{"id":3897,"date":"2015-07-03T06:10:17","date_gmt":"2015-07-03T13:10:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/?p=3897"},"modified":"2015-07-03T06:10:17","modified_gmt":"2015-07-03T13:10:17","slug":"review-terminator-genisys","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/?p=3897","title":{"rendered":"Review: TERMINATOR GENISYS"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a>Time travel is the sequel secret sauce. It even helps to explain why Arnold Schwarzenegger can play an \u201cold\u201d terminator in \u201cTerminator Genisys.\u201d He may be old on the outside, but he\u2019s still all new-fangled robot on the inside.<\/p>\n

\u201cTerminator Genisys\u201d is the latest attempt to cash in on the Terminator franchise, which, let\u2019s face it, hasn\u2019t delivered since \u201cTerminator 2: Judgment Day\u201d back in 1991. And that was when James Cameron was running things, having scored with the original in 1984, but who proved himself with \u201cAliens\u201d two years later. With \u201cT2,\u201d Cameron and co-writer William Wisher Jr. took the ideas and concepts they introduced in \u201cThe Terminator\u201d and thrilled millions with a memorable, dare I say, classic, science fiction action epic. And like \u201cAliens,\u201d the gauntlet had been thrown down \u2013 a sequel could creatively extend and even improve upon the one that started it all.<\/p>\n

But alas, the Terminator \u201cfranchise\u201d stalled. More than a decade passed and finally a weaker third film, \u201cTerminator 3: Rise of the Machines,\u201d was added to the canon with Jonathan Mostow (who has done little since) at the helm. Contemporaneous to a short-run television series, \u201cTerminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles,\u201d there was a fourth effort, 2009\u2019s post-apocalyptic \u201cTerminator Salvation,\u201d which was even less effective, despite the solid casting of Christian Bale in the key role of John Connor. Luckily, most of us have erased numbers three and four from our collective memories, and \u201cTerminator Genisys\u201d producers are hoping that audiences are ready for another run at taking down Skynet.<\/p>\n

And so it goes, \u201cTerminator Genisys\u201d is more of the same, which isn\u2019t such a bad thing. In this new timeline, John Connor (played by Jason Clarke) once again sends Kyle Reese (\u201cDivergent\u2019s\u201d Jai Courtney) back to 1984 to protect Sarah Connor (here played by Emilia Clarke, sans her dyed golden locks from \u201cGame of Thrones\u201d). But in a new twist, it is Sarah who protects Kyle \u2013 she\u2019s even been waiting on him to get there, and she has her very own terminator, whom she calls \u201cPops,\u201d as her muscle. Yes, her personal terminator is none other than the familiar Arnold-looking version, who definitely has some miles on him. It is explained that the organic tissue that surrounds his robotic inner frame actually ages, which in one line of quick exposition explains why you have an old terminator. And some of the film\u2019s most entertaining dialogue concerns Arnold\u2019s age and perseverance \u2013 it is like a metaphor for Schwarzenegger\u2019s career.<\/p>\n

Let me get this out of the way: Arnold is a joy to watch in this film. He\u2019s still physically impressive, knows how to move like a terminator, and has some nice comic moments. And while the chemistry between Courtney as Reese and Emilia Clarke as Sarah is lacking, the chemistry between Sarah and her Pops is really solid. The film is not without problems, but the only reason I wanted to see \u201cTerminator Genisys\u201d is to catch Arnold in a familiar role where he is able to look like he does now. I bought the strained and often head-spinning explanation hook, line and sinker.<\/p>\n

But the undeniable problem with \u201cTerminator Genisys\u201d is that ultimately the story is a retread of the second film with Connor and this time Reese attempting to destroy the company responsible for unleashing the evil Skynet on the world. And even though a new wrapper is placed on the old idea, it doesn\u2019t seem fresh or original enough to support another theatrical outing. The frustrating thing about time travel is that what happens can always unhappen. Therefore, as a viewer, you can\u2019t trust anything in this unreliable narrative. And because so much time tripping is required to reboot the franchise, which also involves another round of re-castings, it is hard to get comfortable with any of the characters. If it wasn\u2019t for the cold, aging, largely emotionless terminator, there\u2019d be little in this latest installable to care about. And despite the well-paced and created action sequences, \u201cTerminator Genisys\u201d didn\u2019t make me worry about our world being taken over by machines. Skynet\u2019s takeover is inevitable, so, why bother?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Arnold is worth watching, but little else is…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3897","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews","no-thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3897","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3897"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3897\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3914,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3897\/revisions\/3914"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3897"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3897"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3897"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}