As the T-800 Terminator once said most famously… “I’ll be back”! Well, I am back again this week for another list. There is no real reason why I picked The Terminator franchise other than I just finished re-watching it again. In the case of the last two movies, watching them for the first time. Along this journey, I had to look up some timeline/story information because some of what happened in movies 3 through 5 didn’t make a lot of sense. Now that I understand what they were trying to do, I could factor that into my rankings. I know it’s been some time for some of these films, but spoiler warning ahead if you haven’t seen some of them yet. So, without further delay, come with me if you want to read my list.
6. Terminator Genisys (2015) – I don’t suppose this is a surprise to start things off. I liked the idea of Emilia Clarke playing Sarah Connor, she has the looks and mannerisms to pull it off. I also really enjoyed J.K. Simmons (honestly, I enjoy him in most things) as O’Brien for what little we saw of him. But otherwise, this was the worst plot of any of the films. This one makes the two before it seem like Oscar contenders. Not only did some of the story not make sense, but making John Connor the villain goes against everything a Terminator movie is supposed to be. Even if the rest of the movie was decent (which it isn’t), it should be at the bottom of the list just for that twist alone. But, at least Arnold was back again, since he was the only actor to reprise his role as every other character was re-cast.
5. Terminator Salvation (2009) – They definitely upped the star power for this one with Christian Bale, Bryce Dallas Howard, Sam Worthington, Anton Yelchin, and Helena Bonham Carte. However, that wasn’t enough to keep this from taking the fifth spot. As a standalone sci-fi film, it probably wouldn’t be too bad, but trying to squeeze it into the Terminator franchise actually makes it worse. Bale did a good job of playing John Connor, but the sudden appearance of Worthington’s Marcus Wright who seems to be some sort of a hybrid that no one knows anything about makes it an odd story. That coupled with the frustration of watching Blair (Moon Bloodgood) fall over herself with Marcus and even causes bigger issues when trying to help him escape. This one was supposedly in a different timeline (or whatever you want to call it) like Genisys and Rise of the Machines which only adds to the confusion.
4. Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003) – This one actually isn’t a bad storyline. It’s something that could have happened had T2 had a different ending, but instead, it’s part of an alternative timeline of what could have happened. I hadn’t seen this one for a long time so I was excited to see Claire Danes as Kate Brewster, I had forgotten she was in it. Arnold is back as the T-800 again in the role of the protector against a new type of Terminator called the T-X. Kristanna Loken does a nice job of playing the part and it has some good action scenes. In the end, though, it lacked a lot of the classic Terminator themes that we learned to love through the first two movies.
3. Terminator: Dark Fate (2019) – OK, now I’m not saying this is a great movie, but it was nice to see things back in the original timeline. Linda Hamilton returns as Sarah Connor and does a nice job with the character’s progression and Arnold is back once again as well as an aged T-800 now living life (with a woman and her son) as someone named Carl. My biggest issue with this was it copied the exact same format as the first two films did. Grace (Mackenzie Davis) appears from the future to protect the future leader of the resistance movement. In this case, it’s Dani (Natalia Reyes) and they are being endlessly pursued by a machine (Gabriel Luna) also sent from the future to try and kill them. This leads to some fun chase scenes and lots of action, but we’ve seen this done two times in the exact same way already. This one also appears to end this storyline with the destruction of the T-800 for good.
2. The Terminator (1984) – The original, the classic, the one that started it all. James Cameron’s The Terminator was (in my opinion) ahead of its time. It’s obvious when you see the graphics on a rewatch. No CGI, just good old-fashioned prosthetics and fake blood. You can see why they had Arnold wear those dark glasses all the time, when he took them off it looked extremely fake now by today’s standards. However, with that being said, this is a fun sci-fi movie that started two decades of sequels and a TV series. This also has Arnold Schwarzenegger in his prime when he was full of one-liners like “I’ll Be Back” and “Hasta La Vista, Baby” and a very young Linda Hamilton as the original Sarah Connor. Great story, great directing, and a fun small role for Bill Paxton. This classic has earned its spot here at number two.
1. Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) – Once again, I’m sure this is no surprise to anyone who has seen these movies. Not only is T2 the best of The Terminator films, but it is a great film overall. Along with Schwarzenegger and Hamilton reprising their roles as the T-800 and Sarah Connor, they did a phenomenal job of casting Edward Furlong as a young John Connor and Robert Patrick as the T-1000. Patrick’s relentless pursuit of Connor is nothing short of creepy and exciting at the same time. Also in the seven years since the original had come out, amazing advancements had been made, so the graphics here were a huge step up. Lots of great moments in this as well, like the moment you realize that Arnold is there to protect this time around instead of kill was fun. Sarah Connor breaking out of the facility they had been holding her in was also a good one. Overall, this was top-notch acting, directing, and story-telling and this deserves to be in the number one spot.
So, there you have it for my Terminator rankings.
What are your rankings? What did you think of mine? Let me know in the comments.
Check out my other lists here.
