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A cyborg from the future attempts to assasinate the unwitting mother of a future man who will lead humanity in a war against ‘the machines.’ The Terminator remains one of the best sci-fi films of the ’80s. Thanks in part to his education at Roger Corman’s New World Pictures, ambitious director and cowriter James Cameron overcame the confines of a low budget, delivering a film that looks four times its cost. And there’s quality in the writing, too. The screenplay is exemplary in doling out exposition on the run. With Linda Hamilton and Michael Biehn playing doomed lovers, The Terminator also demonstrates Cameron’s knack for attracting women to the action and science-fiction genres. What I like most is the movie’s unrelenting sense of doom, not just from Arnold Schwarzenegger’s cyborg character, but from the knowledge of imminent apocalypse. There’s poignancy in Sarah Connor’s resolve at the end of the film. She acknowledges a storm is coming as she heads off into the mountains with her unborn baby, the future savior of the human race. It’s enough to build a great sequel on. With an impressive synthesized score from Brad Fiedel.