3/5
The Terminator is James Cameron's first big movie (unless you count Piranha Part Two: The Spawning, about flying killer fish, which I have not seen and do not wish to) and you can tell he doesn't have the same technical expertise as he displays in his later movies. But you can see the nuggets of talent that enabled him to make the two most profitable films of all time. Cameron loves special effects--and there are quite a few good special effects here--but they severely date the film. And the bad special effects (e.g., the animatronic Schwarzenegger) overshadow the good ones.
Make no mistake, Schwarzenegger is the reason to see this movie. He delivers killer one-liners with aplomb and keeps the tension throughout. Unfortunately, this movie has been overshadowed by its bigger brother and sequel, Terminator 2: Judgment Day. And for good reason: the sequel is far better in just about every way. But this movie is good enough to put you on the edge of your seat and pull you in until the very end. I suppose that's enough to enjoy the movie, but it's not enough to keep it in the conversation whenever somebody mentions Terminator.
IMDb link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088247/