Terminator Salvation is considered one of the worst-reviewed movies in the sci-fi franchise.
But not in James Cameron’s view, who himself has directed Terminator 2: Judgment Day — a mega-hit instalment in the franchise.
In a throwback interview with Screen Rant, he said, "It probably didn't get a fair day in court because I had to watch it at night when I got home from work, over a period of two or three nights."
The Avatar director had special regard for Sam Worthington's performance in the movie, with whom he had a long-standing collaboration.
"I think Sam [Worthington] is remarkable in the film because, well, I think Sam is remarkable in anything he does."
Cameron also praised McG, the director behind Terminator Salvation, stating, "Interestingly, I think McG did a good job in the sense...I think he was almost too referential to the mythos of the first and second film. He over-quoted them in a way?"
However, what the Titanic filmmaker pointed out was that the film lacked reinvention. He explained this with an example from Terminator 2.
"I mean the thing we did with the second film is that we reinvented the first film completely; spun it on its ass and made the Terminator the good guy, and came up with a whole new concept for a villain, it felt fresh."
"I didn't feel the fourth picture was fresh enough. It also lacked a certain stamp of authenticity because Arnold wasn't in it. I mean, he was in it briefly, digitally, but that's not the same thing."
"I didn't think it was bad. I didn't think it was embarrassing. I don't think he let the franchise down in some huge way, but I did feel some sort of unease that it didn't go beyond."
Terminator Salvation is streaming on Netflix.