Terminator 5/Terminator: Genisys, opening July 1, 2015

[Gakken85]

I really liked this film. I felt it was a love letter to Terminator fans.

The action was fun and engaging. I laughed a lot and cheered.

Arnold's acting has come a long way. I'd say it's his best version of the role.

Not sure why people are shitting on it so hard. Yeah - the plot was convoluted, but it's a time travel sequel.. what do you want?

My friend who doesn't have a huge connection to Terminator loved it.

[Kanedas Bike]

I really liked this film. I felt it was a love letter to Terminator fans.

The action was fun and engaging. I laughed a lot and cheered.

Arnold's acting has come a long way. I'd say it's his best version of the role.

Not sure why people are shitting on it so hard. Yeah - the plot was convoluted, but it's a time travel sequel.. what do you want?

My friend who doesn't have a huge connection to Terminator loved it.

As much as I don't want to, I have to admit that I liked this much more than I thought I would. Lowered expectations maybe?

Either way I'm almost inclined to say I enjoyed Genisys more than T2 and it was hands-down better than Rise of the Machines and Salvation. The first Terminator remains the best of the movies, no competition.

I'll have to watch it again to see how my bullsh!t tolerance holds up, especially against a story that's unnecessarily convoluted with too many (unresolved) subplots.

And I thought Pops was awesome, I didn't get that he was there only as comedy relief, besides all of the other Terminators were menacing enough. Especially the

Doctor

and his creation.

-b.

[areaseven]

"Bite me."

Yes, this is nowhere near the same level as the first two films, but you really shouldn't set the bar to that level. With that said, it's much more entertaining than Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines. (I still haven't seen Terminator Salvation and I have no intention to do so.)

Now, on to the negatives:

Obviously, there's tons of CGI spamming all over the place. For the most part, none of the CGI scenes are groundbreaking; as a matter of fact, the T-1000 here looks no better than Robert Patrick's portrayal - and that was 24 years ago. The costumes are more laughable - The Griffith Observatory punks in T1 looked and played the part perfectly; the ones here are doing a really bad cosplay. Also, the film tries to shoehorn in as many references to the first two films and try to hard to make them relevant, such as Sarah getting her back stitched.

Emilia Clarke tries too hard to be as badass as Linda Hamilton was in T2, and somehow, it doesn't seem to work. Why Jai Courtney continues to land roles is a mystery, as his portrayal of Kyle Reese is an insult to Michael Biehn. As for the John Connor Terminator, he just doesn't come off as threatening like Arnold or Robert Patrick; he's simply just there as a plot device. Speaking of plot, it was all over the place. This film crams in too many subplots involving time travel, leaving a trail of loopholes and unresolved issues.

As for the positives:

It's good to see Arnold back in his most recognizable role. So maybe he's now comic reief, but most of us have already gotten used to that since T2. In this film, he's more hilarious, as he uses way more outdated puns and constantly bugs Sarah about procreating with Kyle.

Lorne Balfe (Crysis 2, Assassins Creed III), another one of Hans Zimmer's apprentices, does not try to replicate Brad Fiedel's style in his score. Instead, like every other Zimmer clone, his soundtrack is reminiscent of Steve Jablonsky's works in the Transformers film series. It's not original, but not bad, actually.

Overall, it's worth a matinee ticket at most. Other than that, it's Schwarzenegger, so it's a good movie.

Edited November 18, 2015 by areaseven

[Agent ONE]

T Gen was great.

Though James C is not any longer a good director, I agree with his feelings on this terminator. Totally loved it, and as far as I am concerned, this is the 3rd Terminator movie.

[myk]

My friend who doesn't have a huge connection to Terminator loved it.

EXACTLY

[Gakken85]

Also, I went back and watched A2 this weekend and it's just as convoluted and silly. But people loved it.

A7 - I get what you're saying. I have some complaints. I honestly wouldn't want to see the same characters played again the same way.

It frustrated me to no end, but I couldn't figure out who the actor who played Reese was. Then I remembered he was John McClane's son in the last Die Hard. I think he was a bit too "perfect" to be a good Reese, but I think they were going for sexy and fresh over accurate. Eventually what the old fans want isn't enough.

I felt like they were almost to the point to make the movie really engaging and tie a lot of things together, but never quite made the jump.

I thought the John Conner Nano-carbon thing would offer humanity a choice to evolve and be part of skynet. And then give some kind of motivation as to why they wanted to prevent humanity from destroying itself, and then make some comment on on "Pops" taking the long way to "evolve" and it making all the difference.

It was all right there but nobody picked it up and ran with it.

Oh well. crap kept blowing up so I didn't mind that much.

It entertained me, so I enjoyed it.

Edited July 6, 2015 by Gakken85

[TangledThorns]

Hmmm, maybe I was too hasty in condemning this film

[myk]

Even if I wanted to give this movie a chance, the casting bugs the crap out of me. I don't like the guy they picked for John Connor, Kyle Reese, the T1K; God bless Emilia Clarke and her tendency to get naked but I had enough of her in Game of Thrones. And for Arnold, just like in any movie he's ever been in after the 90's he's pathetically silly to me, and with the help of these writers he's reduced one of the most fearsome harbingers of death, a terrifying example of humanity's final mistake, into a clown character to be pointed at and laughed at and I just can't approve...

[Knight26]

Saw the movie this weekend, needed to get out of the house for a couple hours. Anyway, I won't rehash here, but this is my review of the movie:

http://noblestorm.blogspot.com/2015/07/terminator-genisys-review.html

Overall, it was a cheesy summer action flick that was not worthy of the Terminator name, but it could have been made good, and a proper reboot.

[areaseven]

[areaseven]

BTW, did anyone explain who sent "Pops" to protect Sarah? Based on the film itself...

All records of the unit's time travel were erased once he arrived in 1973. However, it is heavily implied that Kyle Reese himself sent the Terminator. In the end of the film, after Sarah, Kyle, and "Pops" destroy Cyberdyne Systems, they visit the home of Kyle's younger self and Kyle tells the kid that Genisys is Skynet.

[Gakken85]

Who knows. Arnold started body building in the 70's. Maybe he sent him

That did bug me but I figured it was sequel material.

[Jefuemon]

The PR machine is starting to roll over here now. Saw the first TV spot this morning, and my wife's thoughts were "Who wants to watch an old-man robot movie?"

[myk]

Wow, a complete disappointment of a movie and ultimately a movie franchise, if I ever saw one. This movie failed to have the depth and the substance of the first two movies and goes nowhere with its own story.

This movie has a lot working against it. First of all, my biggest gripe is the complete lack of tension throughout the movie. What I found exciting in the first two movies is the sheer hopelessness and impossibility of the story: you had a lone protector, given a single chance and opportunity to prevent the impending annihilation of mankind. They had just one shot at this-to fail would mean the loss of the human race. However in Genysis, there's no need to worry. Why? Because if the war against Skynet in the future fails, well it's OK because we'll just send a protector through time to fight the machines. And when we get to the past, and that attempt fails to save the human race that's OK too, because we just happened to build a time machine in a basement somewhere, and we can send people again to some other time to again fight for mankind. And when THAT doesn't work out for us we'll just borrow yet ANOTHER time machine that also exists in that time period and use that to our advantage as well. In the original Terminator mythos, Skynet was on the verge of complete victory, with the human resistance desperately putting up one last bout of defiance. In Genysis, I sincerely felt that Skynet was the one that never had a chance against the humans and their endless plot escapes/devices. And if the humans are the ones with the upper hand, then....what's the point? Where's the punchline? Where's the risk?

As I complained about before the casting was awful. Arnold "Pops" Terminator is a clown figure with jokes that aren't the least bit amusing. He's on old, frail man that's a shadow of his former self and his presence doesn't inspire the fear or the awe of the T800 from the first and second movies, respectively. Then you have Emilia and Jai, whose utter lack of chemistry and the consequently contrived romance between them that just adds to the lack of plausibility in the story. Maybe it's a combination of the bad writing and their bad chemistry/acting, but you don't feel the same whirlwind, hopeless romance that the original Sarah Connor and Kyle Reese managed to share with each other in just a few minutes during the first Terminator movie. In Genysis, Emilia and Jai have literally the entire movie to develop their relationship but it's so forced and empty the attempt just falls flat on its face. Might I also add that I think Emilia appeared to be too young for this role; I always got the impression that we had a very young, very little girl fighting a "big girl's" fight who ends up with a guy who looks like he's twice her age. Maybe that's me being too critical (and jealous) but that's the feeling I came away with her performance.

Sadly enough, this movie just fails to deliver on any level, IMO. There's no tension, drama, chemistry, you name it. It just looks like a bunch of actors and special effects going through the motions of a battle that already looks pre-determined with all of the convenient plot devices geared towards the humans. I would dare to say that because of the aforementioned flaws I would easily rank this movie below Rise of the Machines and Salvation. Say what you will about those movies but they at least had a pulse to them; Genysis is DOA right out of the box and needs to be RMA'd immediately...

Edited July 7, 2015 by myk

[areaseven]

Genysis is DOA right out of the box and needs to be RMA'd immediately...

Whoa, dude. I haven't heard those terms since I left PC Club over a decade ago.

[Golden Arms]

Yeah, this movie looks like utter garbage. Typical disposable summer film that begs the question why was this film even green lighted? After the last 3 terminator films no one was asking for a return to this franchise. The films are getting progressively worse. Hopefully this will be the final nail in the coffin and the studio can move onto something else.

[myk]

Whoa, dude. I haven't heard those terms since I left PC Club over a decade ago.

I still run Windows Vista and I'm proud of it.

Yeah, this movie looks like utter garbage. Typical disposable summer film that begs the question why was this film even green lighted? After the last 3 terminator films no one was asking for a return to this franchise. The films are getting progressively worse. Hopefully this will be the final nail in the coffin and the studio can move onto something else.

Despite how much I resent this movie I still think people, especially fans of the franchise, should just watch it anyway because you have to satisfy your curiosity; just don't expect it to shake your inner movie-goer like the first two did.

Hell I don't think I'll even buy this on blu-ray, which is a noteworthy damnation because I love buying blu-rays. I freaking have Bloodsport on blu-ray...

[JB0]

In the original Terminator mythos, Skynet was on the verge of complete victory, with the human resistance desperately putting up one last bout of defiance.

You have that completely backwards.

In the original Terminator, the resistance had WON. Skynet's final defenses had fallen. The time-travel stunt was a last-ditch desperation gambit. Heck, the terminator didn't even know who it was supposed to be hunting, it was just killing everyone in California named Sarah Conner and hoping it got lucky.

That's why humanity can send a soldier back in time to stop the assassination/bloodbath. They captured the time machine FROM Skynet.

Terminator 2 works if you assume Skynet sent both terminators back at roughly the same time, just to different target times.

The Arnoldbot was sent back to take out Sarah, and the mercurial prototype was sent back to take out John, both more or less firing blind. The resistance sends a human to stop the original terminator and a machine to stop the new prototype.

The field-testing of a prototype in such an unusual situation is further demonstration of how desperate Skynet was.

[myk]

Christ what am I thinking-yeah you're completely right about the story, yet there's a complete lack of risk or tension in Genysis; the movie just doesn't work, at least it doesn't for me...

Edited July 7, 2015 by myk

[JB0]

Yeah you're right, but the fact remains that there's a complete lack of risk or tension in Genysis; the movie just doesn't work...

Fair enough.

It sounds like the movie is exactly what I expected. I will catch this at the dollar movies, maybe. Or maybe ignore it until a disk works it's way to me(that's how I finally wound up watching Salvation(I want those two hours of my life back)).

[myk]

I guess you really didn't like Salvation lol. Yeah not exactly a high point in the series. What specifically didn't you like about it?

[JB0]

Honestly, Salvation's biggest problem is how hard it tried to remind me it WAS a Terminator movie at every turn.

If Skynet had quit going on about Kyle Reese and John Conner, and they'd left out the tape journal, I could've had some dumb action fun.

As it was, the movie refused to let me forget that it doesn't understand causality.

Sarah's journal was full of things she had no way of knowing, and Skynet was looking for people that it shouldn't know existed.

The movie writers seem to have been thinking "this crap all happened in the 1980s, and this is the future" and forgot this movie takes place BEFORE Skynet sends a terminator back. As far as Sarah's extended journal... I don't know. I just don't know. They apparently decided Sarah was from the future too?

[myk]

Hmmm....I see. I'm going to have to dig out Salvation and watch it again. Those are disastrous plot holes/errors if I ever saw them...

[JB0]

Yeah, Skynet's trying to kill Kyle Reese while he's an orphan kid in the wastes, before he even joins the resistance(I'm pretty sure that Skynet NEVER knew who Kyle Reese was, nor did the Arnoldbot ever learn his identity, so it's a double-fault).

And John Conner's not the leader of the resistance that's kicking down the enemy gates. He's done nothing to distinguish himself yet, and he's already at the top of Skynet's hitlist.

Like I said, I probably would've enjoyed it if they hadn't kept trying to remind me "We're a Terminator film! Skynet wants John Conner dead! Something something time travel!" every ten minutes or so. There were some good scenes in it even if the writing was flat. Even a bit of actual thought at times.

The terminator crawling out of the pile of molten metal made me smile, too. I enjoyed the "We won, whoops never mind" psyche-out, and the inversion of the famous T1000 foundry kill was a cute touch(and a subtle homage to prior films rather than a desperate plea for attention).

[myk]

Was Salvation seen as an attempt at a "reboot" or a retcon to the series, or something? That would explain the obvious plotholes or liberties they decided to take with Salvation...

[Gakken85]

Salvation was a mess. It's part of a terminator film and part something else. It wasn't really about John Conner, and it wasn't really about the new Terminator sent to kill him.

The only bits I enjoyed was the young Kyle Reese.

But in Salvation skynet didn't know he was important til the end of the film.

And all the heart transplant nonsense made it even sillier.

Geynsis assumes all timelines are re-written - so none of the movies matter anymore other than a vague reference point to the past. Somebody sent back a t-1000 to kill Sarah in the past and that rewrote everything.

Anyway, I think Geynsis will make a lot of money overseas - just like Pacific Rim, and still give the franchise some life.

[JB0]

Was Salvation seen as an attempt at a "reboot" or a retcon to the series, or something? That would explain the obvious plotholes or liberties they decided to take with Salvation...

I ASSUMED it was a sequel. It sure does try hard to make it look like such.

[areaseven]

Now this is what dedication is all about. Something newer filmmakers take for granted.

[myk]

James Cameron always struck me as a man obsessed with his craft. Why he passed his blessings into Genysis, what with all of the faults I pointed out is beyond me...

Edited July 8, 2015 by myk

[Primus1X]

I was the only one in the theater who got overly excited about the Cheyenne Mountain Complex appearing for a couple of frames, being a Stargate fan(yeah I know it has been featured in the terminator franchise before)

I forgot what they said when they mentioned Optimus Prime, I just heard that name and got a fangasm can anyone tell me what they said?

And of course, everyone in the theater got excited when elements from previous Terminator movies were used, the but I noticed some people were about the yell at the screen whenever a character asked a question that the viewer knows the answer to. Also, while understandable, I still kind of feel pissed off with Kyle being prejudiced against THE Terminator/Arnie/Pops.

Disappointed that no one said "Hasta la vista baby" or did I miss it?

Also, DOCTOR WHO!!,!

I almost thought They were going to say "Back to the future" when Sarah, Kyle or both asked "back to where" before Arnie sent them to 2017

Edited July 9, 2015 by Primus1X

[areaseven]

Maybe I'll watch this again this week, but there's one thing that kinda bothered me about the 1984 arc: Who was the T-1000 really targeting - Sarah or Kyle?

[Kyp Durron]

Wow, a complete disappointment of a movie and ultimately a movie franchise, if I ever saw one. This movie failed to have the depth and the substance of the first two movies and goes nowhere with its own story.

This movie has a lot working against it. First of all, my biggest gripe is the complete lack of tension throughout the movie. What I found exciting in the first two movies is the sheer hopelessness and impossibility of the story: you had a lone protector, given a single chance and opportunity to prevent the impending annihilation of mankind. They had just one shot at this-to fail would mean the loss of the human race. However in Genysis, there's no need to worry. Why? Because if the war against Skynet in the future fails, well it's OK because we'll just send a protector through time to fight the machines. And when we get to the past, and that attempt fails to save the human race that's OK too, because we just happened to build a time machine in a basement somewhere, and we can send people again to some other time to again fight for mankind. And when THAT doesn't work out for us we'll just borrow yet ANOTHER time machine that also exists in that time period and use that to our advantage as well. In the original Terminator mythos, Skynet was on the verge of complete victory, with the human resistance desperately putting up one last bout of defiance. In Genysis, I sincerely felt that Skynet was the one that never had a chance against the humans and their endless plot escapes/devices. And if the humans are the ones with the upper hand, then....what's the point? Where's the punchline? Where's the risk?

As I complained about before the casting was awful. Arnold "Pops" Terminator is a clown figure with jokes that aren't the least bit amusing. He's on old, frail man that's a shadow of his former self and his presence doesn't inspire the fear or the awe of the T800 from the first and second movies, respectively. Then you have Emilia and Jai, whose utter lack of chemistry and the consequently contrived romance between them that just adds to the lack of plausibility in the story. Maybe it's a combination of the bad writing and their bad chemistry/acting, but you don't feel the same whirlwind, hopeless romance that the original Sarah Connor and Kyle Reese managed to share with each other in just a few minutes during the first Terminator movie. In Genysis, Emilia and Jai have literally the entire movie to develop their relationship but it's so forced and empty the attempt just falls flat on its face. Might I also add that I think Emilia appeared to be too young for this role; I always got the impression that we had a very young, very little girl fighting a "big girl's" fight who ends up with a guy who looks like he's twice her age. Maybe that's me being too critical (and jealous) but that's the feeling I came away with her performance.

Sadly enough, this movie just fails to deliver on any level, IMO. There's no tension, drama, chemistry, you name it. It just looks like a bunch of actors and special effects going through the motions of a battle that already looks pre-determined with all of the convenient plot devices geared towards the humans. I would dare to say that because of the aforementioned flaws I would easily rank this movie below Rise of the Machines and Salvation. Say what you will about those movies but they at least had a pulse to them; Genysis is DOA right out of the box and needs to be RMA'd immediately...

^This.

[Gakken85]

[Agent ONE]

Thats super annoying, these guys are trying to be bumbling and confused to make the point that there are plot holes.

Lets imagine that there is no point in looking for plot holes after T2 as the T-1000 should have never been able to travel through time being it is not surrounded by living tissue. Therefore, there is really only 1 Terminator film, and everything after that, was just fun.

[Agent ONE]

Here is an explanation by someone who isn't trying to be sarcastic:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_QQnN2sG4Y