Review: Terminator: Genisys

In 2029, resistance leader John Connor (Jason Clarke) is leading the so far successful fight against the machines when he discovers Skynet has a time-travel device that has allowed them to send a Terminator back to 1984 to kill Sarah Connor as a way of winning the war. John’s comrade (and, confusingly enough his father, as we know from previous films) Kyle Reese (Jai Courtney) steps forward to go back to 1984, protect Sarah Connor and stop the future being altered in the machines’ favour. Once there, the 1984 presented isn’t the same 1984 depicted in “The Terminator”, and Sarah Connor (Emilia Clarke) is already aware of Terminators. She even has one of her own as a protector since childhood, a T-800 model whom she nicknames ‘Pops’ (played by Arnold Schwarzenegger). We first see this ‘Pops’ as he thwarts another T-800’s killing mission, but also present in this 1984 is a deadly, cold-eyed T-1000 model (played by Byung-Hun Lee). In order to set things back in order, our heroes must themselves travel forward to 2017 and stop Skynet’s technology synching program Genisys from being launched online and causing Judgement Day. J.K. Simmons (in the typical popcorn movie project choice Oscar winners quite often make the year after winning) plays a police detective who is looked upon by other cops as a conspiracy kook (he apparently has a history with Terminators), with Sandrine Holt wasted as another cop. Courtney B. Vance briefly plays Cyberdyne CEO Miles Dyson, with Cyberdyne of course being the tech company that led to the creation of Skynet.

 

In the lead-up to this 2015 sequel/re-boot from director Alan Taylor (the superior comic book sequel “Thor: The Dark World”, as well as episodes of “Game of Thrones”), star Arnold Schwarzenegger had pretty much said only the first two “Terminator” films were any good. This isn’t strictly true. The first two are masterpieces, but Jonathan Mostow’s “Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines” I thought was at least one of the ten best films of 2003. However, I did at the very least expect this new film to be an improvement over the still underrated but very mild “Terminator: Salvation”. I think it probably is an improvement, but a mild and still somewhat disappointing one, if that makes any sense. I like quite a bit of this film, didn’t really hate any of it, but if Arnie’s gonna talk those tough words about “Rise” and “Salvation”, dude needs this film to back him up big-time, and I don’t think it quite does. Poor box-office results might even signal the end of the franchise altogether, making Arnie (whose comeback, it has to be said, hasn’t been very, very mild) seem even more foolish. However, even if recent reports of another “Terminator” film are true, I still hope the proposed “Triplets” works out well, though I’d feel safer with a “True Lies” sequel myself. Otherwise, Arnold’s in real trouble.

 

The film opens in a pretty impressive fashion whilst also helping one forget that “Terminator: Salvation” ever existed. The visuals in the opening are pretty amazing I must say, and not long after we get some terrific laser action only hinted at in previous films. It’s a mistake, however, to either not hire Brad Fiedel to do the score, or Lorne Balfe (“Ironclad”, “The Frozen Ground”) to not incorporate the infamous (and brilliant) “Terminator” theme more often in the film. We do get it (briefly) and the score overall is OK, but I wanted the main theme used a lot more throughout. Seriously, you could insert that theme into a lot of movies and it would instantly improve them. It kicks arse and is the one thing from previous films you really do want in this film as well. We don’t even get it in full until the end of the film, which is criminal. At least Balfe’s score does manage to stay within a similar vibe, I’ll give him that. On the plus side, I liked that the film really hits the ground running, and Aussie ex-pat Jason Clarke is the best-ever John Connor, and the perfect casting choice for this very different John Connor. He’s terrific in a rather multi-faceted twist on the role. It’s a shame everyone had the big twist with the character spoiled for them in the trailer, one of the dumbest marketing decisions in cinematic history if you ask me. Fellow Aussie actor Jai Courtney happens to be a rock-solid Kyle Reese, too I must say.

 

However, the film soon lost me temporarily when an almost but not quite convincing CG Arnie circa 1984 turns up (or more accurately, CGI ‘Hulk’ Arnie), and it felt like we were gonna get a film that merely remade the first film with a few elements of “T-2”. I mean, we even get a replay of the punk scene in the first film, but with much less interesting actors than Bill Paxton and Brian Thompson (possessor of cinema’s all-time squarest jaw? Top 10 for sure!). I mean, just because Skynet probably would keep sending Terminators back to 1984 over and over until it gets it right, doesn’t mean it would make for an interesting series of films, does it? I was worried that this film’s attempt at erasing the previous two films from our collective memories (it’s essentially a reboot to begin a new series, ala J.J. Abrams’ “Star Trek”) was merely going to involve a virtual remake of the first two films in one, especially when Byung-Hun Lee turns up as another T1000 model. I also didn’t much care for the too-cute Arnold vs. CG 1984 Arnold fight, partly because of the not great FX, but also because it was blatant fanboy stuff. However, once Sarah Connor turns up as played by Emilia Clarke, I started to thaw. Why? Because this isn’t the 1984 Sarah Connor you know from the first film, and not just because she’s played by the Mother of Dragons. No, one soon discovers that this is, in fact, not just an attempt at nostalgia by combining elements of the first two films. Instead, it’s a completely different timeline of 1984, so that the events we saw in the first film play out differently here. Not completely differently, and the call-backs to earlier films still bothered me a bit, but by bringing up the nostalgia and tweaking it in an alternate/changed timeline sense is a cool way for this film to find its own groove (Even if, like “Star Trek”, I’m still not keen on eradicating what came before to create something semi-new. It’s a little disrespectful and dickish). I kinda started to dig it, even if I never once warmed to Emilia Clarke as Sarah Connor. I mean for fuck’s sake, there’s already a kick-arse Sarah Connor on the set of “Game of Thrones”. Sure, Lena Headey would probably be too old for the part, but at least she’d have the necessary size, presence, and edge needed for the role, given this Sarah Connor is almost like a combo of 1984 Sarah and “T2” Sarah. Ms. Clarke is OK at best, miscast, and far too petite-looking. She does have quite good chemistry with Courtney, however, I noticed.

 

I was particularly impressed that this film addressed the problem of finding out who programmed Arnold’s T-800 Terminator. In this one, someone has worked out a way to make sure no one knows who has programmed the grey-haired T-800 (who is affectionately referred to here by Sarah as ‘Pops’) to protect Sarah. That’s the kind of shit that previous films really ought to have worked out, if you ask me. Also, despite the obvious comparisons to Robert Patrick in “T-2”, I thought Byung-Hun Lee stole his every scene as the dead-eyed, ice-cold T1000. Unfortunately, those scenes are far too few for my liking. Thankfully the chief menace we do get is creepy as hell and more than makes up for the lack of Mr. Lee (or is it Mr. Byung-Hun? I’m terrible with working out first/last names for Chinese and Korean actors). If there’s one actor that really does get lost in the shuffle here to the film’s real detriment, it’s Arnold Schwarzenegger himself. Arnie has seemed a bit tired and lethargic on screen recently, occasionally to good effect here (i.e. It suits his aging character. Yes, this Terminator ages, or at least the human tissue on the outside of them). However here he really does seem to be just ‘there’ on screen, not terribly impressing or imposing his presence at any point in the film. I personally don’t think “Terminator: Salvation” really missed him, and he doesn’t really add anything here aside from a few subtle dramatic moments (Hardly what you expect from Arnie and maybe not what some are looking for, but credit where it’s due). His best film of 2015 was the direct-to-DVD zombie drama “Maggie”, which really deserved a bigger audience. For perhaps the first time in his career, Schwarzenegger really doesn’t stand out here, and although he’s never been as tall as movies make you think he is, he looks visibly much shorter now, due to age.

 

The playing around with timelines in this is very interesting, if a bit brain-frying for a dummy like me. Action-wise, there’s nothing to compete with the freeway action in “T2” and “Rise of the Machines”, but it’s solid in that regard. There’s a pretty good, hair-raising set piece on the Golden Gate Bridge. It’s also not often you get an action set piece involving two choppers flying through busy streets. That’s helicopters I’m talking about, not motorbikes! Good stuff, if not great stuff. Meanwhile, J.K. Simmons probably didn’t need to be here, but narrowly navigates a potentially very silly and superfluous role for a few scenes. The film’s tech paranoia angle (Basically Microsoft Windows will cause the end of humanity and the rise of the machines!) is clever in that merely having cyborgs wouldn’t perhaps be enough for a 2015 audience, though I think the sinister character ironically played by “Dr. Who” Matt Smith probably deserved more emphasis (His voice is creepy and effective, however). By the way, am I the only one who thinks his face always looks like it has a latex mask over it like a “Dick Tracy” villain?

 

This is really only a hair or two above the previous film, but shit people, what more did you really want from it? It doesn’t warrant franchise-killer status, that’s for sure. It’s not a great film and won’t be in my top 10 of the year, but there’s still plenty to like here. The screenplay is by Laeta Kalogridis (The underrated “Pathfinder”, Scorsese’s disappointing “Shutter Island”), and Patrick Lussier (Director of the mediocre “Dracula 2000”, the surprisingly good “My Bloody Valentine” remake, and the schlock-tastic “Drive Angry”).

 

Rating: B-