The Terminator Movies Ranked: Worst to Best
“The Terminator” and “Terminator 2: Judgement Day” are among my favorite films of all time and stand as two of the greatest sci-fi movies ever made.
The film franchise has earned over 2.1B at the worldwide box office and is one of the most recognizable movie IPs in history.
James Cameron came up with the idea for the Terminator in a dream and brought that dream to life, creating one of the best film franchises ever…until they started to develop more.
Let's talk about it…SPOILERS AHEAD
6. Terminator: Genisys (2015)
ROTTEN TOMATOES: 26% CRITIC RATING | 52% AUDIENCE RATING
“Terminator Genisys” was an absolute disaster.
The film takes place in an alternate timeline where Sarah Connor (Emilia Clarke) was raised by a T-800 aka Pops (Arnold Schwarzenegger) after being attacked by a T-1000 when she was a child. Together they track down Kyle Reese and with his help, they try to destroy the new Skynet, “Genisys” before it becomes self-aware.
The film also makes the bold decision to turn John Connor (Jason Clarke) into a new type of Terminator, called the T-3000. I thought that turning humanity’s savor into a weapon for the machines was a genius idea…to bad they failed to capitalize on any of it.
5. Terminator: Dark Fate (2019)
ROTTEN TOMATOES: 70% CRITIC RATING | 82% AUDIENCE RATING
“Terminator: Dark Fate” gave fans renewed hope with the addition of Tim Miller (Deadpool) as the director, the introduction of McKenzie Davis (Grace) as the new resistance fighter sent back in time to protect Dani Ramos, (Natalia Reyes) the return of Linda Hamilton as the Terminator killing badass Sarah Connor, and the brand new Terminator, the Rev-9 (Gabriel Luna) that has the ability to split its liquid metal exterior and endoskeleton into two separate units.
Unfortunately, the film fails to capitalize on everything it promised and is yet another Terminator movie that just shouldn’t have been made.
4. Terminator: Rise of the Machines (2003)
ROTTEN TOMATOES: 69% CRITIC RATING | 46% AUDIENCE RATING
“Terminator: Rise of the Machines” introduced a new infiltration unit called the T-X who was sent back in time to kill all of John Connor’s generals since John has been completely off the grid since the events of “Terminator 2”.
The film follows John living a nomad lifestyle until he’s forced back into the fight once again when another T-800 shows up to protect him from the T-X and help him survive “Judgement Day”.
What I really liked about this film was that Judgement Day was inevitable and we got to see the beginning stages of it. Throughout the film we slowly watch as Skynet becomes self aware and deems humanity a threat to its existence.
3. Terminator: Salvation (Director’s Cut) (2009)
ROTTEN TOMATOES: 33% CRITIC RATING | 53% AUDIENCE RATING
Over the years I’ve grown to really appreciate “Terminator Salvation” (Director’s Cut).
This was the first Terminator film that allowed us to see what life was like for humanity years after Judgement Day and we got to experience so many different types of Skynet machines like the Moto-Terminator, the Aerostats, the Harvesters, Hydrobots, HK-Tanks, and more.
We also got to watch adult John Connor (Christian Bale) actually be the symbol of hope that we always heard he was and it was really cool to see the very first infiltration unit in Sam Worthington’s Marcus Wright.
2. The Terminator (1984)
ROTTEN TOMATOES: 100% CRITIC RATING | 89% AUDIENCE RATING
“The Terminator”. The film that started with a nightmare and was brought to life by one of the most visionary directors of our time.
The film follows a T-800 (Arnold Schwarzenegger) sent from the year 2029 to 1984 to track down and kill Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton) the mother of John Connor who will become the leader of the Human Resistance against Skynet.
The film plays out like a true horror movie as Kyle Reese (Michael Biehn) and Sarah try to outrun the relentless Terminator that will stop at nothing to kill Sarah to preserve Skynet’s future.
1. Terminator 2: Judgement Day (1991)
ROTTEN TOMATOES: 93% CRITIC RATING | 95% AUDIENCE RATING
'“T2: Judgement Day” is one of my top 5 favorite films of all time!
After the original T-800 failed to kill Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton), Skynet sends the shape-shifting liquid-metal T-1000 (Robert Patrick) back in time to kill John Connor (Edward Furlong) eleven years after the events of the first film.
In response, The Resistance sends back a reprogrammed T-800 (Arnold Schwarzenegger) to protect John from this new threat, and along the way, the two form an unexpected bond that leaves fans in tears when the T-800 was lowered into the smoldering metal.
Sarah Connor completely transforms from an innocent young woman working as a waitress in the first film into one of the most badass action heroes in movie history.