KanzarisKelshen posted... 'Lenient on it' does not mean 'is someone's fave'
People have warmed up to Terminator 3 because the followups to it were Terminator Salvation (an unmitigated disaster that did nothing right), Terminator Genisys (a divisive movie due to making a beloved character into the main antagonist, and also fielding two leads who had little chemistry with each other), and Terminator Dark Fate (a very messy movie that did not live up to the hype generated around it). It's easy to warm up to a technically competent movie that makes an absolute hash of the universe lore when the followups also do that but they are less complete and well-done products! This does not mean that literally anyone takes it over Terminator 1 or Terminator 2: Judgement Day (or hell, Terminator: Resistance if they count expanded universe media, as it's pretty much the real Terminator 3 that everyone wanted)
Actually if anything I hear even more vindication for Salvation than 3...albeit mostly from people who appreciated that it was trying to do its own thing comparatively.