Of all the failed attempts the reinvigorate the Terminator franchise after 1991's Terminator 2: Judgment Day, the one that has seen the most critical reevaluation since its initial tepid reception is 2009's Terminator: Salvation, directed by McG.

Taking place in the immediate aftermath of Skynet unleashing a nuclear armageddon on humanity, the film followed resistance fighter John Connor teaming up with rogue cyborg Marcus Wright as the war against the machines escalated. With a 33% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes, the film went on to earn over $371 million at the worldwide box office on a reported production budget of $200 million. While McG was disappointed by the initial response, he feels the film has benefited from the passage of time and revealed that he as an alternate cut of the film unreleased to the general public.

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"It's interesting because I feel like we did so much right with Terminator but, ultimately, got just enough wrong that we got beat up a little bit by the fanbase and it really, really broke my heart. And now, strangely, I think the film has started to age better," McG told CBR. "And there is a different cut: I have my own cut of that film and there's people online that talk about wanting to see that cut. And that's interesting! But I think I got a lot of things right with that."

Subsequent attempts to reboot the film series have largely been unsuccessful, with last year's Terminator: Dark Fate failing to live up to box office expectations, despite the return of franchise co-creator James Cameron as a co-writer and producer on the film. As for Salvation, McG teased that his cut may have been the film fans had been hoping for, implying that fan response over a decade later may lead to its eventual release.

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"Obviously, I think [uncredited screenwriter] Jonah Nolan is very, very serious writer and he did the best he could. And Christian [Bale] is maybe the most talented actor working today and Sam [Worthington] did a really good job also," McG observed. "I think I got to take the punch on that one for not quite nailing the landing on the final expression of that movie and, who knows, maybe the cut that I have of that movie hidden away is the answer. It's darker! [Laughs] I don't know, that's for the fans to say."