{"id":10775,"date":"2025-01-14T17:34:25","date_gmt":"2025-01-14T22:34:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/?p=10775"},"modified":"2025-01-15T00:00:47","modified_gmt":"2025-01-15T05:00:47","slug":"terminator-genisys","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/2025\/01\/14\/terminator-genisys\/","title":{"rendered":"Terminator Genisys"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Terminator Genisys<\/strong> (2015)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Paramount\/Sci-Fi-Action-Adventure\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 126 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated PG-13 (intense sequences of sci-fi violence and gunplay throughout, partial nudity, brief strong language)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Alan Taylor\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Laeta Kalogridis and Patrick Lussier\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Lorne Balfe\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Kramer Morgenthau\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: July 1, 2015 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 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.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Box Office: $89.7M (US)\/$440.6M (World)<\/p>\n

Rating<\/strong>: ** \u00bd<\/p>\n

\u00a0Please don\u2019t misinterpret my two-and-a-half star rating for Terminator Genisys<\/strong> 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\u2019t awed by that liquid metal?<\/p>\n

\u00a0The next two movies, Rise of the Machines (2003) and Salvation (2009), were decent but nothing special. I was hoping that Terminator Genisys<\/strong> would be great, but deep down I knew it was wishful thinking. Like its immediate predecessor, it\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

\u00a0That\u2019s not my problem with Terminator Genisys<\/strong>. This movie is wall-to-wall action, but I\u2019m wondering if it\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Before I get into the plot, there\u2019s the question of what constitutes a spoiler. In the past six months, I\u2019ve seen two (maybe three) different trailers for Terminator Genisys<\/strong>. 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\u2019t matter if I discuss important plot details as well, right? Wrong! I don\u2019t operate that way. I\u2019m going to describe the plot of Terminator Genisys<\/strong> to the best of my ability under the assumption that you haven\u2019t seen any of the trailers. Here I go with the wishful thinking again.<\/p>\n

\u00a0The 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\u2019s time-displacement machine before it can be activated.\u00a0 If you know your Terminator mythology, then you know Skynet manages to send a T-800 back to 1984 before Connor\u2019s army gets there. The scene then shifts to 1984 Los Angeles where the T-800\u2019s 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\u2019s confrontation with the trio of punk rockers. It\u2019s the young Ah-nuld, an effect achieved by CGI and a body double. That\u2019s 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).<\/p>\n

\u00a0Meanwhile, back in the future, Kyle volunteers to go to 1984 and save Sarah from the bad Terminator. Something happens while he\u2019s floating in the magnetic field that alters the past which, in turn, alters\u2026. 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, \u201cCome with me if you want to live!\u201d That\u2019s 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\u2019m going to stop here. You have the basic idea.<\/p>\n

\u00a0As far as summer action spectacles go, Terminator Genisys<\/strong> 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\u2019s 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\u2019s transformation from scared girl to bad ass chick. Because of the time alterations, that\u2019s gone. By the time Kyle arrives in \u201984 to save her, she doesn\u2019t 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\u2019t 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\u2019s best not to overthink it.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Schwarzenegger does a very good job in Terminator Genisys<\/strong>, 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\u2019s \u201cold, not obsolete\u201d. He still has plenty of fight and deadpan one-liners left in him. Yes, he gets to say his trademark line, \u201cI\u2019ll be back.\u201d That\u2019s more than I can say for the rest of the major players. It\u2019s hard to say who\u2019s worse. Jason Clarke is a lame John Connor. He\u2019s supposed to be this macho, messianic hero, but as played by the not-untalented Clarke, he\u2019s rather boring. Emilia Clarke isn\u2019t at all convincing as Sarah Connor. Sure, she\u2019s attractive, but she doesn\u2019t strike me as the butt-kicking type. And there\u2019s absolutely no chemistry between her and Jai Courtney who doesn\u2019t even come close to filling Michael Biehn\u2019s 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 \u201984 when he was a rookie cop.<\/p>\n

\u00a0The CGI effects are good, but not really special. It\u2019s nothing we haven\u2019t seen before. I unintentionally saw it in 3D (got the times mixed up) and can tell you that it doesn\u2019t need to be seen that way. 2D will be just fine. Despite its muddled storyline and grievous miscasting, Terminator Genisys <\/strong>is fun. It\u2019s 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?\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Terminator Genisys (2015)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Paramount\/Sci-Fi-Action-Adventure\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 126 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated PG-13 (intense sequences of sci-fi violence and gunplay throughout, partial nudity, brief strong language)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Alan Taylor\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Laeta Kalogridis and Patrick Lussier\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Lorne Balfe\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Kramer Morgenthau\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: July 1, 2015 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jason Clarke, Emilia Clarke, Jai Courtney, Lee Byung-hun, J.K. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":10804,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,20,15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10775","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-action-adventure","category-sci-fi-fantasy","category-sequels-remakes"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Terminator-Genisys-PIC.jpg?fit=620%2C348&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10775","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10775"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10775\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10806,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10775\/revisions\/10806"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10804"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10775"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10775"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10775"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}