This week the new installment in the Terminator series, Terminator Genisys, has come out. To recap, Genysis is the fifth installment in the series. The first movie, directed by James Cameron, was a hit. The second one T-2: Judgement Day became a bigger hit. The series kinda fell short with the third film and Salvation which was suppose to be the reboot of the series. Now we have Genisys, but will it live up to the standards of the previous films or will it be just as bad as the other two? Will it suck?
Story
Based on the trailers and what you probably have read about the movie the plot of Genisys is that the story takes place when John Connor has won the battle in the future, but Skynet sents a Terminator back in time. Kyle Reese is sent back in time to 1984 in order to save Sarah Connor. The only difference is that while Kyle is sent back in time, the whole timeline somehow gets fucked up. How fucked up? Probably as bad as the reaction when we found out Genisys will be the name of this movie. Anyway, the timeline is all screwy. Sarah Connor is no longer the innocent and helpless woman she was in the original Terminator movie, and doesn't have the bad 80s hair either. She is accompanied with a Terminator buddy, played by Arnold Schwarzenegger a la her son in T-2. So now it's up t her and Kyle to set everything right and end Skynet. Oh and John Connor is the terminator out to kill them.
The plot seems to be a love letter to the Terminator franchise, well the ones everyone loves. Since the whole timeline is messed up, you get to see certain events in the past Terminator films happen differently like Arnold fighting himself and among other things. It does make you want to go back and watch the old films and see how intuitive the director Alan Taylor and its writers Laeta Kalogridis and Patrick Lussier were writing and making these scenes.
The story is almost reminiscent of the first Terminator movie as Genisys takes a look into our society and looks into how much we depend on technology to do practically everything. In the 80s it was Apple, Betamax, and video games. Today is smartphones, iCloud, and Oculus. Talking about this might be in a future post?
I know that Taylor had major concerns about the trailer spoiling the movie, especially with the reveal that John Connor is the antagonist in the film. I wouldn't say it was a major spoiler. You did need to know who the antagonist would be in the film that Sarah and Reese would have to fight against in order to stop the threat of Skynet.
Action
Let's get down to the nitty gritty. This is what we all look for in Terminator films. In almost Terminator films we always look forward to things getting wrecked and exploding. It is an action film after all. In Genisys we do get to see some cool and elaborate action scenes. Buses flipping over, helicopter dogfights, and you do get plenty of car chase scenes that are a staple of every movie. Seriously, intense car chase scenes are in every Terminator film. The action scenes are cool but they aren't as as cool as some of the previous Terminator movies. Even Rise of the Machines had to good ones where you asked how did they pull that off.
Performance
Genisys featured a lot of newcomers, with only Arnold being the only big name (sorry Jai Courtney, not yet). I never seen Jai Courtney, who played Kyle Reese, in other films but he did an ok job. Emilia Clark, of Game of Thrones fame, did a good job of playing Sarah Connor. I was surprised at how she did the role with knowing her playing Daenerys Targaryen. We got to see a different side of Sarah Connor that we usually see of her in other adaptations. We see her channel a bit of Linda Hamilton and a bit of what John Connor is usually like in the Terminator films, being tough yet asking why was she chosen to be the savior of humanity. If you haven't noticed, Arnold plays a different terminator in every movie. In this one you see him play a more quirky model often being used as comic relief in most scenes. It was almost like he was playing a T-800 version of Cameron from the Sarah Connor Chronicles series. There was another big name in the movie. Matt Smith, whom you may know from Dr. Who, was kept under wraps and there was a reason for this as his role was Skynet. This is almost a first in the franchise as we finally get Skynet personified. Helena Bonham Carter in Salvation doesn't count because that version's appearance was based off of people the protagonist has encountered in the movie. I wasn't really impressed with his role. He played Skynet like a cold expressionist manner that almost like a parody of a Bond villian instead of being a cold impressionist AI bent on the destruction of humanity. Helena Bonham-Carter did a better job.
Effects
The special effects in the movie were good. A lot of the action scenes required special effects, but it wasn't a let down or a hindrance to the action. It wasn't over the top. Kudos on them finally perfecting young Arnold. Take lessons Salvation.
Final Verdict
So here's the part you've all waited for. Does Terminator: Genisys suck? Not so much. The movie has all of the generic stuff you get in a Terminator movie which is not a bad thing. Honestly, I was impressed about how the movie turned out. I was one of many that thought it would be absolutely horrible and it turned out not to be so. It's not in the range of the original and T-2, but it's a lot better than Salvation and Rise of the Machines. I'd give it a 3 out of 5. Hey, if you seen the movie like I did we will all know why the hell the movie is named Genisys...
Did you see it? What are your thoughts?
Did you see it? What are your thoughts?
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