Directed Alan Taylor
Staring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jason Clarke, Emilia Clarke & Jai Courtney
Rated M
Score 3/6
John Connor sends Kyle Reese back in time to protect Sarah Connor, but when he arrives in 1984, nothing is as he expected it to be.
Sitting here writing this review I’ve found that I’m a little conflicted about my opinion of this movie, so it might take awhile before I finally finish writing this. Maybe I should have taken the time to refresh my memory about the Terminator film franchise but I can’t seriously think that the franchise has lost its way. And that the blame for this can laid at the feet of the hipster uber-fans and the filmmakers responsible for the Terminator Movies 3 through 5. Somebody in a key role should have been involved with the production of all five movies. But failing that with the seemingly likely possibility of potential sequels the words “series reboot” should never under any circumstance be uttered in any of the production meetings. There has been too much of that done with comic book movies.
Now to be perfectly open and honest by the time the credits rolled on this I was left with on overwhelming feeling of “what the heck have I just watched??” because I have the feeling that pretty soon that the filmmakers involved with any future Terminator movies might find themselves flogging a dead horse (because the horse might be starting to die, if it hasn’t already) if a Terminator movie with a similar impact to that of Terminator 2: Judgment Day is made. Some people might see the fact that Genisys received a US PG-13 as being a bad thing. I understand that filmmakers are doing this to ensure that their movie is seen by the largest possible audience. But in doing this they have lost the impact certain stories need to be successful movies. It should be noted that a movie does not always need to be filled with excessive blood and gore to achieve this. What is needed is smarter filmmakers who properly understand the action genre.
Now setting any ill-will that I have towards the story of Genisys aside, there are actually some good points to be found. I liked Emilia Clarke’s performance, even though the preview might have given things way beforehand it was a tougher Sarah Connor was an interesting way to go. I also thought that Clarke also had a similar look to a young Linda Hamilton. It was also good to see that the Australian invasion of Hollywood has continued with the casting of Jason Clarke and Jai Courtney in the roles of John Connor and Kyle Reese. The reasoning behind why Schwarzenegger’s character aging clearly was a bridge that the filmmakers had difficulty in crossing. I was also kind of impressed with Arnold’s fight with his computer generated younger self.
