Unfairly maligned. It's a bit overly glossy and shallow, to be sure, but compared to "Salvation", this is a solid, fun film. E. Clarke does a fine job as Sarah Connor (she even looks a bit like Hamilton) and the way the first film's continuity is revisited and revamped is almost Back to the Future-esque, in a good way. Some of the jokes land fairly well, J. K. Simmons is (as ever) fantastic, and Schwarzenegger gets to be funnier here than in any other Terminator film. Does it hold a candle to the original two? Heck, no. But it can probably stand shoulder to shoulder with the just-fine third one, and the main strike against it is simply all the loose ends it left hanging for the sequels they never got to make. ( )

OK, I guess but very much milking a franchise to its last drops.
The original Terminator is a fab little sci-fi film with great ideas and where Arnie is not the star. Terminator 2 is a good film but it's bangs and explosions and Arnie as the star and the films since then have been much the same. This passed the time but that was about it. And I really didn't like what was done to the John Connor character. ( )