Terminator series eats MATRIX alive no doubts about it. How anyone could not like #1 is beyond me, other than someone nitpicking over the fact it's definately an 80's film... but that's not always a bad thing. I remember being skeptical about Rise of the Machines before it came out, thinking it would contradict #1 and the stuff Kyle Reese told Sarah... but in essecense, #3 wiped the floor with #2, and actually complimented #1 overall and ended the only way it should. No sugary coated bullshit... we're human and only capable of wicked deeds (Hence the Bible) thus Judgement Day (like the Rapture of Christians, the Battle of Armageddon etcetera) can be postponed by certain actions, but in the end it has to be, no two ways about it.
The Matrix, had it been a stand alone movie is a darned good flick... and actually I never got the end of Matrix #1 where he flew up into the clouds as being the set piece for a sequel. I had always assumed Neo was talking to the audience itself about not being able to tell us how it would all end, but that he could tell us what was, and that we all need to wake up to the thing inherent in our real world (our real lives so to speak) before something as outlandish as the events of the film itself could ever happen. *That ppl who opt for convinence will bascially pave the way for any future bullshit of enslavement/bondage, and only those who are open minded, and seek a higher truth are the facilitators of "Freedom". AND THEN I FOUND OUT IT WAS A TRILOGY... and the sequel just blew chunks.
Thus The Terminator and T3: Rise of the Machines wins hands down, as I don't expect much to come of Matrix Revolutions at all... prolly be as bad as George Lucas' final STAR WARS film, forever slaughtering a once great concept and movie series into pure shit. I'm still hoping for T4: Freedom In The Ashes but only time will tell, and I hope they bring back Nick Stahl as Connor and don't wait 10 more years for it.
TERMINATOR = Winnar
MATRIX = Losar
MD20XX / Storm Rider