The Old Terminator

I was born the year after The Terminator (1984) came out and I was six for Terminator 2 (1991), so I didn't grow up with the movies. Obviously I was aware of the pop culture phenomenon that was the Terminator series and I saw T2-3D more than a few times at Universal Studios, but I never became a fan until I started watching The Sarah Connor Chronicles on Fox last year. With McG's Terminator Salvation (2009) starring Christian Bale due out May 21st, I decided it be a good time to get the first two installments under my belt.

The Terminator is ranked #185 on imdb with an 8.1 average. I have seen 11 other films that have attained an 8.1 on imdb. I would rank Terminator fourth, I feel it should a bit higher, but a pretty solid ranking. My 8.1 list (Toy Story, Groundhog Day, The Lion King, Terminator, Finding Nemo, The Bourne Ultimatum, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, The Graduate, The Incredibles, Snatch, Ratatouille, Children of Men). Only 11.9% of voters gave Terminator less than a 7, and like you would assume, it is a tad male-centric, with an 8.1/7.8 male/female ratio.

In the year 2029, after a nuclear war between humans and robots has destroyed the world, the robot team of Cyberdine has basically lost the battle. The leader of the human resistance, John Connor, is the reason for the Cyberdine loss. As the machines are about to lose they send a Cy-borg Terminator back in time to 1984 in order to kill Connor's mother before John is born. Arnold Schwarzenegger is fantastic as the title character on the hunt for Sarah Connor.

Simultaneously, John Connor sends a man back to save Sarah and ultimately himself and the existance of the human race as we know it. It is the duty of Kyle Reese to save the legend that is Sarah Connor from The Terminator. As the story progresses, Reese saves the day from time to time and the battles between him and The Terminator are epic.

As far as action goes, this seems pretty unbelievable for 1984. When The Terminator loses his human tissue shell and is all metal, the special effects are pretty hillarious, but it was '84. The storyline is great and I wonder how much my head would have been thinking if I didn't already know the happenings of Kyle Reese, Sarah Connor and John Connor for the tv show. My main question is when would you realize that Reese is the father of John?

This movie is fantastic in and of itself, but it only gets me more excited to soon witness the legend that is Terminator 2: Judgement Day and the new Terminator Salvation.