Cameron reflects on Terminator: Pretty Cringeworthy' at 40th anniversary

A film that shaped an entire generation, its characters and lines have become fixtures in pop culture, and it turned an Austrian actor into a top-tier Hollywood star. Meanwhile, it turns out that James Cameron feels... embarrassed by his "Terminator."

The 40th anniversary of James Cameron's directorial debut allowed the creator to reflect on his cult classic "Terminator." In an interview with Empire, the three-time Oscar winner admitted that although the film is considered a masterpiece, he sees many flaws. Cameron described some parts of the film as "pretty cringeworthy" and concluded that the "production value" hasn’t 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."

"The Terminator," released in 1984, with a budget of several million, grossed over $78 million worldwide and became a milestone in the careers of both Cameron and the film's main star, Arnold Schwarzenegger.

"I was just a punk 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 won three Oscars for "Titanic" and was also nominated for "Avatar" and "Avatar: The Way of Water."

The film kicked off a franchise that includes multiple sequels and TV series. Last month, the animated series "Terminator Zero" debuted on Netflix, featuring voices from Timothy Olyphant, Sonoya Mizuno, Rosario Dawson, Ann Dowd, and André Holland.

In the late '90s, humans created an advanced defense system called Skynet. Once activated, this system unexpectedly took control of the world. As a result, a significant portion of the human population was wiped out, and the survivors were placed in special camps. However, this situation didn’t last long - one man, John Connor, mobilized people to fight back and led the uprising against Skynet.

In 2029, machines began losing the war against humans. In response, Skynet devised a last-ditch plan to ensure its victory. It sent back in time a terminator - a cybernetic assassin in the form of a young, well-built man, practically indestructible. The Terminator's goal 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.

You can watch the 1984 "The Terminator" on Prime Video.