MOVIE REVIEW: Terminator Genisys (2015)

To say that I had low expectations going into Terminator Genisys would be an understatement. The marketing campaign was less than inspiring, which included a laughably bad Entertainment Weekly photoshoot and a trailer that gave away the film's big twist (one of the promo posters did this as well). Add the fact that the film was slapped with a PG-13 rating instead of the R desired by fans of the series, as the first two films were, and things weren't looking too promising for the fifth installment in the Terminator franchise. In the weeks leading up to it's release, however, something came out of left field. James Cameron, the director of both The Terminator and Terminator 2: Judgment Day, gave his seal of approval for the film in a featurette released by the studio, a clever marketing ploy that was clearly meant to win over the many skeptical fans of the series. In Cameron's opinion, this was the 'true' third film in the series, dismissing both Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines and Terminator Salvation and saying that he believed this new film was the one that really honored his two originals. Now, it has finally arrived, and the question is: Does the film live up to Cameron's praise, or was he just doing it as a favor for Arnold Schwarzenegger and the studio to soften the negative buzz that had been building for months?

The answer is sort of complicated, much like the film itself. It starts off with the Judgment Day scenario that the previous films all showed mostly glimpses of (with the exception of Terminator Salvation, which was set entirely in the post-apocalyptic future), where John Connor (Jason Clarke) is launching an offensive on Skynet to destroy their time travel machine. Before the Resistance is able to reach the machine, Skynet sends back a cyborg to the year 1984 to kill Sarah Connor (Emilia Clarke), with this whole sequence serving as a prologue to the first Terminator. Kyle Reese (Jai Courtney) volunteers to travel back in time to stop the cyborg from killing Sarah, whom he is told is a waitress. From here the events of the first film take place, except things get twisted when Reese finds out that Sarah isn't a waitress but a fully trained fighter at this point in time, wearing the same clothing as Linda Hamilton did in Terminator 2. Shortly after this it is discovered that a T-800 lookalike from the first film, played by Arnold Schwarzenegger, is Sarah's guardian. From here on things get even more loopy and convoluted, and it would be a bit pointless and a waste of time to try and explain things any further.

The first thing to say about Terminator Genisys is that it's not terrible. I've seen some reviews that have been full of vitriol and have absolutely torn this movie to pieces. As I said, I went in expecting the absolute worst based on the film's marketing, but didn't hate it. Still, it's not particularly good. I'd say it's about on par with all of the films made after James Cameron left the series, which are perfectly watchable and will pass the time, but nothing that happens in them ever feels like it was necessary to begin with. As I've said before, Cameron's Terminator films told a complete, two-part story that was concluded perfectly. Everything else since has felt like nothing but studio cash grabs. In this case, Skydance and Paramount are hoping this film will kick start a new trilogy and have even announced that two more sequels will be released within the next few years before James Cameron gets the rights back in 2019.

The biggest problem with this film is that, aside from being another unnecessary sequel that exists for the sole purpose being a studio cash cow, the story here doesn't really add anything to the series' mythology that we haven't already seen. There are several callbacks and references to the original films, which includes shot-for-shot rehashes of Kyle Reese's scenes from the 1984 original (impressively mimicked, I might add) that feel like nothing more than fan service. You don't learn anything particularly new about any of the characters either, except for the fact that Sarah Connor loves Elton John, enjoys listening to "I Wanna Be Sedated" by the Ramones and apparently doesn't sing very well. The story goes out of its way to change the timeline of the first four films, which was already convoluted enough to begin with, and practically erases all of the previous entries from existence. This timeline reboot comes off as merely an attempt to make The Terminator relevant to teenage moviegoers who have been fed a steady diet of superhero movies every summer, with the PG-13 rating a sign of the studio's hope for attracting the widest possible audience. For storytelling purposes, however, this only makes things far more confusing than they ever needed to be. Not helping matters is the fact that the time travel logic doesn't make much sense anyway, and most of the dialogue consists of characters spouting off exposition to one another in an attempt to explain what exactly is going on.

The actors generally aren't given a lot to do either. Emilia Clarke seems miscast as Sarah Connor, paling in comparison to Linda Hamilton's take on the character. This wouldn't be as much of a problem if the version of Sarah in this film wasn't so clearly meant to evoke the one that we see in Terminator 2, where she has fully inhabited the soldier mentality and physique that made her such an iconic action heroine. Emilia Clarke's acting is fine, but she doesn't convincingly sell the tougher aspects of the character. Jai Courtney, who seems to be the internet's favorite actor to beat up on, is very different from Michael Biehn's version of the character. Instead of the manic paranoia that Biehn's performance possessed, Courtney is far more subdued and doesn't convey the intensity and trauma that the original interpretation had. Jason Clarke is fine, but to go any further with his character would be spoiling a big reveal that some people may not know about. Arnold Schwarzenegger still carries his movie star charisma as the guardian robot, but I have to admit that I expected there to be more of him. J.K. Simmons also brings some touches of humor to the proceedings in a small role as a police officer later on in the picture.

The action sequences are similarly competent but not very memorable. Most of them, save for the climax that takes up the last 15 minutes of the film, are seen in the trailers and television ads. Much of the action looks like something that would fit in a Marvel superhero movie, which is indicative of the audience the studio and producers are trying to reach for this new series. It's all loaded with CGI explosions, cars and robots fighting each other while often defying the laws of physics. There's a sequence that takes place in the last third of the movie where a chase is happening on the Golden Gate Bridge, and a school bus does a somersault. It's the money shot that is frequently shown in the advertisements and meant to be the big "wow" moment for the audience, but there's nothing here that matches the tension or excitement in the chases from the first two installments or even the crane truck chase in Rise of the Machines.

Much like the recent Jurassic World, this is a film that relies heavily on fan nostalgia for the original, and better, entries in the series. I wasn't bored watching this film, particularly when compared to Jurassic World, but I can't say I left the theater feeling that I wanted to see any future installments. There was a period of time where the films in this series would be the ones setting new trends for the sci-fi action genre, whereas this film seems to be following the current trend of Marvel's superhero movie formula (if there was ever any doubt of this, look no further than the mid-credits sequence after the film finishes). There's simply nothing new or interesting here to justify its existence, and feels like a blatant attempt by the studio to squeeze as much money out of this franchise before they lose the legal rights. It may not be the awful train wreck that a number of critics have claimed it to be, and I can certainly think of movies I've enjoyed less this year, but this is a series that has definitely passed its expiration date.

Rating: 2/4