Terminator Genisys

Published on July 4th, 2015

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Terminator Genisys
Starring: Jai Courtney, Emilia Clarke, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jason Clarke
Directed By: Alan Taylor
Reviewed by Brendan Dousi

[Rating: 2/5]
It’s starting to feel like the pre-amble to most of the reviews for this year have been about how everything is a reboot/reimagining and, well, it’s true. It’s just a state of the industry at this point and it’s not like it will be changing any time soon, not while films like Jurassic World absolutely obliterate the box office. There are certain franchises, however, that are completely shameless in any and all attempts to cash in on that sweet, sweet brand recognition and Terminator is one of the worst offenders. There is a glimmer of hope, however, with the glorious Governator Arnold Schwarzenegger himself returning to reprise his role as the T-800. We may just be in for something that isn’t nearly as grim as Terminator: Salvation.
When Kyle Reese (Jai Courtney) is sent back in time by his hero and humanity’s greatest hope John Connor (Jason Clarke) he thinks he’s prepared for what is in stake. Sarah Connor (Emilia Clarke) is going to be a helpless waitress who has no clue what’s going on as she’s being hunted down by a T-800 Terminator unit sent back to obliterate her. So, it’s naturally a bit shocking that when Kyle gets back to 1984 he is greeted by a menacing T-1000 (the gooey mercury ones) instead and is saved by a kick-ass Sarah Connor and an aging T-800 unit she affectionately calls ‘Pops’ (Arnold Schwarzenegger). It appears Skynet is messing with time again and a number of visions/memories Kyle Reese is having suggest that they might just be able to stop it before the war even begins.
Don’t be surprised if you get a strong sense of déjà vu while watching the first 20-30 minutes of Terminator Genisys. It’s completely warranted considering it is an almost identical remake of the first film. It really puts in its paces linking these films together, retelling the original backstory for today’s audience while paying off on everyone else’s nostalgia. The greatest feat of this sequence is the near-seamless reconstruction of young-Arnie’s Terminator. It helped that the scenes played out nearly exactly the same, but it is still an impressive feat to see young and old versions of Arnold Schwarzenegger duke it out on screen in a near flawless action sequence. This is an impressive hook for the film, that’s for sure, but it is also the film’s downfall. It never truly regains the momentum of its opening act. It blew its proverbial load too early and what follows seems simply bland in comparison.
Beyond its opening act nothing all that exciting or memorable happens for the rest of Terminator Genisys. Action happens, yes, there are some nice set-pieces including that moment we’ve all seen in the trailer of an older T-800 saying ‘I’ll be back’ and launching himself out of a helicopter like some kind of hellish robo-missile, but we’ve already seen the best the film has to offer and the stakes never seem all that high. Yeah, they’ve got to stop Skynet and save the world, but we have had this happen so many times in so many other Terminator films that the novelty really is starting to wear thin. Terminator Genisys seems content in playing it safe for the rest of the film, without offering anything truly new or inventive to the franchise and much prefers glaringly obvious winks to previous films over innovation. The actors do their best with what they’re given, with a gloriously naked-half-the-time Jai Courtney playing a suitable leading man and Emilia Clarke doing fine but still falling very short of the beloved original Sarah Connor, Linda Hamilton. The stand-outs are of course a back-to-form Arnold Schwarzenegger as the Terminator who learned to love, Pops, and Jason Clarke doing a wonderfully villainous turn as a compromised John Connor. Still, even an impressive cast isn’t able to elevate this beyond a truly mediocre action film.
Terminator Genisys relies too heavily on winks and nods to the original films that it forgets to do anything new or exciting for the franchise. It’s suitably entertaining if you’re just after some stock-standard action, but this definitely isn’t the film to breathe new life into the flailing Terminator franchise. Perhaps one of the two planned sequels to this film can manage something more substantial? I’m starting to think that maybe letting Skynet win would be for the best…