10 Harsh Realities Of Watching The Terminator Movies For The First Time Today

James Cameron’s Terminator franchise is one of the most innovative and influential sci-fi series in cinema history, but that doesn’t mean it’s immune to aspects that don’t age well. Having been around for six films, a TV show, and nearly four decades, the franchise has picked up some unintended baggage. Based on a nightmare that filmmaker James Cameron had, the first film was a smash hit in 1984 that launched the massive Hollywood careers of both the director, Cameron, and the star, Arnold Schwarzenegger. Since then, the franchise has only grown, and despite having trouble finding its footing in more recent outings, there has been a consistent stream of Terminator films over the past 40 years.

There is much to love and appreciate about all the Terminator movies, and fans will always be able to go back and revisit their favorites to experience their iconic moments again. However, newcomers who are just watching the films for the first time won’t be able to have the same experience as those who originally saw them upon release. Part of theseharsh realities have to do with the growing pains the Terminator franchise has felt, while others are unavoidable results of real-world events. The Terminator movies still hold up today and are worth discovering for the first time, but these caveats are worth keeping in mind when watching the movies for the first time.

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10 After Terminator 2: Judgment Day, The Franchise’s Quality Drops

The First Two Are Clearly The Best

Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) isn’t just a high watermark for the franchise, but all of action cinema. It is a thrilling and emotional film and one of James Cameron’s best movies. Then, in terms of quality, the franchise takes a massive noise dive and never recovers. There are elements of the Terminator sequels to enjoy, but none of the subsequent movies ever come close to the first two. A big reason for this decline is the absence of Cameron in the director’s chair, but Terminator 2 is such an incredible movie that it’s not surprising the follow-ups were comparatively disappointing.

9 Most Entries Are Now First Chapters In Failed Trilogies

Even The Good Parts Of The Franchise Get Dropped

After T2, the filmmakers struggled with how to continue the story, so for the next 30 years, the franchise repeatedly tried to kick off new trilogies of Terminator films, none of which took. Terminator: Salvation, Genisys, and Dark Fate were all meant to be the first chapter in a new Terminator story, but none of them received proper sequels. This means any elements of those films that work are still largely abandoned in the next installment. The series is consistent in its inconsistency, as no plotline post-Terminator 2 has been allowed to finish. Even the beloved show The Sarah Connor Chronicles was abruptly canceled on a cliffhanger.

8 The Franchise Is Constantly Recasting Its Characters

Outside Of Arnold, It Is Hard To Get Invested In The Cast

One of the reasons that Terminator‘s later sequels aren’t as good as the first two movies is that the cast is constantly being shuffled around, with several actors playing one part. The first two films feature a brilliant cast, but they are quickly thrown out for younger talent who do not get the same amount of time to flesh out their characters. Except for Schwarzenegger, no actor is in more than three Terminator films, and no character is safe from being recast. Three actors have played Sarah Connor, while six have played John. Even gifted actors like Christian Bale fail to recapture the lightning in the bottle of the original actors.

7 The Twist Of T2 Has Been Spoiled By Pop Culture

Knowledge Of The Franchise Means Knowing The Reveal

At the end of the first act of Terminator 2, there is an incredible scene in which John Connor is stuck in the hallway between who he believes is a cop and a Terminator sent to kill him. The Terminator, however, tells him to “get down,” revealing that Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Terminator has actually been sent back in time to protect him. It is an incredible moment and a great twist on the premise of the first film, as Shwarzenneger portrayed the antagonistic Terminator in the original movie. Watching this scene for the first time without prior knowledge is euphoric and one of the greatest moments in the entire franchise.

Sadly, it is nearly impossible to go into the film without knowing the twist today, as the iconography of T2 and the later sequels have become incredibly iconic. Everything from The Simpsons to Wayne’s World has spoiled this twist. At this point, it is more likely that Schwarzenegger’s role as the villain in the first film is more shocking to a current audience than this twist.

6 James Cameron Has Topped Himself With Other Movies

The Director Who Made The Franchise Special Went On To Bigger And Better Things

The Terminator was the first film James Cameron had creative control over, and the franchise launched the director’s career into the stratosphere. The film showed that he not only had incredible sci-fi ideas but could execute them with excitement and heart. The filmmaker has since delivered on this promise ten-fold, making bigger and better movies since his first two Terminator films. Cameron has grown with the evolving technology and made films that build off the strengths of his previous movies, not just replicating them. T2 is still an incredible film, but it won’t be as mind-blowing to an audience who has grown up with Cameron’s Hollywood-changing hits like Avatar.

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5 The First Film Has A Much Lower Budget Compared To The Sequels

The Low Budget Charm May Not Be What Audiences Are Looking For

The first film was made off of an estimated $6 million budget, and while Cameron stretched every dollar as far as he could, the movie still operates on a much smaller scale than the sequels and the pop culture idea of The Terminator. With limited set pieces and clever filmmaking, the first movie is more of a horror film with action elements, while the sequels expand on the world and scope, making action spectacles. The Terminator is still a masterpiece and necessary viewing for the franchise, but it is worth going in with the right expectations of what the scale and CGI of the film entail.

4 Real-Life AI Worries Have Made The Movies Less Fun

What Was Once A Fun Sci-Fi Premise, Now Hits Too Close To Reality

Cameron’s films are always about more than action, and the Terminator films have the looming threat of AI, wreckless advancement, and humanity’s hubris at their center. The concept of Skynet and an evil AI from the future bent on destroying humanity is a fun sci-fi premise that could work as a stand-in for global warming, nuclear arms, or any number of world-ending threats. However, recently, AI has become a much more real factor in modern-day life, and the threat of the Terminator films is no longer a fun premise to hide other themes in. Skynet isn’t real yet, but has become less of an abstract exercise to ponder what would happen if it did.

3 Schwarzenegger Noticably Ages Between Movies

The Gap Between Sequels Is More Noticeable While Binging

Arnold Schwarzenegger is an incredible T-800, and it is impossible to imagine any other actor in the role. However, the films are so dedicated to him playing the ageless robot despite the real-life Arnold growing older between films. The later films and reboots have found excuses for why the T-800 appears as an older man, but the actor still aged between the first three films. This was less notable when watching the movies as they were released while keeping up with the real-life actor, but sitting down and watching all the movies for the first time now, it is impossible not to notice that time takes its toll on artificial skin.

2 The Timeline Becomes Impossible To Keep Track Of

The Constant Rebooting Has Just Made The Franchise Jumbled

Because of the constant time travel and change in artistic director, the Terminator timeline has become an incoherent mess, even for the most hardcore fans. The first two films are easy to keep track of, even for newcomers to science fiction, but after that, it becomes a daunting task to keep track of what is or isn’t canon, and where the film rests on the timeline. It doesn’t help that Terminator: Dark Fate ignores all the sequels after T2, especially since the only way to know that fact before of watching the 2019 reboot is from statements by the filmmakers.

1 The Ending Of T2 Is Ruined (Even Without Watching Later Sequels)

The Knowledge Of Future Sequels Devalues The Powerful Ending

T2 is the perfect ending to the Terminator story. It is ambiguous yet hopeful, and the final moments involve some of the most emotionally effective filmmaking ever put in a blockbuster. This ending, while still incredible, can’t be delivered the same way it was after the sequel’s 1991 release. There is no ambiguity to the ending anymore because there are four more films and a show that answer those questions. Even without watching the sequels, knowing that the Terminator later returns undercuts what makes the first sequel’s ending so powerful.