The Terminator
Dir: James Cameron
1984
****
James Cameron's 1984 sci-fi action The Terminator was a huge hit on release, although it was never expected to be. It's a pure action film with a little bit of sci-fi for good measure. An android is sent back from the future to assassinate the mother of a future leader. A simple premise and the perfect recipe for action, violence, explosions, fights, car chases etc etc. The special effects were pretty advanced for the time and the people who produced them were pioneers in their field. Arnold Schwarzenegger was beginning to get noticed thanks to his turn in the Conan films and it is now hard to imagine another actor who could have played the role of the T-800 quite as well, the character and performance becoming something prominent in popular culture and reaching cult status. However, the story makes absolutely no sense at all. Kyle Reese is sent back in time from the future by Sarah Connor's son (his best friend) to protect her from the T-800 and when they weren't dodging bullets, they were falling in love, which in turn lead to the bedroom and an unexpected pregnancy. The child turns out to be Kyles best bud, John Connor. This is an impossibility and one of the stupidest mistakes of modern cinema but no body really cares, we should but we don't. It is a popcorn classic, it's about the action, the one liners and the special effects and everyone loves it, for its faults as well as its strengths.