Collection
Terminator
Two great films and four attempts to add a third.
Which order? The first two, then stop, is respectable advice.
The films, in release order
- 1
The Terminator 1984James Cameron’s pursuit thriller is frightening, fast and worth an evening even for those with little patience for time travel. Arnold Schwarzenegger supplies the menace; Linda Hamilton makes it matter, despite some numbing stretches of violence.Fi1m 88 - 2
Terminator 2: Judgment Day 1991James Cameron’s excellent action sequel makes the machines frightening and the people worth worrying about, with Linda Hamilton giving the violence its urgency. The middle drifts into sentiment, but the set-pieces remain precise, inventive and involving.Fi1m 88 - 3
Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines 2003Jonathan Mostow’s third Terminator is an honest, well-built chase film with one tremendous set piece and a final reel braver than anything around it. It is also a retread of the first film, and it knows it. Worth an evening; do not expect Cameron.Fi1m 61 - 4
Terminator Salvation 2009McG builds a convincing dead world and stages one desert chase that belongs in the series. Around it Christian Bale shouts, the script recites old lines, and a film about the end of the human race plays like a wait for the next instalment.Fi1m 49 - 5
Terminator Genisys 2015Alan Taylor’s reboot has one good idea, an old Terminator who raised Sarah Connor, and Schwarzenegger plays it with more feeling than it needs. Around him the timelines pile up, the leads stay blank and the action looks like an advert for the phones it fears.Fi1m 45 - 6
Terminator: Dark Fate 2019Tim Miller’s sequel wipes the slate back to 1991 and brings Linda Hamilton with it, and for an hour that is enough. Then the script starts remaking *Terminator 2* beat for beat, and the last act blurs into digital metal.Fi1m 61
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