Cameron reflects on 40 years of "Terminator": Embarrassed by classic

The film that shaped an entire generation, with its characters and lines firmly entrenched in pop culture, made an Austrian actor into a Hollywood A-lister. Meanwhile, it turns out that James Cameron feels... embarrassed by his "Terminator."

The 40th anniversary of James Cameron's directorial debut was an occasion for the filmmaker to reflect on his iconic film "Terminator." In an interview with Empire, the three-time Oscar winner admitted that although the film is considered a masterpiece, he sees many shortcomings in it himself. Cameron described some parts of the film as "cringeworthy" and acknowledged that the "production value" has not stood the test of time.

"I don’t think of it as some Holy Grail, that’s for sure. I look at it now and there are parts of it that are pretty cringeworthy, and parts of it that are like, ‘Yeah, we did pretty well for the resources we had available.’ - Cameron said in an interview with Empire. He added - Just the production value, you know? I don’t cringe on any of the dialogue, but I have a lower cringe factor than, apparently, a lot of people do around the dialogue that I write."

"Terminator," which premiered in 1984, earned over 78 million dollars worldwide on a budget of a few million and became a milestone in the careers of both Cameron and the film's main star, Arnold Schwarzenegger.

"I was just a [rookie] starting out when I directed 'The Terminator'. I think I was 29 at the time, and it was my first directing gig. - Cameron recalled. - 'Terminator' was my first film, and it’s near and dear for that reason."

James Cameron received three Oscars for the film "Titanic" and was also nominated for the films "Avatar" and "Avatar: The Way of Water."

The film launched a franchise that includes numerous sequels and television series. Last month, the animated series Terminator Zero debuted on Netflix, featuring the voices of Timothy Olyphant, Sonoya Mizuno, Rosario Dawson, Ann Dowd, and André Holland.

At the end of the 1990s, humans created an advanced defence system called Skynet. After its activation, this system unexpectedly took control of the world. As a result, a significant portion of the human population was killed, and the survivors were placed in special camps. However, this situation did not last long - one man, John Connor, mobilised people to fight and led the uprising against Skynet.

In 2029, the machines began losing the war against humans. In response to this, Skynet came up with one last desperate plan to ensure its victory. It sent back in time the Terminator - a cybernetic assassin resembling a young, well-built man, practically indestructible. The Terminator's mission was to find and kill Sarah Connor, the mother of the future leader of humanity, John Connor. To protect Sarah, Kyle Reese, a commando sent by John Connor, followed the Terminator into the past to find and protect her.