Arnold Schwarzenegger has revealed his pick for the worst movie of the Terminator franchise, and it is indeed the weakest installment of the sci-fi series. During an interview on Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen promoting season 2 of his Netflix action-comedy series Fubar, Schwarzenegger was asked by a viewer what he regards as the worst Terminator movie. Schwarzenegger selected 2009’s Terminator: Salvation, stating “I would say the worst was probably number four, because that was done during the time I was Governor and I was not in it”, with Schwarzenegger humorously asking “How do you do a Terminator movie without me being a Terminator movie. It doesn’t make any sense. It’s like doing this show without you being here!”
This isn’t the first time Schwarzenegger has made his feelings on Terminator: Salvation known. During a 2015 appearance on Good Morning America to promote the then-upcoming Terminator: Genysis, Schwarzenegger gave an even more blunt opinion of Salvation, simply stating “It sucked”. Indeed, Terminator: Salvation has a generally poor reputation within the Terminator franchise, which can be attributed to numerous factors like the movie’s clunky story, relatively generic action compared to the Terminator franchise’s outstanding action sequences, and yes, the absence of Arnold himself in a comprehensive Terminator presence.
To be sure, in terms of both reception and box office numbers, the Terminator franchise has never managed to reach to the heights of the first two James Cameron-directed installments, 1984’s The Terminator and 1991’s Terminator 2: Judgment Day. Amid it post-Judgment Day struggles, the Terminator franchise has also semi-rebooted three times with the two-season TV series Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, 2015’s Terminator: Genysis, and 2019’s Terminator: Dark Fate, the latter of which brought Linda Hamilton back as Sarah Connor. Still, Terminator: Salvation is often seen as an especially lackluster entry in the Terminator universe, making Schwarzenegger’s dislike for it easy to understand.
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Terminator: Salvation takes place after the cataclysmic ending of 2003’s Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, with mankind in a fight for survival against the sentient A.I. defense program Skynet. Christian Bale portrays human resistance fighter and prophesied savior of humanity John Connor, with Sam Worthington playing Marcus Wright, a human augmented with Terminator components and designed to act as a Skynet sleeper agent against his will. Connor eventually finds himself fighting to rescue teenage human survivor Kyle Reese (Anton Yelchin) from Skynet, with Reese destined to become Connor’s time-traveling father from the future, with Connor finding an ally in Marcus.
With Schwarzenegger serving as Governor of California during production of Terminator: Salvation, he was not technically a part of the movie, but his T-800 model nonetheless appears. During the climactic showdown in a Skynet stronghold, Connor battles a towering T-800 playing by Roland Kickinger (who had previously played Arnold himself in biopic Run Arnold Run), with Schwarzenegger’s face digitally added to the T-800’s body. Regardless, Terminator: Salvation didn’t strike much of a chord with audiences or critics, earning lackluster reviews and a less-than-stellar $371 million worldwide against a $200 million budget.
While Schwarzenegger has officially declared his retirement from the Terminator franchise after Terminator: Dark Fate, there have been signs of Terminator gradually making a comeback. These include the Netflix anime series Terminator: Zero, which saw a widely positive reception, along with James Cameron reportedly scripting another Terminator reboot of his own. Whether Terminator can ever return to the heights of its first two chapters is up in the air, though most would surely agree that Terminator 2: Judgment Day is a high bar to meet. In any case, Schwarzenegger is indeed spot on that Terminator: Salvation is easily the low point of the Terminator franchise.
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