James Cameron’sThe Terminatorwas released 40 years ago, yet it still gets used as a template by many science fiction filmmakers. The film — which follows an android assassin sent from 2029 to 1984 to kill the mother of a future revolt leader — shaped the genre by blending the concepts of cybernetic machines, artificial intelligence, time travel, and post-apocalyptic societies that are tech-driven. Its follow-up,Terminator 2: Judgment Day,performed even better at the box office, and is still praised by both fans and critics. Unfortunately, other sequels flopped critically and commercially.
Thankfully, there is no shortage of options for fans who are looking for something as good asThe Terminator. Movies that fall under the same taxonomy are mainly those that either feature cyborgs/androids of some sort or heavilyrely on A.I.while introducing future timelines. Better recommendations even combine all these factors, making them perfect cinematic rivals for the popular James Cameron flick. Most importantly, the special effects used are remarkable, hence the exoskeletons, endoskeletons, and surroundings come off as believable.
Here are 15 movies likeThe Terminatorto watch next.
The Terminator
15Hands of Steel (1986)
On the surface,Hands of Steelseems like yet another ‘80s sci-fi-action flick, but it’s also an activist tool, meant to condemn capitalism and promote environmental conversation. The mayhem begins when the evil industrialist, Francs Turner (John Saxon), creates a cyborg named Paco (Daniel Greene) to track and kill an ecologist, who is publicly calling out the tycoon for his environmentally damaging business practices. Complications arise when Paco develops a conscience. Having failed to honor his end of the deal, the cyborg finds himself being hunted by Turner’s men.
A Machine Being Used for Iniquitous Purposes
LikeThe Terminator,Hands of Steelhas a cybernetic cyborg that is being used by a malicious figure to hunt down an innocent purpose. The movie also evolves into aTerminator 2clone later on because the machine eventually has a change of heart. Besides that, both films have memorable bar scenes where plenty of action takes place. It could be argued that the 1986 film is the better project because it covers more serious themes, but it doesn’t have a big and talented star like Schwarzenegger as its lead, so that’s a major disadvantage. Still, audiences will find themselves enjoying everything about it.Stream on YouTube
14Upgrade (2018)
Movies about revengeand justice always appeal to audiences, andUpgradefalls perfectly within that category. Set in 2046, the movie begins on a sad note, with the auto-mechanic Trace (Logan Marshal Greene) getting involved in an accident as he and his wife are heading back home in their self-driving car. Instead of helping them, a group of men mugs them, kills Trace’s wife, and leaves Trace paralyzed. Just when all hope seems lost, a billionaire tech inventor offers Trace an artificial intelligence implant that enhances his body and gives him superhuman strength. This enables him to go after his killers.
Malevolent A.I. Systems That Hate Opposition
Both films feature dictatorial A.I. systems that become sentient and work towards crashing all parties that oppose them. InThe Terminator, the system is called Skynet, and it hopes to have full control of the world without any interference from defiant humans, hence the reason it sends the killer machine back in time. InUpgrade, Trace’s A.I. implant, named STEM, soon becomes sentient and works towards having full control of his body. Anyone who tries to stop it, including its creator, ends up getting killed.Stream on Max
13Hardware (1990)
Android spare parts don’t seem like the ideal present for any woman, but in the futuristic world ofHardware, it is a perfect gesture. Here, most of Earth has been destroyed by atomic warfare, so scrap is very valuable. Ex-soldier Moses “Mo” Baxter (Dylan McDermott) thus buys some android parts and gifts them to his artistic girlfriend. What he doesn’t know is that the parts are capable of reassembling themselves into a murderous robot known as the M.A.R.K. 13.
Machine Vs Man-Woman Protagonist Duo
The TerminatorandHardwaremight have slightly different plots, but they each borrow from the same prototype. Each plot has a man-woman protagonist duo hoping to stop a murderous machine. In the latter, it is Kyle Reese and Sarah Connor, while in the former it’s Mo and his girlfriend Jill. In both stories, it is the woman who eventually kills the machine. Each of the flicks, therefore, serves as an empowerment vehicle, portraying women as capable fighters and not just as mere sidekicks or damsels in distress as was the norm in the ‘80s and ‘90s.Stream on YouTube
Related:Every Terminator Movie and TV Show, Ranked by Rotten Tomatoes
12RoboCop (1987)
In the futuristic world ofRoboCop, the city of Detroit is not only out of money, but has also been overrun by criminal elements. Detroit PD is thus sold to Omni Consumer Products (OCP), which is keen on testing out a new cyborg cop prototype. To do so, the executives deliberately send Officer Alex Murphy (Peter Weller) into a dangerous confrontation with thugs, so he can die, allowing them to fuse his body with the machine. The new cybernetic officer then begins a crime-eradicating spree, but when he learns the truth about how he was created, he turns against his bosses.
Better Backstory but the Same Thrills
For movie lovers who value good character development,RoboCopis the better option. The cyborg’s creation process is explained in detail before he is let loose on the streets. The same cannot be said of the T-800, which is presented asa ready-made androidfrom the future. Even so, both movies offer pretty much the same thrills. In every single conformation, the machine is shown to have the upper hand. RoboCop and the T-800 aren’t given cringey and unnecessary dialogue either. The action mostly does the talking for them, and the few lines they say, such as “I’ll be back,“ and “Dead or alive, you are coming with me,” are still iconic to this day.Stream on Max
Black Roadbegins by flirting with fans ofpessimistic political movies. The version of “Uncle Sam” can be described as the Divided States of America (DSA), since several states have seceded to form the Free State of Jefferson. In comes Dylan Grant (Sam Daly), an ex-soldier with a powerful A.I. implant that enables him to obliterate opponents with ease. He has no interest in politics. All he wants is some money. Thankfully, he gets employed by a kind woman, and when her ex shows up to disturb her peace, Dylan vows to deal with him.
Knights in Shining Armor
A man protecting a woman from someone who is out to harm her?Black Roadis basicallyThe Terminatorwith some political spice, only that the protagonist is the one with machine-like abilities this time. Additionally, the protagonists of both movies happen to have military experience, enabling them to deal with threats more easily. And when it comes to nailing machine mannerisms, Sam Daly does as good a job as Schwarzenegger. Both actors carry themselves like they aren’t human at all, hence their respective movies end up being more believable.Stream on Paramount+
10Solo (1996)
Based on the 1989 best-selling novel,Weapon,by Robert Mason,Solofollows Solo (Mario Van Peebles), a military-made android sent to Central America to kill guerrilla insurgents. While on the mission, a glitch develops in his software, allowing him to be compassionate. His creators try to pull him back so that they can deprogram him, but he escapes and begins helping the villagers.
The Abuse of Subservient Androids
Solo and the T-800 are subservient androids. Sadly, they aren’t used for the right reasons. Skynet uses the T-800 to hunt after an innocent woman, while General Hayne uses Solo to drive a political agenda. In its third act,Solobecomes more likeTerminator 2,since the main character not only shifts allegiance, but also gets to fight another android. Most importantly, there are plenty of incredible action sequences guaranteed to satisfy lovers of the James Cameron films.Stream on Fubo
9Universal Soldier (1992)
Universal Soldier
The military tends to be overly obsessed with creating perfect soldiers in movies, and it happens again inUniversal Soldier. In this particular world, dead soldiers don’t stay dead. Their bodies get fused with machines and computer systems, allowing them to become super soldiers. Soon, one of the soldiers, Luc Devereaux (Jean-Claude Van Damme), develops flashbacks to his brutal death while stationed in Vietnam and flees with an investigative reporter. The two are then hunted down by another Universal Soldier.
A Terminator 2 Ripoff?
Universal Soldierwas labeled aTerminator 2ripoff when it came out, which isn’t surprising considering how often‘80s and ‘90s action movie starscopied each other. When Schwarzenegger got into science fiction, everyone else followed. Still, Van Damme is very much his own man here, with his signature kicks and flirtatious attitude. And the film doesn’t just resemble the secondTerminatorinstallment. Its villain has many things in common with the T-800 in his first outing. All his mind sees are targets for elimination and nothing can convince him otherwise.Stream on Paramount+
8I, Robot (2004)
I, Robottransports audiences to a 2035 version of Chicago where life is seemingly easy because robots are widely used as servants, and they happen to be very effective. Each of them is programmed with the Three Laws of Robotics, requiring them to obey all orders and never harm humans. Still, Detective Dell Spooner (Will Smith) feels the robots aren’t as peaceful as assumed. His suspicions are confirmed when an employee of the U.S. Robotics corporation allegedly falls to his death.
A.I. System with Genocidal Fantasies
Spooner doesn’t do it all alone. He teams up with robopsychologist, Dr. Susan Calvin, and together, they come up with innovative ways to defeat the rogue robots. In addition to that, the movie has a powerful sentient artificial intelligence system similar to Skynet. Known as VIKI (Virtual Interactive Kinetic Intelligence), the A.I. is eventually revealed to be the one controlling the villain, and that it has a Thanos-like perspective. It believes humans might cause their extinction and the only way to solve that is by killing some of them.Stream on Hulu
7Virtuosity (1995)
Virtuositymight be one ofDenzel Washington’s underrated moviesbut it’s quite a treat. The actor portrays Parker, a former LAPD detective serving a jail term for killing the man who murdered his entire family. After some time, he is offered to test out a groundbreaking VR system where the mission is to apprehend SID 6.7 (Russel Crowe) — a virtual criminal modeled after the most hard-boiled hoodlums. As expected, he jumps on the opportunity, but the mission becomes harder when SID 6.7 flees to the real world.
Innovative Villains Keen on Preventing Their Demise
The two movies have artificially intelligent figures who won’t just sit back and watch as humans destroy them. Skynet’s solution to this is to send a cybernetic assassin back in time (a creative strategy), while SID 6.7 advises the scientist who created him to switch him up with another module that is capable of moving into the real world. He does this after receiving news that the virtual reality system in which he exists is about to be shut down. From there on, the action flows with great fluidity.Stream on Paramount+
6Cyborg (1989)
InCyborg, mercenary Gibson Rickenbacker (Jean-Claude Van Damme) is tasked with protecting the cyborg Pearl Prophet (Dayle Haddon) from a warlord keen on killing her. Pearl happens to have a cure that will eliminate a deadly plague that is about to wipe out humanity, but the warlord doesn’t want her to get it to a group of scientists working in Atlanta. He wants to have it so that he can have a monopoly on its supply and production.
Strong Family and Friendship Themes
Family and friendship are major drivers of the plot in each of the sci-fi projects. InCyborg, Gibson doesn’t care much about the cure. He is only keen on killing the warlord because he massacred his family. Sarah Connor, on the other hand, is keen on making sure her son gets born so that he can grow into the resistance leader he is destined to be. A major reason why this eventually happens is because she develops a strong friendship with Kyle Reese, who later becomes her lover.Stream on Max
