The Terminator is a classic, but I don't think that should automatically earn it high ratings. After all, the idea for the movie is redundant (even back then), and the skinny plot is a rough skeleton meant to serve the action scenes. But there are a few gems in this movie.

I was surprised by the attention to detail they took. There is a quick scene where Sarah (Linda Hamilton) and Reese (Michael Biehn) escape the police station and hit the Terminator with the car. It's only a second, but you can see their bumper is all bent from hitting him since he is made of steel. Earlier, the Terminator gets his face burned lightly, and it took a while to understand that the "something is weird about his face" was the lack of eyebrows he lost in the fire after that scene, going forward (until he put on the sunglasses). Some details in the background and people seem so natural in LA because, well, as it turns out, James Cameron shot some of these scenes raw, without asking permission and without warning people who were captured on the camera without knowing.

Watching the film also made me realise that it really is about The Terminator, not about Sarah Connor. As for Reese, I forgot his name entirely until I watched this movie again today.

The Terminator is one of the best and few examples I can think of where the sequel is even better than the first. In order to see and understand it fully though, it's best to watch the first. I'm glad I got to watch it again today on a whim.