Terminator: Genisys is a 2015 sci-fi/action film directed by Alan Taylor and starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Emilia Clarke, and Jai Courtney.
Terminator: Genisys moves away from the post-Cold War nuclear paranoia that permeated the first two films and expands on a notion first explored in Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines – that the very technology we are becoming so reliant on will one day be our downfall. In Terminator 3 this was the internet (there ended up being no 'system core' to blow up - Skynet used the internet to infiltrate every computer on the planet).
Fast-forward to 2015 and they've updated this plot point to be that Skynet will take over 'the cloud' (ie our tablets and smart phones) when Cyberdyne Systems launches Genisys - a new platform that will link everybody's devices. There's even a handy 'countdown' clock to the Genisys launch to inject some tension into the film. Somebody studied their Film-making 101.
The first two Terminator films are brilliant. In my mind, they are near-perfect examples of action-cinema. Terminator 3 had its flaws, but it more than made up for them with exciting and brilliantly-executed action sequences, solid performances, and a poignant and memorable ending.
Terminator: Genisys is also not without problems, but overall it’s a pretty solid film. What I like most is that it’s not a ‘reboot’. I think they realised after the staggeringly poor box office returns for Terminator: Salvation, that a reboot was a colossal mistake. So what we get here is a weird sort of sequel/alternate reality type thing where we see a couple of key scenes from the first film recreated shot-for-shot, but with a typically Terminator-esque mind-bendingly convoluted twist: because that future/past/whatever has already happened, both Skynet and John Connor know how it plays/played out and so both have attempted to subvert it for their own advantage.
What I disliked was that this film tries to eliminate one of the very best aspects of the first three films (particularly the idea set up in Terminator 3) that "Judgement Day" is inevitable. This slightly depressing idea made the ending of Terminator 3 so damned awesome. The numbing realisation that dawns on John Connor and Clare Danes as they find themselves trapped in the underground bunker: the world is doomed to end in nuclear annihilation no matter what they do to try and stop Skynet. It is what they do after the holocaust that is important.
And for the sake of an understandable storyline this film also does away with the notion that Skynet is something intangible. That humankind never really got the chance to figure out how Skynet had subverted machines to its evil influence before they were thrust into a fight for their very survival, and investigating what happened was rendered pointless (think back to Kyle explaining the future to Sarah in the first film). In this film Skynet is again something that can be ‘blown up’ as long as you can get your hands on enough TNT. This makes for a solid action film but it makes this film, and to a lesser extent Terminator 3 and even Terminator 2, far less thought-provoking than James Cameron’s original masterpiece, which remains the best of these films.
Another thing I disliked was that this film retrofits Kyle Reese (played in the original Terminator by Michael Biehn) into a cookie-cutter, muscled up action hero. Don’t get me wrong, Jai Courtney is fine in the role, but why is it that every action leading man these days needs to be a steroided-up, gym-sculpted beefcake? The fact that Michael Biehn was an ordinary-looking, human (read: fallible and vulnerable) man gave the first film the desperate, urgent quality that made it so great. He seemed so powerless against the relentless hostility of the Terminator stalking Sarah Connor. It gave their flight a gravity and urgency that transcended the genre and made the first film so memorable. It also made his climactic fight with the Terminator, and ultimate sacrifice, so heart-breaking. He knew he didn't stand a chance against it, but he took it on anyway to protect Sarah Connor.
This film doesn’t really bother with having Kyle Reese or Sarah Connor actually fight the evil Terminators. A lot of the fighting is Arnie fighting a younger, CGI version of himself. And while Arnie is no stranger to staring himself down (see The Sixth Day), I would have preferred some more human vs Terminator action. Of course there’s the requisite ‘other Terminator’ thrown into the mix for good measure (a Terminator 2-esque shape-shifting Terminator), and another villain, which brings me to the major thing I disliked about this film...
They make John Connor a bad guy.
Yeah, they try and inject some kind of anti-hero bullshit into it, but they basically turn a complicated, mysterious, super-cool figure from the other films into a total freakin douchebag.
They introduce a silly plot line about John Connor being infiltrated by Skynet and turned into a new kind of Terminator (some convoluted nonsense about infiltrating him on a 'genetic' level) and as such he kind of becomes a villain who doesn't think of himself as villainous because he believes what he's doing is right. Whatever. It veers dangerously towards the 'robot-that-doesn't-realise-he's-a-robot' crap from Terminator: Salvation. It didn't work in that film, and it doesn't work here.
There’s really not much to say about Arnie’s performance – he’s basically the same heroic-evil-robot-turned-heroic-saviour-robot that he was in Terminator 2 and 3. In fact he said in numerous interviews that the role was a piece of cake for him. The characterisation veers pretty hard into self-referential eye-rolling absurdity a few times with his “I am old, not obsolete” dialogue, and I giggled a couple of times when the big lug tries to get his emotion on, but after so much awesomeness contributed to cinema over the years I can forgive Arnie just about anything.
I also laughed at another bit. In the lead up to this film’s release I’d been wondering how they would explain the fact that Arnold Schwarzenegger is 30 years older than when he first appeared in the Terminator. They pretty much palm this off with a silly explanation that although the robot endoskeleton is metal, the flesh on top is real and thus, ages normally. Okay. But wouldn't this then open up a monumental plot hole across the entire franchise – that nothing ‘real’ can survive the time travel process? Wouldn’t this mean that all that ‘real’ flesh would be burned away and the Terminators would arrive in our time, sans-Arnie-shell? Ah, whatever. What I’m more eager and still waiting for is an explanation as to why an American designed and built evil supercomputer decided to make its Terminators speak with thick Eastern European accents.
Anyway. A welcome addition to the franchise for me is Emilia Clarke as Sarah Connor. I’d only seen her in Game of Thrones where all she really had to do was look pretty and recite dramatic dialogue. Terminator: Genisys gives her a chance to flex her acting muscles a bit, and she does so surprisingly well. She has the physique to pull off the action scenes, and the acting skill to inject some pathos into what could have been laughable scenes where she has to get emotional about the thought of losing a robot. Maybe I was blinded by the fact that she’s one of the hottest women on the face of the planet. That certainly didn’t hurt my appreciation of her performance.
As much as I enjoyed this film far more than I thought I would, I can’t say I’m overly keen for another installment (this film, predictably, ends with a ‘sequel-possible’ post-credits teaser). Honestly, Arnie can hit the gym as much as he wants, he’s pushing 70 so I don’t know how much more ass-kicking mayhem he has in him (although Stallone is still churning out Rocky films so who knows). Terminator: Genisys is a welcome return to form after the ambitious misfire that was Terminator: Salvation, but it might be time to let the franchise retire gracefully with an "Hasta la Vista, baby". (Come on, I had to go there...)
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