What can be said about James Cameron’s The Terminator that hasn’t been said since the film first premiered in 1984? How’s this— there is no such thing as technonoir. There, I said it. Cameron made the term, which was the handle of a nightclub in one of the film’s pivotal scenes, accessible to the media and the public ate it up. Watching the film again, after it has gestated in the psyche of the masses for almost three decades, it’s easy to see why some considered this film a new kind of noir. With it’s central female character, gritty cinematography, and smoke filled interiors one might get a nourish sensibility from the flick, but several major elements are missing such as snappy, intelligent dialogue exchanges and mysterious overtones (everything you need to know is told fairly early in the film). Despite the misunderstanding, The Terminator nary needs a hook or gimmicky term to categorize the piece, it’s easily describable: one of the best high-concept, action-thrillers of the 80’s.

For those who don’t know the story by now, especially in light of the many offshoots and sequels, here’s a refresher. Woman with big 80’s hair (Linda Hamilton) is being stalked around by mysterious man in trench coat (Michael Biehn). What woman doesn’t know is that trench coat man is from the future, and is trying to protect her from large robot assassin (Arnold Schwarzenegger), who has also been sent back in time in order to eliminate said woman so her eventual child will not lead the revolution against the robots when they inevitably take over Earth. Now you’re up to speed.

So what makes this film so darn special? The concept certainly isn’t a mind-bending sci-fi tale of Phillip K. Dick proportions. The action scenes aren’t multi-million dollar spectacles of explosive carnage (see the sequels for that). The lead star, Schwarzenegger, is nothing more than a hunk of round-bellied beef stalking around with a pair of sunglasses and a leather jacket. Yet, the film holds up just as well today, and maybe even better, than it did thirty years ago; a miracle if you consider that today’s auteur probably has no idea what stop motion animation is.

While the success of The Terminator has much to do with the concept, which was hooky enough to get audiences flooding to the theatres to see it, it’s what happens within those 108 minutes of screen time that has turned this apocalyptic tale into a billion dollar franchise. Cameron, who basically sharpened his directing chops on this film, injects so much energy into his scenes you can almost hear the snap-fizzle of electrical currents whizzing by your ears. When the now infamous line, “Come with me if you want to live,” arrives, you can feel Cameron strapping a

pair of seatbelts around you like a shadowy roller coaster operator sending you on your way with an arcane smirk. As the camera dollies backwards, and our heroes jettison down that corridor away from the Terminator, we are shot into a violent orbit with Cameron’s ride only surceasing with the end credits. It’s an exhilarating trip, propelled by Cameron’s Spielberg-like visual acumen and Stan Winston’s state of the art special effects.

If you have yet to own a copy of this groundbreaking work, than this special Blu-ray release might be the one for you. In addition to crystalline visuals and 5.1 Dolby digital sound, you get a nice 25-page color booklet embedded within the hard cover casing along with deleted scenes, a retrospective on the making of the film, and a look at how the effects were created. Hurry up and get your copy now, because if we learned anything from this series, Judgment Day cannot be stopped…only preempted.