The future could have panned out very differently for Arnold Schwarzenegger. Having moved from Austria to the US to pursue a career in bodybuilding, which he crushed, he then turned his sights to acting, after getting a taste for it by starring in the 1977 documentary, Pumping Iron.

In the early eighties he starred as Conan in two films before having a chat with up and coming director James Cameron. He had written a sci-fi story with his then partner and producer Gale Anne Hurd, and felt there was a part of Arnie in it.

Keen to pursue his role as the hero, Schwarzenegger wanted the role of Kyle Reese, which would eventually go to Michael Biehn. At the time he wasn’t interested in the role of the titular character, which had been offered and turned down by Mel Gibson and Sylvester Stallone. It was even suggested to Cameron by an exec that O.J. Simpson would be perfect for the role, but at that time at least, the young director just couldn’t see him as a killer.

So Cameron persuaded the Austrian actor to be his Terminator, and the rest is very much history.

Working as a waitress in a burger joint is Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton). Her colleagues make her sit in front of the news when it’s announced that a woman is murdered, a Sarah Connor no less. They think it’s funny, but Sarah not so much.

Later on there’s another news story that yet another Sarah Connor is murdered, at which point the alarm bells start to ring. According to the police, the two Sarahs that had died so far were next to each other in the phone book, with the next name being Sarah’s.

It’s at this point that the police try and track her down, fearing for a similar outcome for her.

And they have every right to be worried, as someone from the future – a deadly cyborg known as a Terminator (Schwarzenegger) has been sent to the past to terminated this particular Sarah – but why?

This re-release marks the fortieth anniversary of Cameron’s second film, and for the most part, it holds up well. Certainly a young Schwarzenegger is striking in the titular role, with his physical presence dominating the screen. And the story is still compelling, having people in the future come back to the past with the mission to change the future.

And Stan Winston’s special effects still manage to impress all these years on, especially in terms of the terminator’s make-up. The mechanical Terminator also looks as menacing as ever.

The only criticism that can be levelled at it are some of its visual effects, with a number of lasers in the future looking incredibly dated by today’s standards, but they were still no doubt state of the art forty years ago.

And although it’s not a film that Schwarzenegger took particularly seriously at the time, just seeing it as a fairly standard b-movie, it’s one he owes his entire career to now.

It’s also a reminder of how talented a young Cameron was, whose own future, sadly, would be tied up with the rather lame Avatar franchise.

The Terminator may well be 40 years old, but this classic time travelling flick has certainly stood the test of time well.