The latest installment to the seemingly never ending Terminator franchise has received mixed reviews since it’s release and it’s definitely a ‘turn your brain off’ type of film if you want to enjoy it to it’s fullest.
Terminator Genisys doesn’t actually require too much knowledge of it’s preceding films to be an understandable film. The story follows Kyle Reese (Jai Courtney) as he is raised under the teachings of John Connor (Jason Clarke) in order to establish a rebellion that can finally take down SkyNet. As made obvious in the trailer, this film also incorporates time travel. No, the time travel aspects are not plot-hole free or clever, but they’re just about tangible enough to make the film coherent.
Terminator Genisys isn’t the Sci-Fi classic that the first two films proved to be. However, this film isn’t dulled by it’s predictability (as long as you aren’t entering the screen expecting an Orwellian dystopia anyway) because it compensates for it’s mildly silly plot with pretty impressive CGI, fast paced action, and a whole lot of Arnie being Arnie. Alan Taylor has stitched nostalgia into the seams of this film and it really does a good job of holding the whole thing together – there are even some shots from the original film franchise. What the film does incorporate from modern life though makes an obvious but relevant point about the dangers of modern society living through the web, it’s a believable enough issue to give the film some grounding, but not too adventurous to tear huge Sci-Fi plot holes in it.
This film (like the others) also has some focus on relationships to add a bit of humanity. The main relationship seen is the undeniably sweet bond between Arnie Terminator and Sarah Connor. The addition of sentiment to the T-800 model is an unexplained addition, but a welcome one, because who doesn’t love the idea of having Arnold Schwarzenegger as their awesome but dysfunctional father/grandfather? The other is a very Hollywoodesque romance between Sarah and Kyle.
Overall, the film is definitely worth a watch if you want to see Arnie reliving his years as the beloved Terminator, and if you enjoy robots fighting other robots against an ominous count down to the end of the world. There is no denying that this film is fun, lively and engaging on a purely entertainment level, but there is also no denying that it is not a high-class science fiction/action production. The film isn’t entirely without plotline however, as there are a range of villains and plot twists to keep viewers reasonably engaged. The main pull factor though is – as it always was going to be – Arnie being very Arnie.
Rating: 6.5/10
Words by Charlie Ginger Jones