Terminator: Genisys – Movie Review

Despite the underwhelming marketing, I was actually looking forward to Arnold Schwarzenegger’s return to the “Terminator” franchise as everyone’s favorite T-800. Like most films, I went into “Terminator: Genisys” with an open mind. Ignoring the events of the two previous films, “Genisys” focuses on flipping the two James Cameron installments (“The Terminator” and “Terminator 2: Judgment Day”) on their heads.

As the film begins, we see John Connor (Jason Clarke) and Kyle Reese (Jai Courtney) take down Skynet and seize control of the time-travel device, but not before a T-800 is sent back to kill Sarah Connor (Emilia Clarke). Of course this is where John sends Kyle back in time to save his mother.

The Terminator and John’s arrival in 1984 are both recreated and are easily the best scenes in “Genisys”. As you might have seen in the trailers, the events in 1984 have changed and Sarah is no longer the helpless waitress. She is now a fighting machine, who was raised by the T-800 that saved her life as a child. Pops (is what she calls her protector) was waiting for the T-800 to arrive in 1984, so he could take it down, with the help of Sarah.

When the story calls for the characters to time-jump again, this time to present day San Francisco, everything goes downhill pretty quickly. John Connor just so happens to have gone back in time as well and is now some sort of robotic-human hybrid that Skynet created and his mission is now not to stop Skynet, but to help create it. Miles Dyson (Courtney B. Vance) and his son Danny (Dayo Okeniyi) are running Skynet, but aren’t given much to do in the story. Matt Smith’s mysterious character is finally revealed after being pretty much left out of all marketing and J.K. Simmons isn’t doing much more than staggering around as an alcoholic detective and the only living witness to the events in 1984.

There is no shortage of action in “Terminator: Genisys” and Schwarzenegger slips right back into the character like an old glove but everything else feels like a jumbled mess. This film is supposed to be the first chapter of a new trilogy and the mid-credits scene confirms that. However, if “Genisys” bombs I have a feeling those plans will change. After all, the future hasn’t been written yet.

By: Marc Ferman