8. Terminator Salvation (2009)
RottenTomatoes Score - 54% Compared To - Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) - 94% The Terminator franchise has been recently revisited with the release of Terminator: Genisys, which features Game of Thrones' Emilia Clarke in the Sarah Connor role against two versions of Arnold Schwarzenegger in a new timeline. Its focus on Sarah, the centrepiece of the original 1984 film, makes it contrast significantly with 2009's Terminator Salvation, which depicted John Connor in the post-apocalyptic future that he and his mother seemingly prevented in 1991's Terminator 2: Judgment Day, (at least until that film's ending had to be discarded to facilitate an ill-judged second sequel in 2003). Salvation, today perhaps best remembered for the fact that it was the film on which Christian Bale infamously launched into a tirade against the film's director of photography whilst shooting, was damning to the legacy of its predecessors, which still stand today as two of the finest action films ever made. Arnold Schwarzenegger's absence as the original Terminator was felt throughout a two hour run-time, which featured extensive action at the expense of the tense and suspenseful build-up that had defined its forebears. Despite Arnie's return, Genisys has also taken a critical mauling (and hasn't exactly set the box office alight) since its release. Though planned as part of a new trilogy, it may become another standalone failure in a franchise that really should've stopped when James Cameron walked away.