Terminator Genisys: Ranking The Franchise From Worst To Best

by Scott Campbell

1. Terminator 2: Judgement Day

TriStar

Seven years after The Terminator, along came a sequel that flipped the original premise on its head; whereas the original was a low-budget and relentless action thriller with the T800 as an unstoppable villain, the follow-up was a $100m summer blockbuster with the title character now in the role of a determined protector. Its a toss-up to decide which of the first two of the Terminator movies is the best, because they are equally great yet markedly different.

Terminator 2 is quite simply one of the best action movies ever made, and holds up just as well when viewed today; packed with jaw-dropping action (the articular truck chase in particular remains one of the best action scenes ever put to film), revolutionary special effects that helped usher in the CGI revolution and a huge amount of imagination, invention and emotion, the movie is popcorn entertainment of the highest quality.

Linda Hamilton's transition from meek waitress to bad-ass warrior sees Sarah Connor become one of cinema's greatest action heroines, while Arnold Schwarzenegger effortlessly transforms the title character from killing machine to father figure, culminating in an ending that is still more than capable of reducing grown men to bubbling wrecks. After nearly 25 years and three attempts, no further entries in the Terminator franchise have come close to replicating the quality of James Cameron's two classics.

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