Back to trending
The Terminator

The Terminator

Action · Thriller · Science Fiction · 1984

In the post-apocalyptic future, reigning tyrannical supercomputers teleport a cyborg assassin known as the "Terminator" back to 1984 to kill Sarah Connor, whose unborn son is destined to lead insurgents against 21st century mechanical hegemony. Meanwhile, the human-resistance movement dispatches a lone warrior to safeguard Sarah. Can he stop the virtually indestructible killing machine?

Movie details

The Terminator

“Your future is in its hands.”

1984 Action · Thriller · Science Fiction 1h 48m

Critical arithmetic

One number, for now.

TMDB

7.7 / 10

Community rating

In the post-apocalyptic future, reigning tyrannical supercomputers teleport a cyborg assassin known as the "Terminator" back to 1984 to kill Sarah Connor, whose unborn son is destined to lead insurgents against 21st century mechanical hegemony. Meanwhile, the human-resistance movement dispatches a lone warrior to safeguard Sarah. Can he stop the virtually indestructible killing machine?

CriticWise case file

What this film says about your taste.

Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.

The archetype split

Who fights over The Terminator?

The split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.

Taste neighbourhood

Nearby on the taste map.

TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.

Predator

Predator

Sci-fi · 1987

A team of elite commandos on a secret mission in a Central American jungle come to find themselves hunted by an extraterrestrial warrior.

Mad Max

Mad Max

Action · 1979

In the ravaged near-future, a savage motorcycle gang rules the road. Terrorizing innocent civilians while tearing up the streets, the ruthless gang laughs in the face of a police force hell-bent on stopping them.

Repo Men

Repo Men

Action · 2010

In the future, medical technology has advanced to the point where people can buy artificial organs to extend their lives. But if they default on payments, an organization known as the Union sends agents to repossess the organs. Remy is one of the best agents in the business, but when he becomes the recipient of an artificial heart, he finds himself in the same dire straits as his many victims.

Mad Max 2

Mad Max 2

Action · 1981

Max Rockatansky returns as the heroic loner who drives the dusty roads of a postapocalyptic Australian Outback in an unending search for gasoline. Arrayed against him and the other scraggly defendants of a fuel-depot encampment are the bizarre warriors commanded by the charismatic Lord Humungus, a violent leader whose scruples are as barren as the surrounding landscape.

Sin City: A Dame to Kill For

Sin City: A Dame to Kill For

Action · 2014

Some of Sin City's most hard-boiled citizens cross paths with a few of its more reviled inhabitants.

Until Death

Until Death

Action · 2007

Anthony Stowe is a dirty cop who is hooked on heroin—and everyone hates him. After a serious accident, he is placed into an induced coma, but emerges from it a better person who wants to put things right.

Hobo with a Shotgun

Hobo with a Shotgun

Crime · 2011

A vigilante homeless man pulls into a new city and finds himself trapped in urban chaos, a city where crime rules and where the city's crime boss reigns. Seeing an urban landscape filled with armed robbers, corrupt cops, abused prostitutes and even a pedophile Santa, the Hobo goes about bringing justice to the city the best way he knows how - with a 20-gauge shotgun. Mayhem ensues when he tries to make things better for the future generation. Street justice will indeed prevail.

Dark Angel

Dark Angel

Action · 1990

Jack Caine is a Houston vice cop who's forgotten the rule book. His self-appointed mission is to stop the drugs trade and the number one supplier Victor Manning. While involved in an undercover operation to entrap Victor Manning, his partner is killed, and a sinister newcomer enters the scene...

Doomsday

Doomsday

Action · 2008

The lethal Reaper virus spreads throughout Britain—infecting millions and killing hundreds of thousands. Authorities brutally and successfully quarantine the country but, three decades later, the virus resurfaces in a major city. An elite group of specialists is urgently dispatched into the still-quarantined country to retrieve a cure by any means necessary. Shut off from the rest of the world, the unit must battle through a landscape that has become a waking nightmare.

Death Race: Inferno

Death Race: Inferno

Action · 2013

Carl Lucas / Frankenstein has won four of his races and needs to win one more to win his freedom. Before his final race, Lucas and his team, car and all, are transferred to another prison where they will compete in a Death Race in the desert. Also, at the same time, Ceaser runs into a marketer who wants to franchise the Death Race program.

Where it lives

Watch in your region.

Cinema release signals and current streaming, rental, and purchase options for your region.

Streaming availability data supplied by JustWatch.

Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

James Cameron

Written by

James Cameron · Gale Anne Hurd

Arnold Schwarzenegger

Arnold Schwarzenegger

Terminator

Michael Biehn

Michael Biehn

Kyle Reese

Linda Hamilton

Linda Hamilton

Sarah Connor

Paul Winfield

Paul Winfield

Traxler

Lance Henriksen

Lance Henriksen

Vukovich

Rick Rossovich

Rick Rossovich

Matt

Bess Motta

Bess Motta

Ginger

Court is in session

Put The Terminator on trial.

Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.

The defence The Adrenaline Seeker

“Momentum is a formal choice.”

The velocity sharpens instinct and tension, making every beat land before self-importance can settle in.

The prosecution The Auteur Devotee

“Speed as an alibi.”

The film races past its weak spots and hopes acceleration will keep the audience from inspecting the evidence.