The Terminator

Endlessly imitated, The Terminator made the reputation of cowriter/director James Cameron -- who would go on to make 1997's titanic Titanic -- and solidified the stardom of Arnold Schwarzenegger. The movie begins in a post-apocalyptic 2029, when Los Angeles has been largely reduced to rubble and is ...more

As relentless as the taciturn titular villain, The Terminator (1984) established James Cameron as a master of action, special effects, and quasi-mythic narrative intrigue, while turning Arnold Schwarzenegger into the hard-body star of the 1980s. With a budget well under $10 million, Cameron created a dystopic, trashed future world ruled by sinister robots, before returning to a darkly ominous 1984 Los Angeles where Schwarzenegger's leather-clad cyborg fits right in. Like the adversaries in Alien ...more