Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines

Skip it, with one genuine reason to come back. Its premise is the first and bluntest answer to the problem Judgment Day left behind: the apocalypse was not prevented, only postponed, and it was always going to happen. That retroactively makes the second film's victory meaningless, and it is hard to forgive a sequel for undoing the thing the previous film was about.

What follows is a lesser Judgment Day with the beats in the same places. Another machine arrives to protect John, another more advanced model hunts him, there is a long vehicle chase, there is a scene where the hero reprograms his protector. The T-X is given a weak gimmick and no presence, and the film plays much of it for comedy in a register the series had not used before. Schwarzenegger is fine and visibly aware the part has become a catchphrase.

The reason to come back is the last ten minutes. John and Kate reach the bunker expecting a command centre and find a fallout shelter, because there was never a way to stop it. The bombs fall. The film ends with the war beginning and the hero having failed completely, and a studio blockbuster in 2003 ending on an unambiguous apocalypse is a bolder choice than anything in Salvation or Genisys.

None of it counts now. Dark Fate continues directly from Judgment Day and treats this film and Salvation as though they never happened, so the branch it opens is closed at both ends.