5. TERMINATOR & TERMINATOR 2 (1984/1991)

You may find this hard to believe - hell, you may not even want to believe it - but the same man who brought us Titanic brought us the Terminators: James Cameron. Well, he directed them, but who are we kidding, the guy who brought us these movies was Ahnuld and Ahnuld alone. In the first film, Schwarzenegger broke into the mainstream after his cult Conan flicks and it was here that he redefined the role of the Bad Guy. Before this, bad guys were chumps, fodder for the pimp in the white hat. Here, you've got the most unbelievable specimen of humanity personifying Evil, and Arnold delivered. He makes his entrance in the buff and more or less immediately puts his fist through someone's torso. After that, it's 108 minutes of action and ass-kicking.

But beyond the ass-kicking, killing, and maiming, The Terminator has a complex plot that's far more sophisticated than the typical Hollywood action flick. Involving the nuclear threat, prescient visions of future technology, and intricate space-time wrinkles, the film is way ahead of its time. In fact, the police station decimation is also cutting edge; before it, no film had ever depicted such a high body count. More importantly, though, this film was the first place we heard Arnold utter the gospel: "I'll be back."

That's for sure. Following up on the tremendous success of The Terminator, Cameron, Schwarzenegger, and Linda Hamilton teamed up for the sequel, T2. Again, the film broke ground, featuring huge advances in computer graphics and motion picture f/x. The film also broke all sorts of financial records: indeed, in true James Cameron tradition, it was the first action film to cost over $100 million. Arnold was back as the same mean cyborg, but he's facing the prospect of being made obsolete by technological advances in the future; namely, the metal morphing, ice-cold T-1000.

These two movies are major landmarks in the history of action cinema and you must see them to be culturally literate in our society. More importantly, you need to see them so that you can follow the forthcoming T3. That's right, he'll be back.

Notes:

  • The Terminator won a Saturn Award for Best Science Fiction Film

  • Terminator 2: Judgment Day was nominated for 6 Academy Awards

  • Terminator 2: Judgment Day won 4 Academy Awards (for Best Visual Effects, Makeup, Sound Effects Editing, and Sound)

  • Terminator 2: Judgment Day also won numerous MTV, BAFTA, and People's Choice awards.