‘Terminator’ lives, for good and bad
Imagine if a murderous cyborg from the future came back to keep James Cameron’s original “The Terminator” from being made. Arnold Schwarzenegger might never have been a generationdefining action-movie hero, and “Hasta la vista, baby” would just be uttered during angry breakups on Spanish vacations.
Thirty-five years ago, “Terminator” kicked off a time-traveling, stuff-exploding, catchphrase-spouting and apocalypse-avoiding franchise that, like Schwarzenegger’s T-800 machine, has proven seriously hard to kill. Directed by “Deadpool” filmmaker Tim Miller and produced by Cameron, “Terminator: Dark Fate” (in theaters Friday) reunites Schwarzenegger with his former co-star Linda Hamilton (making her first appearance in the franchise since 1991’s “Terminator 2: Judgment Day”) and features new characters, old oneliners, more killer robots and, yep, a whole bunch of firearms and flames.
It has been a rough road at times, however, since the T-800 arrived naked in the 1980s to take out Hamilton’s Sarah Connor before she could bear a freedom fighter for mankind in the future. Here’s how “Dark Fate” ranks with the best and worst of the “Terminator” movies so far. (Note: Fox’s “Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles” (200809) was a TV show, so it doesn’t count, but would rank a solid third here.)
6. ‘Terminator Genisys’ (2015)
Although a “Terminator” movie shouldn’t ever be boring, “Genisys” didn’t get that memo, or the one that says to avoid dumb title spellings. It’s pretty much an alternate-universe take on the original “Terminator,” where future guy Kyle Reese (Jai Courtney) is sent back in time to protect Sarah Connor (Emilia Clarke) but winds up in a different timeline: Instead of being a damsel in distress, she’s waiting for him with a loyal Terminator named “Pops” (Schwarzenegger). Convoluted high
jinks ensue.
5. ‘Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines’ (2003)
The ending is bleak but sort of interesting, capping a tale in which future John Connor (Nick Stahl) sends a Terminator (Schwarzenegger) back to protect himself, his future wife (Claire Danes) and other members of the resistance before Judgment Day. Somebody decided to go the leather-clad hot blond route with the first female Terminator, the T-X (Kristanna Loken), who brings on the machine revolution and is one of the film’s many forgettable aspects.
4. ‘Terminator Salvation’ (2009)
Let’s give credit where it’s due for being different.
“Salvation” leaves out all the preapocalyptic stuff to focus solely on the future battles between the human resistance – led by John Connor (Christian
Bale) – and the evil mechanisms of Skynet. (And Schwarzenegger appears only digitally, because the Governator was running California at the time.) That said, the movie is best remembered more for Bale freaking out on the director of photography during filming than anything on-screen. So an A for effort, but an F for PR.
3. ‘Terminator: Dark Fate’ (2019)
The newest outing leans female as Schwarzenegger takes a back seat to Hamilton’s grizzled Sarah, Mackenzie Davis’ time-traveling super-soldier Grace and Natalia Reyes’ young Dani, the target of a new Rev-9 Terminator (Gabriel Luna). The action’s top-notch, and Arnie’s T-800 has gone fully “dad mode,” yet the simplistic story line lacks freshness, and it feels like Miller and Cameron are just filling in a “Terminator” bingo board to keep fans happy.
2. ‘The Terminator’ (1984)
Cameron’s first low-budget sci-fi flick was impressively original, with a cool, mind-bending time-travel element and a horror-villain approach with Schwarzenegger’s title antagonist: He was a relentless robotic killing machine who won’t stop till you’re dead. The high concept with Skynet and a pending robopocalypse is essential, but you can’t say enough about how key Schwarzenegger is – the huge and formidable Austrian bodybuilder completely sells the worst-case cyborg scenario.
1. ‘Terminator 2: Judgment Day’ (1991)
One of the best sequels of all time, Cameron succeeded in making everything bigger and better for his second “Terminator,” and it’s an outstanding effort that influenced an entire generation of action movies. Hamilton’s tough as nails, Robert Patrick’s liquid-metal T-1000 is pure icy, unfeeling menace, and Schwarzenegger is as great a good guy protecting young John Connor (Edward Furlong) as he was an unstoppable baddie in the first film. And you’d have to be a Terminator to not tear up when the reprogrammed T-800 gives a final thumbs up to John while sinking into molten metal. (Fortunately, he lived up to that whole ‘I’ll be back” promise.)