The Terminator

"I'll be back."

There's something about the original Terminator film that I can't help but love. I think a lot of that love comes from it's clever plot and efficient storytelling, anchored by three fantastic performances to create a film that captured audience imaginations and continues to live on thirty one years later. 

As the film opens, we witness the arrival of The Terminator (played by Arnold Schwarzenegger), a cyborg machine sent back in time to assassinate Sarah Connor (played by Linda Hamilton). She is a hard working waitress, trying to make ends meet and seems like the last person who would make a lasting impact on the world. But, as it turns out, she's the future mother of John Connor, who will lead the human resistance in the future in a war against self aware machines, which the Terminators are part of. The Resistance discover the machine's plans and send back a resistance fighter named Kyle Reese (played by Michael Biehn). The Terminator, not knowing what Sarah Connor looks like, starts working his way through all the Sarah Connors listed in the phone book.

Reese has a bigger advantage having a picture of Sarah that John gave him in the future and locates her quickly. He tails her, keeping an eye on her and and eye out for the Terminator. Meanwhile, Sarah hears about the deaths of two other women and begins to notice Reese following her. Thinking he's the killer, she tries to get away from him and get help from the police.  She tries to evade Reese by heading into a nightclub and calls for help, first to the police and then home. In the process though, she winds up directly in the crosshairs of the Terminator. Reese is able to save her at the last moment and from there its a non-stop chase as the two try to evade a relentless and nearly unstoppable killing machine.  

Unlike the films that came after it, the original film was a decidedly low budget affair costing only roughly 6 million dollars to make. James Cameron, who both wrote and directed the film, stretches every dollar to make the film work and does so well that you hardly notice the budgetary limitations. He also found three fantastic actors to play the main characters. Arnold's performance as the Terminator is iconic and easily his most famous role. Linda Hamilton and Michael Biehn do quite well in their roles as Sarah and Reese, two people thrown together by circumstance and in the process slowly fall in love. In fact, their deepening affection towards one another in turn ups the suspense in the film as you really want to see these two get out of this mess alive. The film also features early turns by Lance Henrikson and Bill Paxton (who has the distinction, or misfortune perhaps, over the course of his career to have played characters who have been killed by a Terminator, an Alien and a Predator). 

The Terminator started out as an entertaining sci-fi action film that in turn launched an action franchise that is still going strong thirty one years later with this summer's release of Terminator Genisys. It's a testament to this original film that provided the building blocks of what would come later with an engrossing story backed by some fantastic performances. It's one of my favorites of the series for sure.