More gun to my head decisions...
Okay... Robocop has more layers than Terminator. It's an action film, it's sci- fi, it has horror elements, it's about the influence of corporations as much as it is about Murphy's transformation and regaining his humanity. And of course it's also a prophetic satire on both American culture, media and how we respond to things like technology. The production values are mostly still great even by today's standards. Basil's score is a wonder and rightly considered iconic, splicing rousing traditional sounding orchestration with more synthetic approaches as well to create a musical backdrop mirroring the mixing of man and machine in the film's titular hero. The script is engaging, entertaining and eminently quotable in the extreme. The cast brings it even in bit parts and Weller is maybe the only guy who could have played this in a way that raised the bar all around.
But once again... Cameron takes this for me, no offense to what Paul accomplished in Robocop.
Robocop is an all time classic but, uh, Terminator is just that much more, um... classier? Classicer? Whatever... It's a mini masterpiece. It in my opinion was the first film that leverages the SFX infrastructure that had been practically built from scratch by Lucas and employed by Spielberg up to to that point to make a movie that was in no way like a Lucas or Spielberg film in tone or story. It wasn't trying to be like Star Wars or Close Encounters. In Cameron's vision, nuclear war IS the happy ending in this story. This is not the story of underdogs making good with some clean and clear cut victory at the end leaving you with a smile in your heart. This is a tale of barely surviving a horrific and violent event whose purpose is to steel it's protagonist against future horrific struggles to come. Equally a sci fi action film and a horror movie drawing from the slasher film tradition it is perfectly paced, acted and designed. Cameron has a pitch perfect production design for this film and it adds to the visceral and tangible reality of the story despite the sci fi/fantasy elements. The trio of the main cast, Sarrah, Kyle and the Terminator himself could not have been portrayed better by anyone else in hindsight. Hamilton embodies the average 80's young single gal to a T, which is why we feel so much for her plight. She comes into here own in the story, gradually realizing how fate has plucked her from historical obscurity to be a key figure in the continuation of the survival of the species. Biehen as Kyle just perfectly encapsulates who and what the character should be. Desperate, driven to the edge of obsession, wirey, and yet likeable enough that we fear for him because we know the odds are against him. And of course... Arnold. Just... Arnold. There are two films where Arnold is almost an absolute necessity. That if he didn't exist he would have to be created in a lab for the expess reason to star in them. The first is Conan The Barbarian. The other is this film. This isn't just about physicality and the juxtaposition of Kyle against the Terminator. Arnold has a charisma and presence so undeniable that it transcends the limited characterization and dialog of the Terminator character in the film. He is not only perfect for the role but he makes the movie as the villain. Yeah... Those close up animotronic heads have not aged well, and sure, we can quibble about the obvious stop motion at the end (because, get this fanboys... it was more often than not easy to see and know SFX was being employed even before CGI. Thst stuff isn't any more real or have more weight or is less likely to momentarily take you out of a film than the digital effects of today. Sorry to punture your collective pose of authenticity but it's true...) but that doesn't take away from the masterclass in tension, simplicity of storytelling and action that Cameron puts on here. In fact in spite of any occasional wobbly VFX this film still works til this day.
This is a hard choice but I have to give it to Cameron here. Once more I just think he edges out equally esteemed competitors who are at his level in genre work with their movies. It's just once more in this case one film is just got the edge overall.
