The Terminator is a 1984 American action science fiction film directed by James Cameron, written by Cameron and Gale Anne Hurd, and produced by Hurd. Arnold Schwarzenegger starred as the Terminator, a cybernetic assassin sent back in time from 2029 to 1984 to kill Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton), whose unborn son will one day save humanity from extermination by the hostile artificial intelligence Skynet in a post-apocalyptic future. Kyle Reese (Michael Biehn) is a soldier sent back in time to protect Sarah. The screenplay is credited to Cameron and Hurd, while co-writer William Wisher Jr. was given "additional dialogue."
Cameron conceived the premise of the film based on a fever dream he experienced during the premiere of his first film, Piranha II: Breaking Dawn (1982), in Rome, and developed the concept in collaboration with Wisher. He sold the rights to the project to fellow New World Pictures alumna Hurd on the condition that she would only produce the film if he directed it; Hurd eventually secured a distribution deal with Orion Pictures, while executive producers John Daly and Derek Gibson of Hemdale Film Corporation helped secure financing and production of the film. Schwarzenegger was originally approached by Orion for the role of Reese, but after becoming friends with Cameron, he agreed to play the title character. Filming, which took place mostly nights on locations in Los Angeles, was delayed due to Schwarzenegger's commitments to Conan the Destroyer (1984), during which time Cameron found time to work on scripts for Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985) and Aliens (1986). The film's special effects, which included miniatures and stop-motion animation, were created by a team of artists led by Stan Winston and Gene Warren Jr.
Despite low expectations before its release, The Terminator topped the U.S. box office for two weeks and eventually grossed $78.3 million on a modest budget of $6.4 million. The film was credited with launching Cameron's film career and cementing Schwarzenegger's position in the lead role. The film's success led to a series of sequels, a television series, comic books, novels, and video games. In 2008, The Terminator was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the National Film Registry of the United States.
Plot
In the year 2029, a cyborg assassin known as the Terminator is sent to Los Angeles in 1984, disguised as a human male and programmed to hunt and murder a woman named Sarah Connor. Separately, a human soldier named Kyle Reese also arrives and intends to stop her as they both steal ammunition and clothing. After looking up addresses in the phone book, the Terminator systematically kills women who have the same name as Sarah, and then tracks down the correct Sarah in a nightclub, but she is rescued by Reese. The pair steal a car and escape, with the Terminator chasing them in a stolen police car.
As they hide in the parking lot, Reese explains to Sarah that the artificially intelligent defense network known as Skynet, created by Cyberdyne Systems, will become self-aware in the near future and trigger a global nuclear war that will lead humanity to extinction. Sarah's future son John rallies the survivors and leads a successful resistance movement against Skynet and its mechanical forces. On the verge of a resistance victory, Skynet sends the Terminator back in time to eliminate Sarah and prevent John's birth. The Terminator is an efficient and relentless killing machine with the perfect ability to mimic a voice and a durable metal endoskeleton covered in living tissue to make it look human.
After another encounter with the Terminator, the police then detain Reese and Sarah. The latter then attacks the police station and kills several police officers during the hunt for Sarah. Reese and Sarah escape, steal another car and retreat to a motel where they assemble several pipe bombs and plan their next course of action. Reese admits that he has adored Sarah ever since he saw her in the photo John gave him, and that he has been traveling through time out of love for her. Sarah reciprocates his feelings, kisses him, they have sex and conceive John. The Terminator finds Sarah by intercepting a call intended for her mother. She and Reese escape from a motel in a pickup truck while he pursues them on a motorcycle. In the ensuing chase, Reese is severely wounded by gunfire while throwing pipe bombs at the Terminator. Sarah knocks the Terminator off the motorcycle, but loses control of the truck, which flips over.
The Terminator, now bloodied and badly damaged, hijacks the tanker and attempts to knock Sarah down, but Reese inserts a pipe bomb into the truck's hose pipe, causing it to explode and reducing the Terminator to its endoskeleton. He chases them to a factory belonging to Cyberdyne, where Reese activates the machines to confuse him, but eventually discovers them. Reese then inserts his final pipe bomb into the middle of his body, shattering him to pieces, but at the cost of his life. His still-functioning torso then pursues Sarah, but she manages to lure him into a hydraulic press, which she uses to destroy him once and for all.
Months later, Sarah, visibly pregnant with John, travels Mexico and records audiotapes to give to him. At a gas station, a boy takes a Polaroid photo of her, the very one John will one day give to Reese, and she buys it. The gas station owner remarks that a storm is brewing, and Sarah replies that she is aware of it, alluding to humanity's impending conflict with Skynet, and then leaves towards him.
The cast
- Arnold Schwarzenegger as Terminator, a cybernetic android disguised as a human man who has been sent back in time to assassinate Sarah Connor.
- Michael Biehn as Kyle Reese, a member of the anti-Skynet resistance sent back in time to protect Sarah.
- Linda Hamilton as Sarah Connor, a young waitress at diner and Terminator target who soon becomes the mother of future Resistance leader John.
- Paul Winfield as Ed Traxler, a police lieutenant who tries to protect Sarah.
- Lance Henriksen as Hal Vukovich, a member of the Los Angeles Police Department.
- Bess Motta as Ginger, Sarah's roommate, who is murdered by the Terminator after he mistakes her for Sarah.
- Rick Rossovich as Matt, Ginger's boyfriend, who is also eliminated by the Terminator.
- Earl Boen as Dr. Peter Silberman, a criminal psychologist.
Among the other actors are Shawn Schepps as Nancy, Sara's diner co-worker; Dick Miller as a clerk at a gun shop; professional bodybuilder Franco Columbu as the Terminator in the future; Bill Paxton and Brian Thompson as the punks the Terminator encounters and sends away; Marianne Muellerleile as one of the other women named "Sarah Connor" whom the Terminator dispatches; Rick Aiello as the bouncer of a local nightclub where the Terminator finally finds Sarah; and Bill Wisher as a police officer who reports the crime of hitting Reese, only to be knocked out by the Terminator soon after and his car stolen.
Production
Development
In Rome, Italy, during the release of Piranha II: The Spawning (1982), director Cameron fell ill and had a dream about a metal torso holding kitchen knives that lingered from an explosion. Inspired by director John Carpenter, who made the low-budget slasher Halloween (1978), Cameron used the dream as a "springboard" to write a slasher-style film. Cameron's agent didn't like the early horror concept and asked him to work on something else. Cameron then fired his agent.
Cameron returned to Pomona, California, and stayed at the home of science fiction writer Randall Frakes, where he wrote the premise for The Terminator. Cameron was influenced by science fiction films from the 1950s, the 1960s fantasy television series The Outer Limits, and contemporary films such as The Driver (1978) and Mad Max 2 (1981). To convert the draft into a screenplay, Cameron brought in his friend Bill Wisher, who had a similar approach to telling the story. Cameron gave Wisher the opportunity to write a scene involving Sarah Connor and the police department. Because Wisher lived far away from Cameron, they communicated their ideas by recording what they wrote over the phone. Frakes and Wisher later wrote a novelization of the film, which was published in the U.S.
The original outline of the script envisaged sending the two Terminators into the past. The first was similar to the Terminator in the film, while the second was made of liquid metal and could not be destroyed with conventional weapons. Cameron believed that the technology of the time was incapable of creating a liquid Terminator, and shelved the idea until the T-1000 character appeared in Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991).
Gale Anne Hurd bought the rights to Terminator from James Cameron for one dollar.
Gale Anne Hurd, who worked at New World Pictures as an assistant to Roger Corman, expressed interest in the project. Cameron sold Hurd the rights to Terminator for one dollar with a promise to produce it only if Cameron directed it. Hurd suggested revisions to the script and took a screenwriting credit on the film, although Cameron stated that she "didn't actually write anything at all". Cameron later regretted her decision to sell the rights for one dollar. Cameron and Hurd had friends who had previously worked with Corman and who worked at Orion Pictures (now part of MGM). Orion agreed to distribute the film if Cameron could get financial backing from elsewhere. John Daly, chairman and president of Hemdale Film Corporation, took over the script. Daly and his executive vice president and head of production Derek Gibson became executive producers on the project.
Cameron wanted his submission to Daly to complete the deal, and had his friend Lance Henriksen arrive early for the meeting, dressed and playing as the Terminator. Henriksen, in a leather jacket, with fake welts on his face and gold foil on his teeth, kicked open the office door and then sat down in a chair. Cameron arrived shortly after, then freed the staff from Henriksen's ascent. Daly was impressed with the script and Cameron's sketches and enthusiasm for the film. In late 1982, Daly agreed to support the film with the help of HBO and Orion. The budget for The Terminator was originally set at $4 million, later increased to $6.5 million. In addition to Hemdale, Pacific Western Productions, Euro Film Funding, and Cinema '84 were listed as production companies after the film's release.
Casting
For the role of Kyle Reese, Orion wanted a star whose popularity was rising in the United States but who would also be appealing abroad. Orion co-founder Mike Medavoy met Arnold Schwarzenegger and sent his agent the script for Terminator. Cameron wasn't sure about casting Schwarzenegger as Reese because he felt he needed someone even more famous to play the Terminator. Both Sylvester Stallone and Mel Gibson turned down the role of the Terminator.
Studio executive Mike Medavoy suggested O.J. Simpson, but Cameron did not feel that Simpson was believable as the killer at the time.
Cameron agreed to meet with Schwarzenegger and hatched a plan to avoid being cast; he was to argue with him, return to Hemdale and discover that he was not right for the role. Cameron, however, was entertained by Schwarzenegger, who was to talk about how the villain should be played. Cameron started drawing his face on a notepad and asked Schwarzenegger to stop talking and stay still. After the meeting, Cameron went back to Daly with that Schwarzenegger wouldn't be playing Reese, but that he "would make a damn good Terminator."
The casting of Arnold Schwarzenegger as our Terminator [...] wasn't supposed to work out. The guy's supposed to be an infiltration unit, and there's no way you wouldn't instantly recognize the Terminator in a crowd if they all looked like Arnold. It didn't make any sense at all. But the beauty of movies is that they don't have to be logical. They just have to be believable. As long as there is something intimate, cinematic going on that the audience likes, they don't care that it contradicts what is plausible.
James Cameron on the casting of Schwarzenegger
Schwarzenegger wasn't that excited about the film; during an interview on the set of Conan the Destroyer, the interviewer asked him about a pair of shoes he had a that belonged in the wardrobe for The Terminator. Schwarzenegger replied, "Oh, some shitty movie I'm working on, it's taking a couple of weeks". He recounted in his memoir Total Recall that he was initially hesitant, but thought that playing a robot in the current film would be a challenging change from Barbara Conan and that the film was so bland that it would not damage his career if it failed. In a later interview with GQ, he admitted that he and the studio considered it just another B-movie action movie because "the year before Exterminator came out, now it was Terminator and what's next, that kind of thing". It wasn't until he saw 20 minutes of the first cut that he realised "this is really intense, it's wild, I don't think I've ever seen anything like this before", and realised "this could be bigger than we all think". In preparation for the role, Schwarzenegger spent three months training with the guns so he could use them and felt comfortable with them. Schwarzenegger utters only 17 lines in the film and less than 100 words. Cameron said he "somehow worked i his accent ... It seemed oddly synthetic, like they hadn't quite gotten the voice right."
. Various other actors have been suggested for the role of Reese, including rock musician Sting. Cameron met with Sting, but he was not interested because Cameron was too unknown a director at that time. Others who were considered for the role of Reese included Christopher Reeve, Matt Dillon, Kurt Russell, Treat Williams, Tommy Lee Jones, Scott Glenn, Michael O'Keefe and Bruce Springsteen. Cameron chose Michael Biehn. Biehn, who had recently seen Taxi Driver and had ambitions to star alongside such actors as Al Pacino, Robert De Niro and Robert Redford, was initially skeptical and felt the film was silly. After meeting Cameron Biehn changed his mind. Hurd said that "almost everyone else who came out of the audition was so tough that you just never believed that there would be such a human connection between Sarah Connor and Kyle Reese. They have very little time to fall in love. A lot of people came along and just couldn't pull it off." To get into Rees's character, Biehn studied the Polish resistance movement during World War II.
In the first pages of the script, Sarah Connor is described as "nineteen years old, petite and fine-featured. Pretty in her imperfect, approachable way. She doesn't stop a party when she walks in, but you'd like to get to know her. Her vulnerability masks a strength that even she s unaware exists." The role was offered to Lisa Langlois, but she turned it down because she was already filming The Slugger's Wife. Jennifer Jason Leigh, Melissa Sue Anderson and Jessica Harper were also considered for the role of Sarah Connor. Cameron cast Linda Hamilton, who had just finished filming Children of the Corn. Rosanna Arquette and Lea Thompson also auditioned for the role. Cameron found a role for Lance Henriksen as Vukovich because Henriksen was essential to getting financing for the film. For the special effects shots, Cameron wanted Dick Smith, who had worked on The Godfather and Taxi Driver. Smith did not accept Cameron's offer and suggested his friend Stan Winston.
Shooting
Shooting of The Terminator was scheduled to begin in Toronto in early 1983, but was halted when producer Dino De Laurentiis exercised an option in Schwarzenegger's contract that would have made him unavailable for nine months while he was shooting Conan the Destroyer. During the waiting period, Cameron signed a script contract for Rambo: First Blood - Part II, completed the script for The Terminator, and met with producers David Giler and Walter Hill to discuss a sequel to Alien, which became Aliens, released in 1986.
There was limited interference from Orion Pictures. Two suggestions made by Orion included adding a canine android for Reese, which Cameron rejected, and strengthening the love relationship between Sarah and Reese, which Cameron accepted. In creating the look of Terminator, Winston and Cameron passed sketches back and forth and eventually settled on a design almost identical to Cameron's original drawing in Rome. Winston's team of seven artists worked for six months to create the Terminator puppet; the puppet was first cast in clay and then reinforced with plaster with steel ribbing. These pieces were then sanded, painted and then chrome plated. Winston sculpted a reproduction of Schwarzenegger's face in several poses from silicone, clay and plaster.
Scenes set in the year 2029 and stop-motion scenes were created by Fantasy II, a special effects company headed by Gene Warren Jr. The stop-motion model is used in several scenes in the film that involve the Terminator's endoskeleton. Cameron wanted to convince viewers that the model design was capable of doing what they saw Schwarzenegger do. To make this possible, a scene was filmed in which Schwarzenegger is injured and limps; this limp made it easier for the model to mimic Schwarzenegger.
One of the weapons seen in the film and on the poster for the film was an AMT Longslide pistol modified by Ed Reynolds of SureFire to include a laser sight. Both non-functional and functional versions of the prop were created. At the time of the film, diode lasers were not available; due to the high power requirements, the helium-neon laser in the sight used an external source, which Schwarzenegger had to activate manually. Reynolds states that his only reward for the project was promotional materials for the film.
In March 1984, the film began shooting in Los Angeles. Cameron felt that with Schwarzenegger on set, the style of the film changed, and explains that "the film took on a larger-than-life sheen. I just found myself doing things on set that I didn't think I was going to do - scenes that were pure horror and that just couldn't be because now they were too flashy." Most of Terminator's action scenes were shot at night, which led to a tight shooting schedule before sunrise. A week before filming began, Linda Hamilton sprained her ankle, which led to a production change where scenes which Hamilton needed to run were played as late as the shooting schedule allowed. Hamilton had her ankle taped up every day and spent most of the shoot in pain.
Schwarzenegger tried to change the iconic catchphrase "I'll be back" because he had trouble pronouncing the word I'll. Cameron refused to change the catchphrase to "I will be back," and so Schwarzenegger tried to say the catchphrase as it was written as best he could. He later said the catchphrase in many films throughout his career.
After filming of Terminator was completed, several post-production shots needed to be shot. These included scenes that showed the Terminator outside Sarah Connor's apartment, Reese zipped up in a body bag and the Terminator's head crushed in a press. The final scene, in which Sarah drives down the highway, was filmed without permission. Cameron and Hurd convinced the police officer who confronted them that they were filming a UCLA student film.
Music
The soundtrack to The Terminator was composed and played on synthesizer by Brad Fiedel. Fiedel worked for the Gorfaine/Schwartz agency, where new agent Beth Donahue found out Cameron was working on Terminator and sent him a tape of Fiedel's music. Fiedel was invited to a screening of the film with Cameron and Hurd. Hurd wasn't sure if Fiedel should compose the music because he had only worked in television, not theatrical films. Fiedel convinced them by showing them an experimental piece he was working on, and he thought: "You know, I'm going to play this for him because it's really dark and I think it's interesting for him." Fiedel decided to play it for Hurd. The song convinced Hurd and Cameron to hire him.
Fiedel said his score reflects "the mechanical man and his heartbeat". Almost all the music was performed live. The Terminator theme is used in the opening credits and appears at various points, such as in the slow motion version when Reese dies, and in the piano version during the love scene. It has been described as "haunting", with a "deceptively simple" melody recorded on a Prophet-10 synthesizer. It is in unusual time signature 16, which was created when Fiedel experimented with rhythms and accidentally created an incomplete loop on his sequencer; Fiedel liked the "herky-jerky" "momentum". Fiedel created music for the moment when Reese and Connor escape from the police station that would be appropriate for a "heroic moment". Cameron rejected this theme, believing it would lose audience enthusiasm.
Release
Orion Pictures did not believe that Terminator would do well at the box office, and feared a negative critical reception. At one of the film's early screenings, the actor's agents urged the producers to screen the film to critics. Orion held only one press screening of the film. The film premiered on October 26, 1984. In opening week, The Terminator played in 1,005 theaters and grossed $4.0 million, putting it at the top spot at the box office. The film also held the top spot its second week. In its third week, it lost the top spot to Oh, God! You Devil. Cameron noted that Terminator was a hit "given its market, which is between summer and Christmas blockbusters. But it's better to be a big fish in a small pond than the other way around." The Terminator earned $38.3 million in the United States and Canada and $40 million in other territories, bringing its worldwide total to $78.3 million.
Critical Response
Current
Critical response to The Terminator has been mixed. Variety magazine praised the film, calling it "a shining, cinematic comic book, full of virtuoso filmmaking, terrific pacing, solid performances and a compelling story ...". Schwarzenegger is perfectly cast in a machine-like performance that requires only a few lines of dialogue". Richard Corliss of Time magazine said the film has "enough tech-noir smarts to satisfy nonbelievers and action fans alike". Time magazine included The Terminator in its "10 Best" list for 1984.
The Los Angeles Times called the film "a crackling thriller filled with all sorts of gory treats... packed with fuel-fueled chase scenes, clever special effects and wicked humor." The Milwaukee Journal gave the film three stars and called it "the most chilling sci-fi thriller since Alien." A review in Orange Coast magazine stated that "Terminator's distinct strength is its unrelenting suspense. Right from the start, it's all action and violence, without taking the time to set up the story ... It's like a simplified Rough Harry movie - no exposition; just guns, guns and more guns". In the May 1985 issue of Cinefantastique magazine, the film was hailed as one that "manages to be derivative and original at the same time ... not since Road Warrior has the genre presented so much exuberant carnage" and "an example of sci-fi/horror at its best ...". Cameron's relentless approach will make him a sought-after commodity". The UK's Monthly Film Bulletin praised the script, special effects, production design and Schwarzenegger's performance. Colin Greenland reviewed Terminator for Imagine magazine and said it was "a riveting sf horror film". He continued, "Linda Hamilton is admirable as a woman in peril who discovers her own power in order to survive, and Arnold Schwarzenegger is terrifyingly great as the unstoppable cyborg."
Other reviews criticized the violence and quality of the film's story. Janet Maslin of The New York Times opined that the film is "a B-movie with panache. Most of it ... has suspense and personality and only the obligatory chaos becomes tedious. There is too much of the latter, in the form of car chases, cluttered shootouts and Mr. Schwarzenegger's brutal crashing into everything in his path." The Pittsburgh Press wrote a negative review, calling the film "another film steeped in artistic ugliness, like Streets of Fire or Blade Runner." The Chicago Tribune gave the film two stars and added that "at times it is frighteningly violent and suspenseful, at others it chuckles to itself. This schizoid style actually helps and provides a bit of humour just when the sci-fi plot becomes too slow or the dialogue too silly". Newhouse News Service called the film "a gruesome, violent and spectacular piece of tripe". Scottish writer Gilbert Adair called the film "repulsive to the last degree", accusing it of "insidious Nazification" and of having "an appeal rooted in an unholy mixture of fascism, fashion and fascination".
Retrospective
In 1991, Richard Schickel of Entertainment Weekly reviewed the film and gave it an "A" rating, writing that "what originally appeared to be a somewhat bloated, albeit generous and energetic big movie now appears to be a pretty good little film". He described it as "one of the most original films of the 1980s and it seems likely to remain one of the best science fiction films ever made". In 1998 Halliwell's Film Guide described The Terminator as "a brisk, somewhat nasty but undeniably compelling comic book adventure". Film4 gave it five stars and called it "the action sci-fi thriller that launched James Cameron and Arnold Schwarzenegger's careers into the stratosphere". Still endlessly entertaining." TV Guide gave the film four stars and called it "a wonderfully effective film that is doubly impressive when considering its small budget ...". For our money, this film is far better than its mega-budget sequel." Empire awarded it five stars and called it "as chillingly effective at extorting thrills from its audience as its title character is at executing his targets." The film database AllMovie awarded it five stars, saying that "James Cameron has become a master of action, special effects and quasi-mythical narrative intrigue, while making Arnold Schwarzenegger the hard-bodied star of the 1980s." Alan Jones gave the film five stars out five for the Radio Times and wrote that "maximum thrills are delivered from the first frame and dynamic tension is sustained until the nerve-wracking climax. Wittily written and with a pleasing sense of sharp detail, this is hard-boiled action sci-fi with all the trimmings." Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian gave it five stars out of five and said that "on the basis of this film [...] Cameron could stand up to Carpenter and Spielberg. Unfortunately, a series of pointless and inferior sequels were born, but the first Terminator [...] stands up extremely well, with outrageous verve and brisk excitement."
After Release
Plagiarism and consequences
Writer Harlan Ellison stated that he "loved the film, was just blown away by it", but believed the script was based on a short story and episode of The Outer Limits series he wrote under the title "Soldier", and threatened to sue for infringement. Orion agreed to a settlement in 1986, paid Ellison an undisclosed sum, and added a thank-you note on later copies of the film. Some reports of the settlement state that "The Demon with the Glass Hand", another Outer Limits episode Ellison wrote, was also claimed to have plagiarized the film, but Ellison explicitly stated that Terminator "was a ripoff" of "Soldier", not "The Demon with the Glass Hand".
. Cameron opposed Orion's decision and was told that if he did not agree to the settlement, he would have to pay any damages if Orion lost Ellison's lawsuit. Cameron responded that he "had no choice but to agree to the settlement. Of course, there was also a gag order, so I couldn't tell the story, but I honestly don't care now. It's the truth."
Thematic Analysis
Psychoanalyst Darian Leader sees Terminator as an example of how film has dealt with the concept of masculinity; he writes:
. Time and again, we are shown that being a man requires more than having a biological male body: something else must be added to it... To be a man is to have a body plus something symbolic, something that is ultimately not human. Hence the frequent man-machine motif, from the Six Million Man to Terminator or Robocop.
Terminator also explores the potential dangers of domination and rebellion by artificial intelligence. In the future, robots become self-aware, reject human authority, and decide that the human race must be destroyed. The impact of this theme is so great that the Terminator robot has become "the predominant visual representation of the risk of artificial intelligence".
Home Media
Michael Biehn signs a copy of the film during an appearance at Midtown Comics in 2012
The Terminator film was released on VHS and Betamax in 1985. The film did well financially when it was first released. At its release, The Terminator ranked 35th on the list of the most rented videotapes and 20th on the list of the best-selling videotapes. In its second week, The Terminator reached the 4th place in the rankings of the most rented videocassettes and the 12th place in the rankings of the best-selling videocassettes. In March 1995, Terminator was released in letterboxed edition on Laserdisc. The film premiered through Image Entertainment on DVD, a it on September 3, 1997. The IGN server called this DVD "pretty barebones...released with only a mono soundtrack and a somewhat poor transfer."
. With the acquisition of PolyGram Filmed Entertainment's film library catalog from the pre-1996 era, MGM Home Entertainment released a special edition of the film on October 2, 2001, which included documentaries, the script, and advertisements for the film. On 23. January 2001, the Hong Kong edition was released online on VCD. On June 20, 2006, the film was released by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment in the United States on Blu-ray, becoming the first film from the 1980s to be released on this format. In 2013, the film was re-released by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment on Blu-ray with a new digitally remastered transfer from a 4K restoration by Lowry Digital and supervised by James Cameron, which includes improved image quality as well as a minimum of special features such as deleted scenes and a making-of feature. These are the exact same special features that have been carried over from previous Blu-ray releases.
Link
The Terminator movie has a rating of 100 % with an average rating of 8.8/10 based on 67 professional reviews on the review aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes. Its critical consensus reads, "With its impressive action sequences, thrilling economic direction, and relentlessly fast pace, it's clear why The Terminator continues to influence science fiction and action films." (more) Metacritic (which uses a weighted average) gave The Terminator a score of 84 out of 100, based on 21 critics' ratings, which means "universal acclaim."
The Terminator won three Saturn Awards for best science fiction film, best makeup and best screenplay. The film also received recognition from the American Film Institute when it ranked 42nd on the AFI's 100 Years... 100 Thrills, a list of American films with the strongest heart. The Terminator character was selected as the 22nd greatest movie villain on the AFI 100 Years... 100 Heroes and Villains list. Schwarzenegger's catchphrase "I'll be back" was voted the 37th greatest movie quote by AFI.
In 2005, Total Film magazine named it the 72nd greatest film of all time. Schwarzenegger biographer Laurence Leamer wrote that The Terminator was "an influential film that influenced a generation of darkly-themed science fiction, and was one of Arnold's finest performances". In 2008, Empire magazine selected The Terminator as one of the 500 greatest films of all time. Empire also ranked the T-800 14th on its list of the 100 greatest movie characters. In 2008, Terminator was designated by the Library of Congress as "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" and selected for preservation in the National Film Registry of the United States. In 2010, the film was selected by the Independent Film& Television Alliance as one of the 30 most important independent films of the past 30 years. In 2015, The Terminator was included in the book 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die.
In 2019, Huw Fullerton of the Radio Times named it the second best film of the six-volume series, and said, "The Terminator was a brilliantly original, intimate and genuinely terrifying film at the time of its release in 1984, and no matter how much the visual effects have aged, it hasn't lost its appeal." In 2021, Dalin Rowell of /Film magazine named it the fourth best film of Cameron's career and said, "While its pacing and story structure are not as tight as its sequels, The Terminator remains one of the most iconic works of pop culture ever made." Syfy's Phil Pirrello ranked it seventh on the "25 Scariest Science Fiction Movies of All Time" and said: "Cameron forever changed the genre and Schwarzenegger's career with The Terminator, a cult film full of suspense that blends sci-fi, action and some elements of horror into one of the best things ever made in Hollywood[...]"....] Cameron's well-constructed script is cleanly polished, with zero fat and an excess of gripping tension that helps make it the timeless classic it still is today."
Merchandise
The soundtrack to the film was released in 1984, featuring music by Brad Fiedel and pop and rock songs used in club scenes. Shaun Hutson wrote a novelization of the film, which was published February 21, 1985, by London-based Star Books (ISBN 0-352-31645-4); Randal Frakes and William Wisher wrote another novelization for Bantam/Spectra, which was published October 1985 (ISBN 0-553-25317-4). In September 1988, NOW Comics published a comic book based on the film. Dark Horse Comics published a comic book in 1990 that takes place 39 years after the film. Between 1991-1993, several video games based on the Terminator movie were released for various Nintendo and Sega systems.
Continued
The Terminator film was followed by five sequels, Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991), Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003), Terminator Salvation (2009), Terminator Genisys (2015), and Terminator: None of them, however, replicated the success of Terminator or Terminator 2. Schwarzenegger returned for all but Terminator Salvation, while Cameron and Hamilton returned only for Dark Destiny, which directly followed the events of Terminator 2. Although Dark Destiny was better received by critics than the other sequels after Terminator 2, it is also considered a failure. Analysts have blamed audience disinterest on the declining quality of the franchise since Terminator 2 and repeated attempts to reboot the series. The 2003 television series Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (2008-2009) is also set after the events of Terminator 2 and ignores the events in the sequels Terminator 3 and others.
Source: Wikipedia
