Terminator Zero

“Terminator Zero” breathes new life into a franchise that has often seemed stuck in a time loop of its own.

Terminator Zero takes a fresh crack at the most familiar stuff from the Terminator franchise – twisty time-travel hijinks, machine-born sentience, human-cyborg conflict – and lends the story new direction and life, as well as a distinctive, animé-inspired new look.

With glorious animation, Terminator Zero breathes new life into the rusty CPU of the franchise — and might be the best Terminator project since T2.

It may not be as profound as it thinks it is – stronger characters and deeper moral wrestling would've taken it to another level – but the action, score, and cast make this anime inspired by James Cameron’s blockbuster franchise is a worthy addition to the cyberpunk genre. It's the best Terminator has been in years.

Without the restraint of a two-hour cinematic runtime, "Terminator Zero" bites off a little more thematically than it can chew with all of the extra time, but it's a delicious enough first season that I can't help but hunger for more.

Regardless of which language you watch it in, and despite the small expositional lags and the anticlimactic reveals, Terminator Zero sets a solid framework for an ongoing story that is, like the best parts of the franchise, as much about very human choices as it is about spectacle.

From start to finish, it successfully channels the dread of having a merciless 2-ton killer on your trail, as Production I.G.’s consistent animation and tense shot compositions keep this several-episode-long chase engrossing. And beyond these moments you’ve largely seen before, this story also attempts to break out of the endless temporal loop the series has been stuck in for 40 years. It may not entirely succeed at those aims, but that’s better than many of its peers.

Terminator Zero isn't a bad series by any means. The questions it asks will make you think, as the lines between what's good and what evil become blurred. It's beautiful to look at, and the story and characters are entertaining, even if they would be more effective in a more condensed format. If you're a fan of the movies, definitely check it out, because it's worth a watch. Just don't expect to be taken back to the awe-inspiring time of those first two James Cameron movies.

“Terminator Zero” deserves some credit for not trying to start over. It’s not a John Connor story, and there’s no Arnold cameo lurking in the finale. But it’s still the shell of a Terminator, rather than the real thing.