Terminator Genisys (2015) | Movie Review

In 1984, “Terminator” changed film forever. Not only did it jettison the careers of James Cameron and Arnold Schwarzenegger, it also offered filmgoers a mesh of everything they loved at the time. A slasher flick with B-movie tropes and a heavily nuanced storyline with the audacious twist of having our time traveler actually father our eventual hero – the film was everything audiences wanted and more. Many years later, Cameron managed to somehow up the ante on this storyline with “Judgment Day”, and turned in one of the most sensational action spectacles in cinema history. Several decades and a few misguided sequels later, we return to the beginning with the remake/reboot/sequel (rebootquel?): “Terminator Genisys”.

Many years in the future, John Connor (Jason Clarke) sends Kyle Reese (Jai Courtney) back to 1984 where he expects to find his meek and fragile mother, Sarah (Emilia Clarke), targeted for extermination by the original film’s version of the Terminator. Instead, Reese finds Sarah already a hardened freedom fighter with a plush Terminator of her very own that she affectionately refers to as ‘Pops’. Yes, she named him. We come to find out that history has changed a bit from what we already know, and Skynet – the nefarious artificial intelligence that eventually tosses civilization into anarchy – is now known as the Genisys program.

Unlike many reviews floating out there, I will not descend further into this rabbit hole, spoiling the film’s changes from the previous iterations. Let’s just leave it at this: We are treated to many plays on nostalgia, a fractured and alternate timeline (much how J.J. Abrams approached the “Star Trek” reboot), tweaks on the established formula – including a clever play on John’s lineage – and when all is said-and-done, the universe itself will be heading in a completely different direction. If that appeals to you, the ticket kiosk is waiting.

The bigger question is this: Does it all work? That is a much harder question to answer.

I can unequivocally state that yes, “Terminator Genisys” is the best sequel since “T2”. That doesn’t mean it is a great movie, far from it, but against “T3” and the abysmal “Terminator Salvation”, there really was nowhere to go but up. Director Alan Taylor handles the action set-pieces with flair, though little in the way of recreating the breathtaking chases throughout “T2”, and this assuredness contributes greatly to scrubbing the memory of those lesser films.

What doesn’t work here lies mostly in the time-travel foundation within the script. There is so much exposition as to HOW everything works, it slowly becomes benign as to why we should care. If the filmmakers need to explain this much of their story away, that just seems to show how very little their story makes sense to begin with. Time-travel is always a dicey construct, yet Genisys seems to be playing very fast-and-loose with their own set of rule, which completely removes you if one were to stop and think a bit too hard about the nonsense of it all. This is a leap-of-faith movie, if you can just stop thinking too hard and let go of the contrivances, you will have a damn fun time.

As far as performances, Jai Courtney continues along on his quest to suck the charisma out of any project he is tasked with. While he has surprised a time or two (“Jack Reacher”, “Spartacus”), Courtney just is not a leading man. He is a cardboard stand-in until the real hero arrives. Much like ‘Fetch’ and Miles Teller, stop trying to make Courtney happen, Hollywood. Emilia Clarke, a wonderful actress on “Game of Thrones”, throws a strong softball as she aims to strike-out the memory of the hardened Linda Hamilton of “T2”, but ultimately her performance falls a little short on bravado.  J.K. Simmons and Matt Smith also join up for the latest adventure, though neither function as much more than glorified cameos.

Thankfully neither of those two matter, as Arnold Schwarzenegger has returned to his signature role with all guns blazing. “I’m old, not obsolete” is Arnie’s mantra here, a pointedly on-the-nose comparison to his own stature in film today. Knowing this is his best shot at reclaiming a bit of that 90’s box-office mojo, Arnold brings every ounce of machismo and humor he can muster to show his Terminator belongs in this new millennium. A sobering reality to Arnold’s work is that, as he has faltered in terms of success over the years, his acting has greatly improved (see “Maggie” for more proof). His growing bond of the artificial intelligence nature with Sarah throughout the film works solely due to his performance. For this reason alone, I hope “Genisys” is a success. This is the Arnold I would love to follow into much deeper depths of filmmaking down the road.

As I stated above, “Terminator Genisys” is the best Terminator sequel since “T2”. While a fun thrill ride, it still suffers greatly from a story that rarely works and a few stiff performances. Thankfully, the set-pieces are viscerally engaging and Arnold wants this to happen so bad he practically wills it into submission. I, for one, am glad he finally came back.

Aaron Peterson
The Hollywood Outsider