TERMINATOR GENISYS (PG-13)
Released by Paramount Pictures
Reviewed by Adam Mast
SPOILER ALERT: I don’t generally go too deep into spoiler territory when writing about movies, but in this case, it should be noted that this review does contain spoilers. I figured the marketing department did far more damage in the spoiler department than this review does but I still wanted to offer up a warning.
TERMINATOR GENISYS—or as I like to call it, THE TERMINATOR GREATEST HITS PACKAGE—isn’t quite the train wreck I was expecting, but it is further proof that this series should have come to a close with TERMINATOR: JUDGMENT DAY back in 1991. TERMINATOR 3: RISE OF THE MACHINES had its fair share of problems, but it was fun enough. SALVATION on the other hand, was forgettable. In terms of sheer entertainment value, TERMINATOR GENISYS lies somewhere in between its two predecessors.
As TERMINATOR GENISYS opens, we are introduced to a world in shambles. Skynet, a self-aware global military computer system, has all but taken over the planet. Standing in the way of Skynet’s plan for world domination is a human resistance led by soldier John Connor (Jason Clarke). When Skynet fears that Connor and his army are inching ever so closer to victory, they send an unstoppable killing machine—called the T-800—back in time to terminate John’s mother, Sarah (played by Emilia Clarke—no relation to Jason), before his birth, all in an effort to preserve their own victory.
Ever the resilient solider, John is well aware of Skynet’s plan, but the pesky system initiates its scheme before the resistance has an opportunity to stop it. Connor is left with no other choice but to send a member of his team back to serve as Sarah’s protector. Enter Kyle Reese (Jai Courtney), John Connor’s right-hand man. John has looked after Kyle since he was a child. In fact, had it not been for John, Kyle most certainly would have been terminated by one of Skynet’s killing machines. Therefore, Kyle jumps at the opportunity to serve his fearless leader.
John reluctantly agrees to send his dedicated right hand man back, but when Kyle makes his arrival in 1984, it is a very different 1984 than fans of the original TERMINATOR will remember. It’s an alternate timeline, one in which Reese comes face to face with a dreaded, shape-shifting T-1000 (Byung-hun Lee), and one in which a T-800 (Arnold Schwarzenegger) has already been protecting Sarah Connor for the previous 9 years.
If the plot of this movie sounds congested, confusing, and a little silly, that’s because it is. And for the few of you who have never seen the first two movies, you’re sure to be far more confused than those of us who have seen them.
To call the overly ambitious TERMINATOR GENISYS screenplay convoluted would be an epic understatement. For a large portion of its running time, GENISYS feels more like an overstuffed time travel movie than a straight-up TERMINATOR flick, and with all that time travel comes the usual barrage of head-scratching questions, the big one being, who sent a Terminator back to protect Sarah Connor and who the hell programmed him? This is one of many questions this film never answers. Could it be that potential answers to these probing questions are being held for the next sequel? If so, that’s the biggest kind of slap to the face.
James Cameron, the writer and director of the first two TERMINATOR movies, wasn’t interested in belaboring his time travel hook. His films were more about character and, of course, relentless action. Here, time travel is the emphasis, and it affords director Alan Taylor (THOR: THE DARK WORLD) and crew the opportunity to double back, recreate time lines, and move from the future to the past to the present and back to the future again, all within a two-hour running time. Quite clearly, GENISYS attempts to apply the same sort of plot devices that worked to much stronger effect in BACK TO THE FUTURE PART II and J.J. Abrams’ STAR TREK reboot.
TERMINATOR GENISYS makes a valiant effort to play off our sense of nostalgia by using numerous call back lines and skillfully recreating entire scenes from Cameron’s original TERMINATOR from 1984. While technically, these moments are quite a thrill to look at, they don’t add to much because GENISYS is unable to generate any real life of its own. What’s more, through its time travel hook, this picture has the audacity to re-write iconic movie history and suggest that the first two films never even happened.
The action in GENISYS is plentiful, and Taylor is adept at staging a lot of this stuff (aside from an abomination of a helicopter chase sequence), but overall, I didn’t have a genuine connection to what was going on. There is simply no real sense of urgency. Furthermore, the film’s themes of family are too undefined in approach, particularly where the strange father/daughter dymamic between Sarah and the T-800–affectionately referred to as Pops– is concerned. It’s a scenario that echoes the relationship between the T-800 and young John Connor in JUDGMENT DAY but in that film, it felt earned because there was real depth. In GENISYS, not so much.
The general argument would be that this is simply an action movie and to attack a film like this because of a lack of plot or character is silly. However, while the first two films were action driven, Cameron also managed to create characters and relationships worth caring about. The interpretations of already established characters as they appear in GENISYS feel like lesser versions of their former selves. In fact, in many ways, they feel like entirely different characters.
As the aging T-800 (for the record, his aging is explained, but I’ll be damned if it’s an entirely reasonable explanation), Schwarzenegger emerges as a cast stand out. This action legend’s natural sense of humor and iconic physicality will always be worth noting. Even at 67, he’s still got it.
Emilia Clarke (GAME OF THRONES) certainly looks like a younger version of Linda Hamilton circa 1984, but she lacks the toughness and anxiety we have come to expect from this character. Remember, this is a woman who possesses the knowledge that the end of mankind is just around the corner and that her unborn child will be the only chance humanity has for survival. That’s a lot of pressure. Hamilton displayed that pressure and more in JUDGMENT DAY but Clarke is far too low key.
Courtney possesses none of the quiet intensity or the scrappy, survivalist instincts that made Michael Biehn’s take on Kyle Reese so compelling. Granted, part of Kyle’s poor characterization here falls squarely on the shoulders of the screenwriters, Laeta Kalogridis and Patrick Lussier. Having said that, I don’t entirely get Courtney’s appeal as an actor, particularly in heroic roles. He’s more charismatic here than he was in A GOOD DAY TO DIE HARD, but that’s faint praise at best. Quite frankly, Courtney is more effective when he’s playing villains (see JACK REACHER and DIVERGENT).
Like Courtney, Jason Clarke feels sorely miscast as John Connor. Clarke is a terrific actor (check out his wonderfully subdued work in last year’s exceptional DAWN OF THE PLANET OF THE APES), but here, I simply never bought him as the tough-as-nails leader of a futuristic resistance. And I never bought into his poorly applied battle scar either, but we can blame the make-up effects team for that one.
J.K. Simmons has a few fun moments here as a man who–with good reason– believes that Kyle and Sarah have the ability to zip through time. It’s a real shame that he clocks in such a short amount of screen time. The movie could have used more of him. And for those of you excited to see Matt Smith (of DOCTOR WHO fame), you’ll be disappointed to know that he clocks in even less screen time than Simmons.
It’s clear that Paramount Pictures has been concerned with the negative buzz that has plagued this film since it started shooting. Why else would they divulge all major plot details in the trailers? Even a faint endorsement by James Cameron felt like a move of overwhelming desperation on the part of the studio.
Having said all of that, TERMINATOR GENISYS isn’t a flat out terrible movie. It has moments and Taylor is certainly a competent director. Again though, this is yet another sign of a franchise that should have been rendered obsolete many years ago. Where future TERMINATOR films are concerned, I don’t think I’m alone in my hoping that Schwarzenegger will utter the words, “I won’t be back.”
Where a new CONAN THE BARBARIAN movie is concerned, however… that’s another story.
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