It isn’t very often in which I see a movie that causes me to internally scream “What is happening?” in my mind during the first thirty minutes or so, but Terminator: Genisys, this time directed by Alan Taylor, managed to accomplish that. Much of it feels like an attempt to hotwire the franchise and hopefully influence more sequels down the road, which no doubt inspired Arnold Schwarzenegger’s return as unarguably his most famous character.
Taylor’s last big screen effort prior to this was Thor: The Dark World, which I felt was a decent enough Marvel film that had a good balance of action and humor. He more or less tries to apply the same formula to the Terminator franchise, and unfortunately it just doesn’t gel with such a dark intellectual property based around a post apocalyptic war.
For me, it isn’t so much the PG-13 rating that derails the movie as it is the lack of subtlety. Too much of the story and character growth is put aside for frantic chases and action sequences- some with surprisingly cartoony physics. I tried to stifle a few giggles watching Arnold’s T-800 get bounced around and slammed into objects during fight scenes with the same unchanging determined expression, save for Sarah Conner (Game of Thrones’ Emilia Clarke) teaching him to be more friendly, the film’s main running gag.
Genisys generally ignores prior sequels Salvation and Rise of the Machines, opting to put some new twists on the original story from the 1984 classic. Kyle Reese, this time played by Jai Courtney, is sent by John Connor to the Reagan years to protect Sarah Connor from the first killer T-800 (a CGIed younger Arnold). However, suddenly Connor- and I apologize if this review is a bit more spoiler-rific than normal, but the marketing gave it away- is apparently attacked just as Reese is warping back to the days of Cyndi Lauper and the San Diego Padres being good.
But Sarah is already dealing with a future robot assault due to unforeseen changes in the timeline, accompanied by her more weathered guardian Terminator which she affectionately refers to as “Pops”. Going on a vision Reese witnessed during the time jump, the three team up to battle a T-1000 (Lee Byung-hun) and use Sarah’s makeshift time machine to jump to 2017, to stop a killer app named Genisys (which is destined to develop into the dreaded Skynet program) from debuting.
Where Michael Biehn’s Reese conveyed a fierce sense of urgency, sincerity and heart, Courtney plays him as kind of a generic dumb jock. He spends more time snarking at various events (his most memorable as well as apt line is arguably “are you kidding me?”) and rolling his eyes than he does actual bonding with the T-800 and Sarah, who he’s of course supposed to help conceive John with. Not that that’s made apparent, since their chemistry mostly consists of them yelling and bitching at each other.
Arnold’s completely straight demeanor is entertaining enough, but Jason Clarke’s Skynet-corrupted John Connor (more spoilers) is threatening but still fairly hammy. Like much of the cast, he takes time out to rehash classic lines from the series, and it always sounds laughably awkward. Even Skynet itself gets in on the act, represented by a glowing blue hologram who taunts the main trio. J.K Simmons has a bit role as Detective O’Brien, a stray cop from the original film who remembers the Terminators and is willing to help. Sadly, he doesn’t have any of the bite left over from his run as Fletcher in Whiplash, not that that’d help much.
While Genisys is arguably bigger, faster and louder than any Terminator film since Judgment Day, its twists feel needlessly complicated, and none of the performances or moments match up to the first two films. I guess that was to be expected, and to give the filmmakers credit there’s certainly more effort put into this latest entry than before.
It isn’t dull, but you’re likely to get more entertainment poking fun at it with friends than you are with a straight viewing. I still love this franchise, but things aren’t looking too good when they can’t even spell the damn title right.