Terminator Genisys: Ranking The Franchise From Worst To Best

2. The Terminator

Orion Pictures

A triumph of low-budget genre filmmaking, The Terminator launched both James Cameron and Arnold Schwarzenegger towards the upper echelons of Hollywood. The movie is rightly regarded as a classic, and remains one of the most influential movies ever made in both the action and sci-fi genres.

With a budget of just $6.4m and under immense pressure from the studio, Cameron was forced to use every trick up his sleeve and no shortage of guerrilla tactics in order to make the movie he wanted. The inexperienced director managed to craft a relentless chase thriller, packed full of thrilling action sequences, big themes and even bigger ideas, all held together by a trio of iconic performances from Schwarzenegger, Linda Hamilton and Michael Biehn.

It speaks volumes about the impact of The Terminator that the franchise is still continuing over 30 years on, with the T800 one of the most instantly-recognizable characters in all of popular culture. A tight script, a fast-paced narrative and a unique premise saw the movie become a critical commercial hit, and it remains one of the most endlessly rewatchable genre flicks of all time.

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