All 6 Terminator movies ranked from worst to best

5. Terminator Genisys

It’s bizarre to look back on the era of Terminator Genisys, it really is. Seen as the next chapter of the Terminator franchise after the lukewarm success of Salvation, there were already two sequels and a TV series lined up for this one before it even arrived in movie theaters, as Skydance looked to relaunch the Hollywood heavyweight. But it didn’t exactly go to plan.

Genisys brought Arnold Schwarzenegger back as the iconic T-800 in a story that saw him sent back earlier in time to protect a young Sarah Connor. “Pops”, as he would become known as, would then raise little Sarah and train her to be the hardened warrior she was destined to become. So when Kyle Reese arrived in 1984, he found a very different Sarah than the one he was expecting.

The movie tries some different things with the familiar story, but the most interesting aspects are almost too convoluted to actually understand. It’s also more reboot than sequel, with the time travel antics essentially wiping the two iconic Terminator movies out of existence – a story move that fans didn’t take too kindly to. There’s also the fact that this one’s inherently lighter tone looked like a blatant attempt to franchise Terminator for a Transformers audience, and Jai Courtney’s action hero makes him feel like a miscast for Reese.

That said, the first half of the movie is pretty darn great and it’s a shame it couldn’t have stayed in the ’80s for longer. Moreover, Emilia Clarke does a great job channelling the badass T2 Sarah Connor and mixing it with the youth of the T1 Sarah. And Schwarzenegger is, as always, brilliant.

Honestly, this one is a guilty pleasure of mine and I always enjoy a good rewatch of it. In fact, I almost ranked it above our next entry…