Terminator Genisys (2015) Paramount/Sci-Fi-Action-Adventure RT: 126 minutes Rated PG-13 (intense sequences of sci-fi violence and gunplay throughout, partial nudity, brief strong language) Director: Alan Taylor Screenplay: Laeta Kalogridis and Patrick Lussier Music: Lorne Balfe Cinematography: Kramer Morgenthau Release date: July 1, 2015 (US) Cast: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jason Clarke, Emilia Clarke, Jai Courtney, Lee Byung-hun, J.K. Simmons, Matt Smith, Courtney B. Vance, Dayo Okeniyi, Gregory Alan Williams, Sandrine Holt, Bryant Prince, Willa Taylor, Michael Gladis, Griff Furst. Box Office: $89.7M (US)/$440.6M (World)
Rating: ** ½
Please don’t misinterpret my two-and-a-half star rating for Terminator Genisys as a negative review. I actually enjoyed this fifth installment of the popular franchise started in 1984 with a low-budget sci-fi-action piece starring muscle man Arnold Schwarzenegger and directed by some guy named James Cameron. I LOVE that movie! The 1991 sequel, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, was a worthy follow-up with innovative, state of the art special effects. Who wasn’t awed by that liquid metal?
The next two movies, Rise of the Machines (2003) and Salvation (2009), were decent but nothing special. I was hoping that Terminator Genisys would be great, but deep down I knew it was wishful thinking. Like its immediate predecessor, it’s PG-13. Am I alone in thinking that the Terminator movies should fall under the domain of the almighty R? However, I think in this case, the MPAA rating is a mere technicality. What it lacks in graphic violence, it more than makes for in pure mayhem and destruction.
That’s not my problem with Terminator Genisys. This movie is wall-to-wall action, but I’m wondering if it’s merely a ploy to detract the viewer from trying to make sense of its convoluted storyline. It involves alternate timelines which result in changed pasts, presents and futures. Putting it altogether is frustrating so I tried not to think too hard about it and ended up having a good time.
Before I get into the plot, there’s the question of what constitutes a spoiler. In the past six months, I’ve seen two (maybe three) different trailers for Terminator Genisys. Between them, they revealed pretty much every significant plot point including one about post-apocalyptic resistance leader John Connor that should have remained under wraps. Because of this, it shouldn’t matter if I discuss important plot details as well, right? Wrong! I don’t operate that way. I’m going to describe the plot of Terminator Genisys to the best of my ability under the assumption that you haven’t seen any of the trailers. Here I go with the wishful thinking again.
The year is 2029 and John Connor (Clarke, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes) is about to lead the final attack against Skynet, the sentient AI system that started the war against humanity. Connor and Kyle Reese (Courtney, Divergent) lead the unit tasked with destroying Skynet’s time-displacement machine before it can be activated. If you know your Terminator mythology, then you know Skynet manages to send a T-800 back to 1984 before Connor’s army gets there. The scene then shifts to 1984 Los Angeles where the T-800’s main objective is to kill Sarah Connor before she gives birth to the future resistance leader. The makers do a decent job of recreating the opening moments of the original film including Arnie’s confrontation with the trio of punk rockers. It’s the young Ah-nuld, an effect achieved by CGI and a body double. That’s where things change. An aged version of the Terminator from the second movie arrives on the scene and turns the T-800 into scrap metal with the help of a bad ass version of Sarah (Clarke, Game of Thrones).
Meanwhile, back in the future, Kyle volunteers to go to 1984 and save Sarah from the bad Terminator. Something happens while he’s floating in the magnetic field that alters the past which, in turn, alters…. oh, never mind. He arrives in 1984 where he soon encounters a T-1000 (Byung-hun, the GI Joe movies) disguised as a cop. Imagine his surprise when an armored truck comes crashing through the department store window and Sarah barks, “Come with me if you want to live!” That’s nothing compared to the shock of seeing that her companion is a Terminator that she calls Pops. It seems that he was sent further back in the past (1973 to be exact) to watch over Sarah after her parents were killed by a T-1000. Sarah and Pops have built a time machine and plan to go to 1997 to stop Judgment Day, but things have changed and Kyle convinces them that they must now go to 2017 to prevent the apocalypse. I think I’m going to stop here. You have the basic idea.
As far as summer action spectacles go, Terminator Genisys is pretty good in the abstract sense. It has a lot of action, property is destroyed, cyborgs are shot repeatedly and stuff gets blown up. It’s smarter than any given Transformers movie. Director Alan Taylor (Thor: The Dark World) goes a good job weaving the new movie into the narrative fabric of the first movie. Up to a point. Part of the fun of the first Terminator was watching Sarah’s transformation from scared girl to bad ass chick. Because of the time alterations, that’s gone. By the time Kyle arrives in ’84 to save her, she doesn’t need saving. What she does need is for Kyle to father John, but this new version of Sarah Connor (Sarah 2.0?) is more interested in blowing things up than getting busy with her wannabe savior. But if they don’t do it, then John will never be. And if he never was/is/will be, what does that mean for the war against the machines? Like I said, it’s best not to overthink it.
Schwarzenegger does a very good job in Terminator Genisys, especially considering his age. At least Taylor comes up with a plausible explanation as to why the cyborg looks older. But, as Pops aptly puts it, he’s “old, not obsolete”. He still has plenty of fight and deadpan one-liners left in him. Yes, he gets to say his trademark line, “I’ll be back.” That’s more than I can say for the rest of the major players. It’s hard to say who’s worse. Jason Clarke is a lame John Connor. He’s supposed to be this macho, messianic hero, but as played by the not-untalented Clarke, he’s rather boring. Emilia Clarke isn’t at all convincing as Sarah Connor. Sure, she’s attractive, but she doesn’t strike me as the butt-kicking type. And there’s absolutely no chemistry between her and Jai Courtney who doesn’t even come close to filling Michael Biehn’s shoes as Kyle Reese. On the upside, J.K. Simmons (Whiplash) contributes a nice bit as a drunken L.A. detective who remembers our heroes from ’84 when he was a rookie cop.
The CGI effects are good, but not really special. It’s nothing we haven’t seen before. I unintentionally saw it in 3D (got the times mixed up) and can tell you that it doesn’t need to be seen that way. 2D will be just fine. Despite its muddled storyline and grievous miscasting, Terminator Genisys is fun. It’s enjoyable, but hardly exceptional. At least the makers tried to turn it into something more than a brainless CGI noisefest. So what if they overshot it?
