Post-Cameron Struggles

Terminator: Genisys

Does anyone remember when the Terminator films were great?! Yeah, 30 some odd years ago when they were being directed by a guy named James Cameron. Since then we have had Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines in 2003 and Terminator: Salvation in 2009. Since 1991, James Cameron didn’t want anything to do with this franchise and we have all suffered because of it. Warner Bros. has done everything they can since they acquired the distribution rights of the Terminator franchise to resurrect the T-800 into cultural relevance again.  They tried to continue a story thought finished and then they tried to take audiences into the desolate world that fans of the series never seen before. Here we are again, another post-Cameron addition, this time distributed by Paramount Pictures, and yet this entry seems…convoluted.

For those of you great readers that have never seen the 1984 sci-fi action classic, The Terminator is about a post-apocalyptic world that is overrun with machines with one purpose…exterminate human life.  The leader of the resistance against the machines is John Connor (here played by Jason Clarke Dawn of the Planet of the Apes) and he is a great military leader. The machines decide to send one of their machines back in time (1984 specifically) to eliminate his mother Sarah Connor (here played by Emilia Clarke Game of Thrones). To protect his mother, John sends a warrior to help get his mother safe. The protector’s name (and future father) is Kyle Reese (Jai Courtney Insurgent). Reese goes back to protect Sarah and all mayhem is unleashed on early 80s Los Angeles. Well, with Genisys all that is still true, but then again it isn’t. Try and stay with me on this…Everything goes as it does with the original timeline, but as soon as the resistance sends Reese back, John is attacked by a Terminator. When Reese arrives in 1984, the timeline he knew (and supposed to save) is not right. A protector, in the form of Arnold Schwarzenegger (Maggie), has already been sent to protect Sarah from the age of 9 and both know that Reese is coming. From this point on everything that you knew (or just read) is altered and the Terminator franchise is set into a different direction, including John becoming the Terminator sent back to recruit Reese and Sarah to help preserve the machines.

Did you follow all of that? Neither did I. I don’t know what the hell I just watched, but there still A LOT of questions to this jumbled plot line. I never understood why they made John a villain and if he is the main bad guy why/how did more Terminators get sent back to protect or kill Sarah. Of course, if this is all true…How did John still exist and send Kyle back, what they thought, to the original timeline? The movie had all the action and explosions that have made the Terminator franchise awesome, but this plot was so twisted. I also felt that this film was more of a homage to the first two, with little ‘Easter Eggs’ scattered here and there including Sarah’s costume that reminded me a lot of her costume in T2.

Arnie is Arnie is this entry. T-800 hasn’t really changed but the filmmakers explain his aging. Schwarzenegger still brings a little humor to the cyborg and still has a menacing presence. Jason Clarke is definitely a good villain. This Terminator is a human/cyborg mix (if that makes sense) and still retains a lot of what made him human. This gives Jason a way to bring slyness and cynicism to this villain. I was deeply impressed with Emilia because with this film she has to be both Sarah Connor’s. Emilia is able to mix the young naïve Sarah from the ’84 original and the tough/gritty Sarah of ‘91’s Terminator 2: Judgment Day. Courtney, however, doesn’t live up to Michael Biehn’s (The Rock) harden soldier of the original. Throughout the film, Courtney doesn’t seem to really get his hands dirty. I couldn’t ever believe that he survived as long as he did in that war against the machines. He and Emilia have good chemistry, however I still prefer Biehn as Kyle Reese.

Thor: The Dark World director Alan Taylor had his shot. I thought he was a good choice due to his work on various HBO series and the second Thor was better than most people give it credit. Taylor never wrangles in the story enough to actually make sense. Like I mentioned, the action scenes were big and loud, but Taylor fails at trying to resurge a series in a time traveling way that reminded me of J.J Abrams Star Trek. At least Abrams reboot made sense.

With a script that seemed more of a messy family, time traveling drama, the Terminator series is still trying to find its identity. I understand that Paramount is trying to make this into another trilogy of films, but they also said that with Salvation. Like all reboots (except Casino Royale and Mad Max: Fury Road), I just suggest to watch the originals…at least until they can convince Cameron to come back as director.  

The Verdict: Wait for Blu-Ray