Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger have maintained the image of a playful rivalry for decades. The two are often compared because of their prominence in the machismo movie boom of the 1980s and their deceptively intelligent business strategies in relation to their tough-guy public personas.

RELATED: Stone Cold Stallone: Sylvester Stallone’s 10 Most Badass Characters, Ranked

The two have had successes in various genres with various iconic characters but each is often boiled down to one specific hero in the action genre. For Stallone, it's Vietnam veteran John Rambo. For Schwarzenegger, the time-traveling Terminator robot. Both movies have survived with their stars into the modern era and both released sequels with their characters in 2019. With such long histories, it can leave new fans of either actor wondering which of the various movies are the best. So, with this in mind, let's take a look at every movie and its score on Metacritic to help create a roadmap of either title's successes.

Rambo: Last Blood (26)

Sylvester Stallone in Rambo: Last Blood

The most recent Rambo proved to be one of the most lowly-rated movies of both the series and Stallone's career in general. Released just a month shy of the 37th anniversary of First Blood's original release, Last Blood finds John Rambo locked in a deadly feud with a Mexican gang as he attempts to live out his golden years on his old family ranch.

As mildly folksy as that set up may sound, the movie is really quite brutal and gory, perhaps even more so than any other Rambo movie, and critics and audiences appeared mostly disinterested.

Rambo III (36)

Rambo 3 Explosion

Very much in the same vein as its preceding movie, the third Rambo movie emphasized the title character's abilities as a one-man army and saw him fighting the Russian military for the second time in a row.

Rambo III, whilst not the least popular of the series with fans or critics, is one of the least discussed sequels partially due to the movie's decision to depict Rambo, and accompanying U.S. military interests, as supporters of the Mujahideen fighters in Afghanistan, which would seem more awkward in the light of 21st century American foreign policy.

Terminator Genisys (38)

'Terminator: Genisys' - Emilia Clarke and Arnold Schwarzenegger

The fifth Terminator movie was a confusing blip in the franchise's already confusing chronology. Attempting to reboot the series of movies by using time travel to pick out and redefine the most famous characters of the series, Genisys ended up mostly confusing audiences and alienating critics.

RELATED: 5 Reasons Why Terminator Genisys Isn’t As Bad As People Say It Is (& 5 Reasons It Is)

Whilst full of plenty of action, and not the most resounding flop at the box office, the movie did not get the response that producers were hoping for and plans for its proposed sequels were scrapped in favor of another reboot.

Rambo (46)

Sylvester Stallone as John Rambo

The somewhat confusingly titled fourth entry into the Rambo series, which is just referred to as Rambo, is a straight sequel rather than any kind of reboot and takes the grizzled veteran to Burma.

The level of violence, whilst still not quite as horrific as the following movie, was a big step for the series to more blood, guts, and all-around carnage but fans were much more receptive of it even if critics weren't.

Rambo: First Blood Part II (47)

Sylvester Stallone in Rambo First Blood Part 2

The first Rambo sequel was a far cry from the dramatic action of the original movie, and a much more zealous war movie, that may not have had the same impact with critics as the original but enabled the title to be spun into a long-lasting series.

RELATED: 5 Ways The Rambo Franchise Was Ruined (& 5 Ways It Could Have Been Better)

Returning to Vietnam on a mission to find POWs, John Rambo transforms from a symbol of a failed war and a national disregard for veterans into a seemingly pro-war superhero who refights the Vietnam war and wins singlehandedly.

Terminator Salvation (49)

Christian Bale in Terminator Salvation

The fourth movie in the Terminator franchise was set entirely in one of the least-explored areas of the story up until that point – the post-apocalyptic world that the other movies had tried to prevent.

Despite a great cast and plenty of the action that the series was known for, Salvation would prove to be the first entry in the second trilogy of Terminator movies in which each entry would itself attempt to reboot the franchise's story to make its own trilogy of movies, none of which ever came to fruition.

Terminator: Dark Fate (54)

Dark Fate arnold and linda inside a plane

The latest Terminator movie retconned the timeline of the franchise all the way back to Terminator 2, erasing Salvation, Genisys, and the third movie, Rise of the Machines, from continuity.

RELATED: The Terminator: 5 Reasons Why The Franchise Will Always Need Arnold Schwarzenegger (& 5 Why It's Time To Move On)

Just like it's two predecessors, however, its success with action sequences and a more overtly feminist attitude couldn't rekindle interest and Dark Fate was the lowest-grossing of the sequels, even when not taking inflation into account.

First Blood (61)

The original Rambo movie was the only real hit with both critics and audiences, acting very similarly to the original Rocky movie as appearing wildly different in tone and overall emotional intelligence compared to the increasingly over-the-top sequels.

First Blood was substantially toned down from its source material and its altered ending, in which John Rambo lives, became a huge creative sticking point about the production, with the decision being seemingly vindicated by the success of the movie and the longevity of the series.

Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (66)

Though nowhere close to either of the first two movies, even in the minds of its most diehard fans, Terminator: Rise of the Machines is still considered leagues above the following movies in the franchise.

RELATED: Terminator: 5 Reasons The Franchise Deserves Another Shot (& 5 Reasons It Should End)

Arnold Schwarzenegger's turn as the iconic T-800 (or T-850, in this particular case) still had a lot of power over audiences and computer effects were not yet at the technological stage where they could overwhelm the movie's sequences, prompting some nostalgically fun fights and stunts.

Terminator 2: Judgement Day (75)

Terminator 2: Judgment Day

Often considered as one of the best movie sequels ever made, Judgement Day flipped Schwarzenegger's role from villain to hero to satisfying effect and James Cameron delivered action spectacle as few had before, or since.

If anything, the movie would prove to be too successful for the franchise's own good. It tied up narrative loose ends in a conclusive way and set a bar too high for anyone other than Cameron to clear.

The Terminator (84)

The T-800 points a gun towards someone in Terminator 1984

James Cameron's original sci-fi horror action thriller was a gamechanger for high concept movies of a singular creative vision and, despite some previous success, is largely thought of as the project that launched Schwarzenegger's career as a superstar.

Most of the rest of the series would attempt to recapture the gorgeous simplicity of its hunter/prey dynamic but it was a feat that was rarely accomplished and no other movie, within the franchise or not, ever really surpassed its stylish neo-noir feeling of technophobia.

NEXT: They’ll Be Back: The 10 Most Powerful Terminator Models, Ranked