The Terminator (1984)

I'm going to say something pretty controversial here...

The first Terminator is the best movie in the series. I know, I know. Terminator 2: Judgment Day is a nearly flawless sci-fi action movie, but I still cling tightly to the assertion that the first film is still the best. You want proof?

It's the only movie in the franchise that makes any damn sense.

In my opinion, nothing is more important in a film than the story. The story has to work. The story makes sense in the first movie. Its themes are well-developed. Machines become sentient and start a war with mankind. Mankind fights back. In a last ditch effort, the machines send back an assassin through time to murder the mother of the leader of the human resistance before he's even born. The humans send back a lone protector to prevent the abortion of their leader (They're pro-lifers).

Did I mention that the dude the humans send back (Reese) bangs the woman and becomes the father of the guy who sent him back in time in the first place?

Ok. Forget that part. Other than that, it makes sense. The machines send a machine back. The humans send a human. It's a classic underdog story as Reese has to make use of his ingenuity and creativity to defeat the unstoppable killing machine with an Austrian accent (What?). It's man vs. machine. That works. It makes sense.

Here's the plot of the second movie: Oh, by the way, we forgot that the machines actually sent ANOTHER machine assassin, even more badass than the first, back through time to kill John Connor as a child. Oh, and the humans sent back a machine through time to...um...fight the other machine...wait....what?

That's right. It's stupid. It doesn't work. The entire theme of the series is man vs. machine and now you've got machine vs. machine. And the machine the humans send back is the same model of the one that tried to kill Sarah Connor...

And the third movie is even WORSE. Oh, by the way, the machines actually sent a THIRD machine assassin back in time, even MORE badass than those other two...(sigh)...it's dumb. It's just dumb!

Not only are the plots dumb in the sequels but they actually destroy the integrity of the first film. It brings up a lot of very good questions:

1) Why doesn't Skynet just send back its MOST badass robot assassin (the T-X) right away? What the hell was Reese going to do against that hot robot bitch?

2) Why doesn't Skynet send back multiple robot assassins? Does it really matter if they're not all that discreet if they get the job done?

3) Speaking of being discreet, if the T-800 is an infiltration model, why is it a giant, 6 ft. tall, muscle-encrusted dude with an AUSTRIAN accent? SKYNET SUCKS!

4) Seriously Terminator 3? Seriously? You're just going to totally cancel out the first two movies by claiming that NOTHING has been averted AND kill off Sarah Connor just because Linda Hamilton knew what a train wreck the whole thing was going to be? Seriously?!

I think I've made my point:

Terminator > Terminator 2 > Terminator 3 > Terminator Salvation > Terminator vs. Predator

Why It's Awesome:

Because it makes sense. There's a guy and a machine and they fight. Man vs. machine. It works.

Best Quote:

Uh...let me think...