It’s quite brilliant, in many ways, how Cameron worked with certain limitations and turned them into strengths, having a story be about the prevention of a future war, rather than trying to show elaborate sequences of futuristic warfare on a budget.
A standout film from 1984 (which is saying something, given that year had a ton of classics), The Terminator established James Cameron as a filmmaker who could do interesting and even groundbreaking things with the sci-fi genre. It’s quite brilliant, in many ways, how Cameron worked with certain limitations and turned them into strengths, having a story be about the prevention of a future war, rather than trying to show elaborate sequences of futuristic warfare on a budget.