Terminator score is very ‘80s, but it also perfectly captures the movie’s “tech noir” style.
From the cerebral theme that plays over the opening credits to the faster-paced tunes that play over the action scenes, Fiedel’s score is filled with suitably dark, ominous, foreboding tones.
The Police Station Massacre
Easily the most memorable quote in The Terminator – and there are a lot to choose from – is “I’ll be back.” The T-800 says it to the police receptionist when he’s denied access to the precinct where Sarah and Kyle are being questioned. Seconds later, he drives his car into the station.
This is followed by a chilling sequence in which the indestructible Terminator shoots his way through the police station as the cops try and fail to stop him.
The John Connor Paternity Twist
When Kyle goes back in time and meets Sarah, he tells her about her unborn son John Connor, who never knew his biological father. Throughout the movie, Kyle and Sarah gradually fall in love.
They end up conceiving John while they’re hiding out from the Terminator. This mind-bending paternity twist managed to tie the whole narrative together.
Cameron’s Dystopian Vision Of A Near-Future Controlled By Machines
Kyle Reese’s PTSD attacks lead to flashbacks (or flash-forwards, technically) to his traumatic experiences in the war against the machines in a dystopian near-future.
These flashbacks alone are more thrilling than the entirety of Terminator: Salvation, which squandered the lucrative premise of a whole movie set in a war-torn future controlled by the machines.
The Tension Of The Final Standoff
Just when Sarah and Kyle think they’ve killed the T-800 in an explosion, its shiny endoskeleton emerges from the flames and chases them into a factory. This final standoff is a thrilling climactic set piece. Kyle is killed, leaving Sarah to dispatch the Terminator alone.
Cameron uses tight closeups to create unbearable tension as an injured Sarah frantically scurries away from a crawling Terminator skeleton and crushes it in a hydraulic press. She even signs off with a cool ‘80s-style action hero one-liner: “You’re terminated, f**ker!”
Stan Winston’s Incredible Special Effects
Stan Winston is one of the most iconic special effects artists who ever lived. His work can be seen in such legendary creature features as Jurassic Park, Aliens (also directed by Cameron), and Predator.
What initially put Winston on the map was his incredible effects for The Terminator. Winston brought the creepy walking metallic skeleton of the T-800 to life with unnerving gusto in a pre-CGI world.
Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Terrifying Presence As The T-800
While Arnold Schwarzenegger has since become a world-renowned star playing heroes, he got his big break playing the titular villain in The Terminator. The story of Sarah Connor’s desperate attempts to evade the T-800 wouldn’t have worked nearly as well without Schwarzenegger’s terrifying presence.
It’s easy to joke that Arnie’s perfect role is an emotionless machine, but that’s tricky to pull off, and he nailed it. His performance as the Terminator created one of the most memorable villains in movie history.