MOVIEmeter
Top 5000
Up 9 this week

The Terminator (1984)

 -  Action | Sci-Fi  -  26 October 1984 (USA)
8.1
Your rating:
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 -/10 X  
Ratings: 8.1/10 from 342,989 users   Metascore: 84/100
Reviews: 571 user | 149 critic | 11 from Metacritic.com

A robotic assassin from a post-apocalyptic future travels back in time to eliminate a waitress, whose son will grow up and lead humanity in a war against machines.

Director:

0Check in
0Share...

User Lists

Related lists from IMDb users

a list of 964 titles created 10 Mar 2012
 
a list of 2364 titles created 4 months ago
 
a list of 10000 titles created 2 months ago
 
a list of 374 titles created 17 Apr 2011
 
a list of 296 titles created 26 Nov 2011
 

Connect with IMDb


Share this Rating

Title: The Terminator (1984)

The Terminator (1984) on IMDb 8.1/10

Want to share IMDb's rating on your own site? Use the HTML below.

Take The Quiz!

Test your knowledge of The Terminator.
Top 250 #172 | 5 wins & 6 nominations. See more awards »

Videos

Photos

Learn more

People who liked this also liked... 

Action | Sci-Fi | Thriller
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 8.6/10 X  

The cyborg who once tried to kill Sarah Connor is dead, and another T-101 must now protect her teenage son, John Connor, from an even more powerful and advanced Terminator, the T-1000.

Director: James Cameron
Stars: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Linda Hamilton, Edward Furlong
Action | Sci-Fi | Thriller
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 6.4/10 X  

An robotic warrior from a post-apocalyptic future travels back in time to protect a 20-year old drifter and his future wife from an most advanced robotic assassin and to ensure they both survive a nuclear attack.

Director: Jonathan Mostow
Stars: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Nick Stahl, Claire Danes
Aliens (1986)
Action | Adventure | Sci-Fi
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 8.5/10 X  

The planet from Alien has been colonized, but contact is lost. This time, the rescue team has impressive firepower, but will it be enough?

Director: James Cameron
Stars: Sigourney Weaver, Carrie Henn, Michael Biehn
Action | Sci-Fi | Thriller
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 6.6/10 X  

A wrongly-convicted man must try to survive a public execution gauntlet staged as a TV game show.

Director: Paul Michael Glaser
Stars: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Maria Conchita Alonso, Yaphet Kotto
X2 (2003)
Action | Adventure | Sci-Fi
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.6/10 X  

The X-Men band together to find a mutant assassin who has made an attempt on the President's life, while the Mutant Academy is attacked by military forces.

Director: Bryan Singer
Stars: Patrick Stewart, Hugh Jackman, Ian McKellen
Pitch Black (2000)
Action | Sci-Fi | Thriller
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.1/10 X  

A group of marooned space travelers struggle for survival on a seemingly lifeless sun-scorched world.

Director: David Twohy
Stars: Vin Diesel, Radha Mitchell, Cole Hauser
Deja Vu (2006)
Action | Sci-Fi | Thriller
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7/10 X  

An ATF agent travels back in time to save a woman from being murdered, falling in love with her during the process.

Director: Tony Scott
Stars: Denzel Washington, Paula Patton, Val Kilmer
The Island (2005)
Action | Adventure | Sci-Fi
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 6.8/10 X  

A man goes on the run after he discovers that he is actually a "harvestable being", and is being kept as a source of replacement parts, along with others, in a Utopian facility.

Director: Michael Bay
Stars: Ewan McGregor, Scarlett Johansson, Djimon Hounsou
Action | Fantasy | Sci-Fi
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 8.2/10 X  

A shadowy freedom fighter known only as "V" uses terrorist tactics to fight against his totalitarian society. Upon rescuing a girl from the secret police, he also finds his best chance at having an ally.

Director: James McTeigue
Stars: Natalie Portman, Hugo Weaving, Stephen Rea
Surrogates (2009)
Action | Sci-Fi | Thriller
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 6.2/10 X  

Set in a futuristic world where humans live in isolation and interact through surrogate robots, a cop is forced to leave his home for the first time in years in order to investigate the murders of others' surrogates.

Director: Jonathan Mostow
Stars: Bruce Willis, Radha Mitchell, Rosamund Pike
Action | Sci-Fi | Thriller
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 6.9/10 X  

Dr. Bruce Banner, thanks to a gamma ray experiment gone wrong, transforms into a giant green-skinned hulk whenever his pulse rate gets too high. Meanwhile, a soldier uses the same technology to become an evil version of the original.

Director: Louis Leterrier
Stars: Edward Norton, Liv Tyler, Tim Roth
Pandorum (2009)
Action | Horror | Sci-Fi
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 6.7/10 X  

A pair of crew members aboard a spaceship wake up with no knowledge of their mission or their identities.

Director: Christian Alvart
Stars: Dennis Quaid, Ben Foster, Cam Gigandet
Edit

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
Shawn Schepps ...
Bruce M. Kerner ...
...
...
Brad Rearden ...
...
Edit

Storyline

A cyborg is sent from the future on a deadly mission. He has to kill Sarah Connor, a young woman whose life will have a great significance in years to come. Sarah has only one protector - Kyle Reese - also sent from the future. The Terminator uses his exceptional intelligence and strength to find Sarah, but is there any way to stop the seemingly indestructible cyborg ? Written by Colin Tinto <cst@imdb.com>

Plot Summary | Plot Synopsis

Taglines:

Your future is in his hands. See more »

Genres:

Action | Sci-Fi

Certificate:

R | See all certifications »

Parents Guide:

 »
Edit

Details

Official Sites:

Country:

|

Language:

|

Release Date:

26 October 1984 (USA)  »

Also Known As:

Terminator  »

Box Office

Budget:

$6,400,000 (estimated)

Gross:

$38,400,000 (USA)
 »

Company Credits

Show detailed on  »

Technical Specs

Runtime:

Sound Mix:

|

Color:

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1
See  »
Edit

Did You Know?

Trivia

Linda Hamilton broke her ankle prior to production, and had to have her leg wrapped every day so she could do her chase scenes. Those scenes were also moved towards the end of the shooting schedule. See more »

Goofs

Just before the car crashes into the police station, the officer at the desk is alerted to the car by the headlights flashing in his face, yet when we cut to the car, the lights are off. See more »

Quotes

[first lines]
[the garbage truck's engine stops]
Truck Driver: What the hell? Goddamn son of a bitch...
See more »

Crazy Credits

The opening credits run while large outlines of the two halves of THE TERMINATOR cross each other. After the last directorial credit is shown, the title THE TERMINATOR zooms backward, is filled by metallic blue, and reveals itself. See more »

Connections

Referenced in Lost in America (1985) See more »

Soundtracks

"Pictures Of You"
Performed by 16mm
Written by Jay Ferguson
Published by Painless Music (BMI)
See more »

Frequently Asked Questions

See more (Spoiler Alert!) »

User Reviews

 
Nice night for a walk.
15 July 1999 | by (Toronto, Ontario) – See all my reviews

Is there a better person to play a cyborg than Arnold? For this movie he was a massively built oak tree of a man. His strange accent makes for a perfect callous robotic sounding killing machine. It's almost like his voice is a computer read out ( which I guess it is in one sense ). Terminator is one of those films that started something huge. People didn't realize it at the time, but the careers of Arnold, Cameron and perhaps even guys like Micahel Biehn, Lance Henriksen and even Bill Paxton were substantially started because of this film. And Cameron must have liked working with them so much that he gave all of them substantial roles in his next film ( Aliens ).

As we all know what the story is, I'll just tell you a bit about what is so fascinating about it. First I have to mention Michael Biehn. He has the real starring role. He is the character that has to explain everything to the audience. He has to explain this complicated story so that we know what is happening and why. It is not an easy job to do something like that and still come off looking all right. But Biehn is simply awesome in this film. A microcosm of his performance can be seen when Sara bites him. Biehn ( Kyle Reese ) replies " Terminator's don't feel pain. I do. Don't do that again. " That is such a great line delivered with the perfect expression, the perfect tone and the perfect timing. Biehn is perfect for the role.

This is also the first film that I saw as a youngster that ever warned me of the dangers of nuclear war and of the rapid advancements of machinery. Perhaps I was too young and naive to fully understand all that James Cameron was trying to say, but now that I am older, I can honestly say that the two Terminators are perfect anti nuke films. And they are so passionate with what they have to say. I like it when a film has something to say. I enjoy being entertained in the process but if you can manage both then you have a masterpiece. This is a masterpiece.

Finally. there are two other reasons to enjoy this film. One, this is the first film where "I'll be back" was spoken. Now it is part of Arnolds vernacular. Secondly, Bill Paxton is in it. And he adds spark to any film that he's in. Especially here, as the idiot punk leader that really gets the hell beat out of him, he has some great lines.

A great film.


185 of 217 people found this review helpful.  Was this review helpful to you?

Message Boards

Recent Posts
Delete your post Terminator style!! gl_76
Anyone else's favorite change from T2 to T1 in time? GelmirPalantir
One question about the car chase scene? azim-a
What if he won? rbf08
Kyle driving like a maniac after losing the terminator at Tech-Noir? alexjx
Which BLURAY Version is Remastered/Restored? foxmulder1993
Discuss The Terminator (1984) on the IMDb message boards »

Contribute to This Page