The Terminator. Who
doesn't remember “Hasta la vista,” or “I'll be back!”?
Chances are when you think Terminator you think Arnold
Schwarzenegger. How can you not? When I first saw the trailer for
this thing I got pumped! I couldn't wait to see it.
I was introduced to the
series through Terminator 2 and only seen bits and pieces of the
first movie. All I remember about Terminator 3 is Arnold, Kristanna
Loken, and a teenaged John Connor. The fourth one – let's not talk
about the fourth one. And I never watched the TV show. At least
Genisys had the common sense to get Arnold back. You can't do
Terminator without Arnold. I'm sorry, but you just can't, and a CGI
Arnold doesn't count! I rambled on enough, time to put a stop to
Judgment Day! Again.
What do you
mean public nudity is illegal?
First up we
have Kyle Reese, a Resistance soldier from the future sent back to
save Sarah Connor from a Terminator created by Skynet to kill her.
Little does he know that Skynet also sent back ANOTHER Terminator to
intercept him before he can reach Sarah Connor. If they're not
careful they can end up in an infinite loop.
Kyle:
I'm here to
save you.
Terminator
#216: I'm
here to kill you before you save her.
Resistance
Member #546: I'm
here to stop you!
Terminator:
#387: I'm
here to stop you before you can stop him.
Resistance
Member #666: I'm
here to stop you before you can stop him stop him.
Thankfully,
the Terminator timeline isn't that
convoluted. Yet.
Kyle
is pretty much your standard vanilla good guy soldier. He's loyal,
determined, and has endless amounts of banters with women and their
guardians. Because we need men and women characters who like each
other to banter relentlessly. Can't they just get along? Men and
women are capable of it you know!
When
my son is grown, he will burn your cities to the ground!
Sarah
Connor is a lot more like she was in the second movie due to the fact
that she was forced to learn how to fight at a much younger age in
this timeline. A fact that catches Kyle Reese completely off guard
when he finds her.
Is
she as good as Linda
Hamilton? Laughs
No. Not even close, but to be fair she isn't trying to emulate her
performance. She makes the character her own and is all around
enjoyable to watch. Her back and forth with Arnold's character is
actually pretty funny.
Pops:
Can
you mate with him?
Sarah:
Okay,
can you stop saying that word?
We Americans are VERY sensitive about the subject of sex!
Like
most people would be, Sarah doesn't like the idea of her life already
being dictated by a future she hasn't seen, but if she refuses
humanity is doomed. The subject is explored quite nicely through her
and Kyle Reese, however they miss their opportunity to take advantage
of it.
By
the end of the movie she had the chance to do what she wanted, and
what does she do? Exactly what she had to do before. It makes sense
in the context of the film since her fears had more to do with him
dying for her, and when the threat is removed (so they think) that
fear is gone, but they could have gone a completely different route
with it and it's disappointing that they didn't take advantage of
that.
I'M BACK!
Man, Arnold looks good for 67.
Genesis is a T-800 Terminator sent back in time to
protect Sarah Connor as a child, who was being attacked by a T-1000
Terminator to kill her before Kyle Reese could get to her. See what I
mean about the endless loop? While his actual name is “Guardian”
I never once remember anybody calling him that all throughout the
movie. His name was just Pops, and that what he'll be referred to
here. Pops.
Pops
is a nice throwback to the T-800 in the second Terminator movie, but
has a little more of a comedic edge as he tries to blend in. That
goofy smile he does is just so creepy and hilarious all at once. As
you can expect from a Schwarzenegger
flick, he kicks ass! I know he had a stunt double because the studio
wasn't going to risk its top star getting injured, but I'm sure he
did some of his own stunts in the movie that weren't too risky.
Arnold has never shied away from it before and God knows he has the
body for it even now.
There's
nothing to suggest his movements were CGI like they did with
Christopher Lee (God rest his soul) in Star Wars and
The Hobbit, but he was expected to do a bunch of flips. Arnold
didn't have to do crazy flips and shit, and I'd rather that than
CGIing an older individual's fight scenes to do things he otherwise
can't do because the former looks more real. They explain how his
character got older instead of ignoring it and hoping you
wouldn't ask questions.
Jesus, it looks like the robots just used his face as a canvas.
In a
shocking twist (though I don't know how shocking it is after the
fifth trailer advertising it) John Connor is the villain. They make
him this new breed of Terminator that's kind of a hybrid between
human and machine who can regenerate almost anything. He's even able
to heal the scars on his face after a while.
I like this
change, but they gave it away in the trailer so many times you don't
get the chance to be shocked. He starts off as we always know him,
the rebel against the machines and humanity's last hope, and then he
gets back stabbed by a member of Skynet (or who we think is a member
of Skynet). So, maybe we would have caught that something was up
when he appears again, but we just wouldn't know what if it weren't
for all the spoilers.
Seeing an
adult John Connor share screen time with Sarah was a nice change of
pace. When he's working with the people behind Genisys, the man is
charming. There's nothing to indicate he has ill-intent, he's the
kind of guy you'd want to have a beer with. After seeing so many
villains who don't even try to blend in, it's nice to see somebody
hide his true nature and act like a normal guy who just wants to do
good.
I barely
recognize him without the bow tie.
The movie's
ability to keep Matt Smith's role a secret deserves major props. I
had no idea who he was going to be going in. When I first heard
about the movie being made I thought he was going to play the part
of Kyle Reese, but after that I thought it'd be a minor role. I
noticed him in the background in one scene because he was The Doctor
to me. Then I noticed his expression, and having his eye on John,
and him sneaking up on him and I went, “Oh shit, he's with
Skynet.”
With
Skynet? He IS Skynet. The physical representation of the artificial
intelligence that takes over the world. There's some good
commentary, which goes back to the first movie, about how everyone
is reliant on technology. Only this time it's everyone being on their
cellphones and hooked up to multiple apps all at once, and how we as
a people invite our own Armageddon while being completely oblivious
to it. An old commentary, but one that's still relevant even to this
day.
I think
Matt does a good job in the role. As much as I like him, there are
only so many emotional ranges he's shown he can do from what I've
watched on Doctor Who, so being cast as an emotionless AI is
probably the best role for him. By the way, Skynet lives through the
end, so you know they're leaving it open for another one.
Now I really wish that I knew how to swim!
The special effects and the action in the movie is
really good. There are a lot of nice throwbacks to the older movies
like the scene with the Terminator asking for clothes, and the whole
chase with the T-1000, and twists like the new T-800 kicking the
other one's ass while he's butt naked. The CGI on Arnold is only
with his face, for the rest they got an actual person so he's really
there. Arnold isn't just fighting a green screen effect. He is
however fighting a naked man.
I was never bored once through the entire movie. We
have explosions, Terminators being wrecked, bullets, everything you
could expect in a Terminator movie. Enough downtime between action
sequences so it doesn't feel like the film is constantly throwing
things at you until it's overwhelming.
The way they do the timeline thing kind of reminds me
of Doctor Who where you see these moments being foreshadowed, and
then later the characters have to do them to keep the timeline in
synch in order for everything to fall into place. I have to wonder if
Doctor Who was an inspiration for that or if that's just the way
timeline stories work, as I haven't watched that many time traveling
stories.
Illegal choke
hold! Disqualify him, Ref!
In the end
the trio attacks Skynet, we have the final showdown between the T-800
and the T- 5000, Skynet gets his obligatory villainous monologue, the
group is successful in blowing it sky high, and the movie tease that
Pops is dead when he actually gets an upgrade being able to reshape
himself like the T-1000/5000, and they all live happily ever after.
At least
until they make another one. I for one would actually be interested
in another one because there's a lot they can explore. Like the
T-800 fighting more like T-1000.
That's
Terminator Genisys. If you like action and/or Sci-Fi movies, or if
you're a fan of Terminator you may enjoy this one. If you're kind of
iffy going in because of how lackluster the previous sequels were, I
can understand it. You may be pleasantly surprised by this one. If
you don't want to pay money to see it at theaters you can always
wait for it to come out on DVD or Blu Ray. And it has all been made
possible through Skydance Productions. That's an interesting name,
Skydance. Sky... Sky!?
OH MY GOD!
The
Terminator: Bursts through
the door.
Ayen:
Screams and hides
under his desk.
The
Terminator: Walks in
front of desk. Comes to a stop and lifts the desk up with one hand
and tosses it before looking down at Ayen.
Ayen:
Is terrified.
The
Terminator: Lends
hand to Ayen. Come
with me if you want to live.
Ayen:
What?
The
Terminator: Grabs
Ayen and flees the scene.
Get it
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