Samantha ChoongMovie Review: Terminator Genisys
Back in the acting world after his stint as California’s governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger leads Terminator: Genisys, reprising his iconic role: the Terminator. This explosive movie is chock full of insane fight scenes between (almost) indestructible robots but don’t expect much in terms of a coherent story.
In this reboot of the original Terminator movie, set in our near future, Kyle Reese (Jai Courtney) is sent into the past by John Connor (Jason Clarke) to protect his mother Sarah Connor (Emilia Clarke) from a T-1000 to ensure his eventual birth. So, the plot is just like the first movie from 1984.
With an all-new cast (save for Schwarzenegger), the reboot is modernized and even hints at the original series as an ‘alternate universe’. Skynet is reimagined as a new app called Genisys that ‘seamlessly links all devices’ – sounds like quite the dream for our tech reliant world. But that’s where it all goes wrong. Genisys gains sentience and like all movies’ artificial intelligences; it decides to take over the world.
Unfortunately, the story is a chronological mess of clichés as it follows Reese through 3 different time periods,. The several instances of time travel in the movie make for a confusing time (get it?) as the story unfolds.
Numerous over-used Hollywood cliché caused us to roll our eyes at the screen. The predictability of the movie made for some boring parts, especially when we could guess the next words that came out of the characters’ mouths. Despite being a reboot, we felt that the movie could’ve used something new.
And like every action movie, there’s severe emphasis on the males. The females tends to be used as love interests and are, well, sexualized. Sarah Connor is the only female in the movie with a significant role.
Following the love for the leading females in Mad Max: Fury Road, Terminator: Genisys disappoints with the role Sarah Connor is given. While she is introduced as a strong female who can take care of herself with plenty of training from the Terminator (and his affectionate moniker of ‘pops’ ), Sarah is still ultimately saved by Pops and smitten by Reese.
But all that do not detract from the amazing effects and theatrics in the movie. The liquid metal body of the T-1000 seamlessly transforms between Lee Byung-Hun’s hunky human image and a mechanical slayer of humans. The many explosions and fight scenes were extremely well done and looked realistic.
Our favorite part has to be Schwarzenegger maintaining his poker face 90% of the time, occasionally forcing a pained smile that had the entire cinema roaring with laughter. Made to look 3 different ages in the Terminator: Genisys, the Terminator even fights with himself in one scene (and it’s thoroughly kick-ass).
Terminator Genisys might not have the most attractive nor understandable storyline but the brilliant effects are worth the watch. The movie is still an action-packed journey through time with plenty of explosions, guns and collateral damage along the way (Michael Bay will blush).
[xrr rating=3/5 display_as=textstars label=”Our Rating:”]
Information:
Cast: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Emilia Clarke, Jason Clarke, Jai Courtney, Lee Byung-Hun, Matt Smith, JK Simmons
Rating: PG-13 (Violence, brief coarse language)
Director: Alan Taylor
Genre: Sci-fi
Runtime: 126 minutes
Release date: 25 June 2015
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Photos courtesy of United International Pictures