Terminator Genisys (2015)
Where do I begin? There's just so much to like and dislike about this one. It's difficult to form an opinion, or even come up with a fair rating. Firstly, this fifth installment (and semi-remake) of the Terminator franchise is a fun, action-packed movie which does try to give the Terminator fans everything they've wanted since 1991's Terminator 2. Well, it didn't exactly work out that way. Although, I think we can all agree that Genisys makes up for the dull, lackluster flop that was Salvation. Although, this one has its own problems. But also one big problem they both have in common. a PG-13 rating. So, once again, we're stuck with a Terminator movie which lacks the bleak, apocolyptic tone of the first two. As well as realistic profanity, decent violence and Arnold's ass. You can't have everything. But a fun movie with a fascinating concept nonetheless. But what we have here is a movie which was designed to cash in on a (hopefully) dying reboot trend, and at the same time, attempt to not piss off the longtime Terminator fans. Technically, Termintor Genisys is a reboot of the original movie. Yet, events from that movie are referenced. Therefore, this movie is no reboot. Let me explain.
With the exception of Salvation, all past Terminator movies are based on time travel. Yet, time travel was never a big part of the story. In this one, it is. In Genisys, we begin with what looks to be the culmination of the war against the machines, in 2029. The human race, led by John Connor, has defeated Skynet, the self-aware computer which nearly destroyed humanity decades earlier. Skynet makes one last attempt at saving itself. It sends a T-800 back to 1984. A time before John Connor was born. This T-800 has been programmed to track down and destroy John Connor's mother to be, Sarah Connor, which would erase John's existence all together. Erasing all he's done to take Skynet down. John Connor and the resistance learn of this attempt, and must quickly decide what to do. It's decided to send one of their soldiers, and John's good friend Kyle Reese, into the past to locate and hopefully destroy the T-800 and save Sarah, thus saving John, and all their progress. Sound familiar? Sure, it does. But this is where things get complicated.
At some point in the future, there has been more time travel that everyone is unaware of. Terminators have been sent back about a decade before the events of the first movie. A T-1000 has killed the parents of little Sarah Connor. And before it can get to her, a T-800 is sent by an unknown person to rescue Sarah, and to remain her guardian up until the events of the first movie. And this T-800, affectionally known as "pops", is also training Sarah into the badass bitch we remember from T2. Okay. Well, not exactly THAT Sarah. But damn, she's hot. The point is, the Sarah Connor Kyle is expecting no longer exists, as well as the 1984 we remember from the original movie. Everything's changed. The events of the original movie, as well as everything that happened afterwards, is gone. Or I guess it still exists somewhere in another timeline. Although, I doubt it even matters because regardless of how things go in this movie, I'm pretty sure we'll never get to see how things ended up in the original timeline. Which is one of my biggest gripes about this movie.
Pops has long since filled Sarah in on how things originally played out, including the T-800 sent back to 1984, as well as the fact that Kyle is to be the father of her unborn child, as well as his eventual demise at the hands of the T-800. But with this knowledge, and plenty of time to prepare, things can potentially go alot smoother this time around. And for a while, they do. Sarah, and Pops, who has aged drastically since 1974, quickly take out the T-800 before he has a chance to kill anyone. And soon, they catch up with Reese, who has ran into a much bigger problem than he expected. A T-1000 has found him, and is about to end him before an interesting twist of fate where he is saved by Sarah Connor. After lengthy discussion, filling Kyle in on exactly what the hell is going on, together, the three of them (a little too) easily dispose of the T-1000 in a very fun little scene. Well, that was easy. What next?
Well, Pops has been working on a time machine, which can now be completed using the chip from the T-800. He sends Sarah and Kyle to the year 2017 to prevent Judgement Day. Sarah is skeptical because it's been common knowledge from the beginning that Judgement day happens in 1997, except in Terminator 3, where it happened in 2004 for some reason. But that movie has been ignored all together, so, whatever. 2017 it is. But what they discover when they get there, none of us expected. That us, unless you watched the trailer and had it spoiled like pretty much everyone did.
As a longtime Terminator fan, there is an equal amount I loved and hated about this film. In a way, it succeeds in being the ultimate Terminator sequel, but also takes a big fat shit all over the Terminators of the past, erasing them from existence not unlike a traditional reboot. And also, the major cons for me, besides the lack of violence and the obvious catering to a younger audience, is the new John Connor and Kyle Reese. I can live with this new John with his big chin becuase every one of these movies has featured a different John Connor. But the new Kyle doesn't remind me of the original even a little bit. On the other hand, the choice made to replace Linda Hamilton with Game Of Thrones's Emilia Clarke, was a wise one. She actually does look a little like Hamilton. Nice, big lips and all. She's great. Really, she is. But she's kind of portrayed as a know-it-all little twat, who provides most of the cute one-liners. Yeah. I really miss the T2 version of Sarah. But it's not so bad. Like I said. she's got them nice, big dicksuckers.
Ultimately, Terminator Genisys is enjoyable if you don't put too much thought into what they've done to the story, or compare it to the first 2 installments. Instead just be grateful they didn't pick up where they left off with Salvation. A movie so unpopular that a new beginning has been forced upon us. But hey! We've got Arnold back, as well as Sarah. Kyle Reese lives, and Nick Stahl is nowhere to be found. And despite raping the franchise, Genisys is okay with me. 6/10
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Me personally... 