Terminator, The

The Terminator 1984 Movie Poster

"In the year of darkness, 2029, the rulers of this planet devised the ultimate plan.  They would reshape the future by changing the past.  The plan required something that felt no pity.  No pain.  No fear.  Something unstoppable.  They created....the Terminator." The original Terminator movie was released in  1984.  The movie was successful enough to warrant a number of sequels, including Terminator 2: Judgment Day in  1991, Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines in 2003, and Terminator Salvation in 2009.  A fifth film, also starring Schwarzenegger and called Terminator Genesis, is to be released in 2015.  The first three movies were well received by critics, all starring Schwarzenegger and all making money at the box office.  The last installment, which did not star Schwarzenegger, did not do as well.

The original movie takes us to a future where robots have taken over the world with the intention of destroying humanity.  Under the control of the Skynet artificial intelligence computer system, human-like, cyborg killers, call Terminators, are created to help put an end to humans.  However, a man named John Connor, who started a rebel group called Tech-Com, has gained the upper hand and is near defeating Skynet.  As a last ditch effort, Skynet sends one of its Terminators back in time to kill Connor's mother, which would effectively change the future.  Connor sends solider Kyle Resse back in time as well, to protect his mother and his future.

In the second movie, Skynet tries again to send a cyborg back in time, this time the T-1000, a more advance cyborg.  His job is to kill the young John Connor.  However, Connor sends a re-programmed Terminator back in time as well to protect his younger self.  In a turn of the tide, Connor's mother attempts to put an end to Skynet by destroying the company that created it before it took over.  The rest of the movies are more of the same.