Terminator Genisys - Review
:: Rated "S" for Super Spoilers - Read at your own risk ::
In 2029, leader John Connor launches a massive final offensive against Skynet Before the Resistance wins the offensive, Skynet activates a time machine and sends back a Terminator to 1984 to kill John's mother, Sarah Connor. John's right-hand man, Kyle Reese, volunteers to travel back in time to protect her. As Kyle floats in the machine's magnetic field, he witnesses John being attacked and receives new memories from his childhood about events in 2017.
Upon arrival in 1984, Skynet's T-800 is disabled by Sarah and the Guardian (a reprogrammed T-800 sent to protect her when she was nine years old). Kyle arrives a short time later and reveal they have constructed a makeshift time machine similar to Skynet's, and that Sarah plans to travel to 1997 – the year Skynet becomes self-aware. Realizing the timeline has been altered, Kyle is convinced that the future has changed due to the warning he received in his childhood vision. He persuades Sarah to travel to 2017 instead to stop Skynet.
After arriving to 2017, they learn that Skynet is called "Genisys", a soon-to-be-unveiled global operating system that is being embraced by the public. John Connor rescues them, but the Guardian appears and immediately shoots John, revealing that he is an advanced T-3000 Terminator. While Kyle was being sent back through time, Skynet was in the form of a T-5000 disguised as a member of the Resistance. It attacked John and transformed him into a Terminator. John was tasked with ensuring Cyberdyne Systems' survival and traveled back in time to assist them with the development of Genisys.
They get the change to escape from him and start making final preparations to destroy Cyberdyne's Genisys. In a final encounter, the Guardian traps the T-3000 in the magnetic field of a prototype time machine and both are destroyed, but just prior to the explosion, the T-3000 throws the remains of the Guardian into an experimental vat of mimetic polyalloy liquid located nearby. Kyle and Sarah reach a bunker beneath the facility, and the explosion sets off the bombs successfully preventing Genisys from coming online. The Guardian appears, upgraded with mimetic polyalloy components, and helps them find a way out of the debris. A new timeline starts again with Sarah, Kyle and the upgraded Terminator alive and well.
As you can read, the plot is a real mess filled with some plot holes regarding time travelling like "Why does Kyle Reese still exists if they changed the future?" and "Why do they travel to 2017 to destroy Skynet if they can already do something about it in the era they're in that moment?" along with another questions still unanswered that we'll get maybe in the sequel like "Who sent the Terminator when Sarah was a child?". Still, I have to admit it's quite interesting to watch with a little of head scratcher thanks to the non-sense time travelling. Even with all that craziness happening, the film is quite predictable thanks to all the previous trailers released where they already spoiled almost everything except the ending.
Still, Genisys fits somehow as a perfect sequel to the first two Terminator movies, it changes the main story but a nice way (similar to the new Star Trek movies) to follow up the story with new elements and reality. I liked the idea of making John Connor a bad Terminator, really unexpected and surreal but the way the film ended (happy ending by the way; the bad ones die and the good ones are still alive, including the ones who died in previous films) makes me wonder how they are going to continue the story now that Skynet doesn't exist...are they going to make something new or a way to "resurrect" Skynet? We'll have to wait and see...
The main actor is back, the former California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is back (as he always reminded us) as the Terminator who looks older (there's even a joke about it in the movie) but still has what it gets to make this character, he kinda looks tired but it fits with his "old" pops look. The rest of the cast does an "average" work, Jai Courtney is okay as Kyle Reese and Jason Clarke is good as the leader John Connor (better than the last two movies actually). Matt Smith (the 11th Doctor forever) was the nicest surprise in the movie as Skynet itself, his scenes were really short but so good it makes you wonder if we'll see more of him in upcoming movies.
But the main problem was, unfortunately, Sarah Connor. Linda Hamilton was awesome in T1 and T2 but they choosed a new actress for the role but failed completely; Emilia Clarke may be good in Game of Thrones but she cannot be Sarah Connor, she misses the shot very far from what it should have been...she's not that bad and I really wanted to like her but she's just a pretty face...
The special effects are not that good if you compare them to other films like "Avengers" or the great hit "Jurassic World". They do not look that realistic, the explosions and the other Terminators like T-1000 with its fake liquid metal (Terminator 2 looked even better!) except for the young Arnold-Terminator version, which looked suprisingly the same as the very first film, but the rest of it is just meh. For the action scenes are okay and entertaining but you won't see anything new, the typical chases, shooting and fights.
But if there's something great in Genisys, that would be all the references and easter eggs from the original films. There are so many to tell but I'm going to stay with the famous Terminator forced smile and classic quotes like "Come with me if you want to live".
Terminator Genisys tries really hard to become a worthly sequel and it kinda success thanks to the many references from the original films and the time travelling plot that will make a new way for upcoming sequels. It also fails with the so many plot holes, the choices for the new cast selection, typical actions scenes and special effects.
· What I liked: To see Arnie back as the Terminator and the amazing references from the first two movies. The main plot is somehow interesting thanks to the time travelling and new time line but...
· What I didn't like: ...it kinda fails with the plot holes and some mess around. The special effects are nothing "special" and the rest of the cast is just okay.
1. Avengers: Age of Ultron (9.2)
2. Jurassic World (8.6)
3. The Imitation Game (8.5)
4. Cinderella (8.0)
In 2029, leader John Connor launches a massive final offensive against Skynet Before the Resistance wins the offensive, Skynet activates a time machine and sends back a Terminator to 1984 to kill John's mother, Sarah Connor. John's right-hand man, Kyle Reese, volunteers to travel back in time to protect her. As Kyle floats in the machine's magnetic field, he witnesses John being attacked and receives new memories from his childhood about events in 2017.
 |
| "He is back!" |
Upon arrival in 1984, Skynet's T-800 is disabled by Sarah and the Guardian (a reprogrammed T-800 sent to protect her when she was nine years old). Kyle arrives a short time later and reveal they have constructed a makeshift time machine similar to Skynet's, and that Sarah plans to travel to 1997 – the year Skynet becomes self-aware. Realizing the timeline has been altered, Kyle is convinced that the future has changed due to the warning he received in his childhood vision. He persuades Sarah to travel to 2017 instead to stop Skynet.
After arriving to 2017, they learn that Skynet is called "Genisys", a soon-to-be-unveiled global operating system that is being embraced by the public. John Connor rescues them, but the Guardian appears and immediately shoots John, revealing that he is an advanced T-3000 Terminator. While Kyle was being sent back through time, Skynet was in the form of a T-5000 disguised as a member of the Resistance. It attacked John and transformed him into a Terminator. John was tasked with ensuring Cyberdyne Systems' survival and traveled back in time to assist them with the development of Genisys.
They get the change to escape from him and start making final preparations to destroy Cyberdyne's Genisys. In a final encounter, the Guardian traps the T-3000 in the magnetic field of a prototype time machine and both are destroyed, but just prior to the explosion, the T-3000 throws the remains of the Guardian into an experimental vat of mimetic polyalloy liquid located nearby. Kyle and Sarah reach a bunker beneath the facility, and the explosion sets off the bombs successfully preventing Genisys from coming online. The Guardian appears, upgraded with mimetic polyalloy components, and helps them find a way out of the debris. A new timeline starts again with Sarah, Kyle and the upgraded Terminator alive and well.
As you can read, the plot is a real mess filled with some plot holes regarding time travelling like "Why does Kyle Reese still exists if they changed the future?" and "Why do they travel to 2017 to destroy Skynet if they can already do something about it in the era they're in that moment?" along with another questions still unanswered that we'll get maybe in the sequel like "Who sent the Terminator when Sarah was a child?". Still, I have to admit it's quite interesting to watch with a little of head scratcher thanks to the non-sense time travelling. Even with all that craziness happening, the film is quite predictable thanks to all the previous trailers released where they already spoiled almost everything except the ending.
Still, Genisys fits somehow as a perfect sequel to the first two Terminator movies, it changes the main story but a nice way (similar to the new Star Trek movies) to follow up the story with new elements and reality. I liked the idea of making John Connor a bad Terminator, really unexpected and surreal but the way the film ended (happy ending by the way; the bad ones die and the good ones are still alive, including the ones who died in previous films) makes me wonder how they are going to continue the story now that Skynet doesn't exist...are they going to make something new or a way to "resurrect" Skynet? We'll have to wait and see...
 |
| Nice comparison with the two movies |
The main actor is back, the former California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is back (as he always reminded us) as the Terminator who looks older (there's even a joke about it in the movie) but still has what it gets to make this character, he kinda looks tired but it fits with his "old" pops look. The rest of the cast does an "average" work, Jai Courtney is okay as Kyle Reese and Jason Clarke is good as the leader John Connor (better than the last two movies actually). Matt Smith (the 11th Doctor forever) was the nicest surprise in the movie as Skynet itself, his scenes were really short but so good it makes you wonder if we'll see more of him in upcoming movies.
But the main problem was, unfortunately, Sarah Connor. Linda Hamilton was awesome in T1 and T2 but they choosed a new actress for the role but failed completely; Emilia Clarke may be good in Game of Thrones but she cannot be Sarah Connor, she misses the shot very far from what it should have been...she's not that bad and I really wanted to like her but she's just a pretty face...
The special effects are not that good if you compare them to other films like "Avengers" or the great hit "Jurassic World". They do not look that realistic, the explosions and the other Terminators like T-1000 with its fake liquid metal (Terminator 2 looked even better!) except for the young Arnold-Terminator version, which looked suprisingly the same as the very first film, but the rest of it is just meh. For the action scenes are okay and entertaining but you won't see anything new, the typical chases, shooting and fights.
But if there's something great in Genisys, that would be all the references and easter eggs from the original films. There are so many to tell but I'm going to stay with the famous Terminator forced smile and classic quotes like "Come with me if you want to live".
Terminator Genisys tries really hard to become a worthly sequel and it kinda success thanks to the many references from the original films and the time travelling plot that will make a new way for upcoming sequels. It also fails with the so many plot holes, the choices for the new cast selection, typical actions scenes and special effects.
· What I liked: To see Arnie back as the Terminator and the amazing references from the first two movies. The main plot is somehow interesting thanks to the time travelling and new time line but...
· What I didn't like: ...it kinda fails with the plot holes and some mess around. The special effects are nothing "special" and the rest of the cast is just okay.
7.2
:: Top Movies 2015 ::
1. Avengers: Age of Ultron (9.2)
2. Jurassic World (8.6)
3. The Imitation Game (8.5)
4. Cinderella (8.0)
5. Kingsman: The Secret Service (8.0)
6. Paddington (7.5)
7. Terminator Genisys (7.2)
8. Tomorrowland (7.0)
9. Minions (6.5)
10. Mortdecai (6.0)
7. Terminator Genisys (7.2)
8. Tomorrowland (7.0)
9. Minions (6.5)
10. Mortdecai (6.0)
