Rank the Terminator films

[somebuddyX]

Title says it all. I thought this might be fun in anticipation of the newest film, Terminator 6 aka Terminator 3 version 2.
Mine would be:

1. Terminator 2
2. Terminator 1
3. Terminator 5
4. Terminator 4
5. Terminator 3

I absolutely love 2 but I'm not as big as a fan of 1, though I've probably only seen that once all the way through. The last 3 are flawed but have good moments in all of them. I'm going to be rewatching them all out of order before 6 comes out. I've finished 2, started both 5 and 4, then 3 and then finish on 1.

 

[Guy Gardener]

1
2
5
3
4

 

[Cyrus]

2
1
3
4

Haven't seen 5

 

[Tosk]

Easy.

1
2
3
4
5

 

[DarKush]

The Terminator
Judgment Day
Genisys
Salvation
Rise of the Machines

I don't hate any of the Terminator films, though when I had to think about it, Rise of the Machines was mostly middling except for that great ending. Not a bad film, but still, too derivative of what came before until the ending which really sold the film for me. Salvation had a great premise, but uneven execution, and it hurt that they didn't make enough of a decision of whether the movie was Marcus or John Connor's story, though I would've been fine if they had made it more about Reese because Anton Yelchin did a great job taking over the role.

I give Genisys a lot of points for doing the most with the Future War and for it's very faithful recreation of the 1984 LA, though the movie starts to falter after they jump to 2017. While Jai Courtney made for a poor Reese (he could've been any generic action hero), I think Emilia Clarke didn't do a bad job as Sarah Connor, she felt like a mix between the original movie and the sequel's take on Connor.

 

[USS Firefly]

1
2
3
4
5

 

[Relayer1]

Easy.

1
2
3
4
5

Yup.

Can only imagine how bad the next one will be...

 

[ALF]

1 then 2.
Generally, I find fellow Gen-X'ers to be staunch advocates of a 2 then 1 Terminator ranking.
Here's a quick defense, although I love both films quite a bit:

• Amazing synth tracks in the soundtrack/score
• Bad Arnie > Good Arnie (sorry Judgement Day!)
• Prefer T1 tighter story to T2's epic story
• Film noir + sci fi = Tech noir, I prefer the tech noir experience over T2's action sci-fi genre.

 

[CorporalClegg]

Easy.

1
2
3
4
5

Yup.

 

[Noname Given]

1. Terminator 2
2. Terminator 1

The rest aren't worth watching...sorry.

 

[kirk55555]

1.Terminator 2
2. Terminator Genesys
3. Terminator 3
4. Terminator Salvation
10. The Terminator (I didn't misnumber, I just really hate this movie)

 

[Relayer1]

One, Two, Zero, Zero, Zero.

Two might have been as good as One if Robert Patrick hadn't been so underused in the middle.

Nah, the second one's a big flashy action adventure flick. It's good but it's not the midbudget edgy masterpiece that is the first one.

 

[Santaman]

1 really well done for a low budget '80's movie
2 of course the big all stops out scifi blockbuster
5 Liked it, can't help it, now don't overthink it because it was a nice summer flick.
3 Liked it quite a lot, like 5 just nice not too serious sf flick.
4 Could have been more..

As for the rest, loved the Sarah Connor Chronicles, pity it got canceled before it had run its course.

 

[The Wormhole]

2
1
Who the hell cares about the rest?

 

[Gaith]

2, 1 - classics.
3 - hugely enjoyable, with hard-R action.
...
4 - completely disposable.
...
5 - one of the worst movies of the millennium.

 

[Guy Gardener]

Isn't Wayne's Word The Best Terminator Movie?

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

Accept third party cookies

 

[Ovation]

1 really well done for a low budget '80's movie
2 of course the big all stops out scifi blockbuster
5 Liked it, can't help it, now don't overthink it because it was a nice summer flick.
3 Liked it quite a lot, like 5 just nice not too serious sf flick.
4 Could have been more..

Pretty much equals my thoughts. I just rewatched 5 and while it's certainly not a classic, I enjoyed it while I watched it (and really, that's all I REQUIRE of films--anything more is a bonus).

5 - one of the worst movies of the millennium.

Nah. Even as hyperbole, this doesn't hold up.

 

[Gaith]

^ No hyperbole. It's a genuine catastrophe, a brain-blastingly stupid and dull failure at every conceivable level, from its asinine PG-13 rating to its historically misguided casting of Jai Courtney.

NSFW language throughout:

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

Accept third party cookies

 

[Marsden]

The First and Second are very good, but for different reasons, there's much more of a horror element to the first.

Salvation and Genysis are both ok action movies on their own but a big step down from the first two.

The Third movie seemed like they had all of the parts but didn't know how they fit together to make a good movie and just made another one to propagate more sequels.

 

[Mudd]

1. Terminator.