The Terminator (1984)

Elevator Pitch: In the not too distant future a ragbag bunch of humans are fighting the machines which have taken over the planet, their leader, John Connor having some success. So in order to eliminate him they send back a Terminator to the present day. It is a cyborg, a machine with human skin, with one objective to kill Sarah Connor, who will be John’s mother.  The humans send back Kyle Reese, a soldier whose task is to protect Sarah from the Terminator. He finds Sarah and they go on the run from the machine, but can they survive?

Content: There is a bit of nudity and sex as Kyle Reese and Sarah get together, to create John Connor, and sometimes Sarah is in a nightclub where I think a bit of drinking is taking place. But mostly they are on the run as the Terminator cleverly locates them no matter what. There is the stunning “I’ll be back” scene culminating in the destruction by the cyborg of a complete police station, and some gory stuff as it has to carry out repairs to itself. Inevitably the finale has to take place in a steelworks, the machine, now a skeleton continuing in its quest.

A View: This is the second time I have reviewed the film on this site, having watched it earlier this week. The critics were 100% in favour, although some thought the love scene cheesy. I thought it was quite sweet, since we are usually served sex scenes played as if they are unpleasant painful experiences. And actually I had once seen the film in Saudi Arabia where the  running time was one hour. I still wonder that they had found to cut. The movie also features in the IMDb top films list. It spawned a number of sequels, all of which I have seen. Go for any of them except Terminator: Genisys. This one is an AMOST MUST SEE.

Additional Info:  James Cameron has been married to both Linda Hamilton and Gale Anne Hurd.