The Terminator

Arnold Schwarzenegger arrives in 1984 Los Angeles, in his birthday suit, and on a mission. Firstly, to get some clothes then to eliminate all the "Sarah Connor" folks listed in the phone book. Moments later "Kyle" (Michael Biehn) arrives with the aim of thwarting this dastardly plan - and soon the race is on. Meanwhile, "Sarah" (Linda Hamilton) is blissfully unaware that she is a target until the news bulletins start reporting the brutal slaying of her namesakes. She is spooked, and takes refuge in a night club while the city's finest head to her rescue. Thing is, Arnie is not just a big muscly bloke, he's a big muscly killing machine - and a nigh-on immortal one at that. "Kyle" and "Sarah" now have their work cut out just to stay alive while they try to concoct a plan that will destroy her nemesis before it destroys them - and pretty much everyone else it comes into contact with! Aside from the synthesiser music - which has dated quite badly - this film still holds up as a solid and entertaining sci-fi horror film. True, the script is never top of James Cameron's priorities, and here is no different, but the pace of the film and the sparing but effective use of the special effects build to quite an exciting crush-endo that is good to watch with a surprising degree of jeopardy right until the very end. Hamilton is not a very good actress, but as the momentum builds she gels well with Biehn making the whole thing well a worth a watch on a big screen even now, almost forty years on.