Directed by:
Alan TaylorCinematography:
Kramer MorgenthauComposer:
Lorne BalfeCast:
Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jason Clarke, Emilia Clarke, Jai Courtney, J.K. Simmons, Dayo Okeniyi, Matt Smith, Courtney B. Vance, Michael Gladis, Sandrine Holt (more)VOD (4)
Plots(1)
When John Connor (Jason Clarke), leader of the human resistance, sends Sgt. Kyle Reese (Jai Courtney) back to 1984 to protect Sarah Connor (Emilia Clarke) and safeguard the future, an unexpected turn of events creates a fractured timeline. Now, Sgt. Reese finds himself in a new and unfamiliar version of the past, where he is faced with unlikely allies, including the Guardian (Arnold Schwarzenegger), dangerous new enemies, and an unexpected new mission: To reset the future... (Paramount Pictures)
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Reviews (15)
A pretty good instalment. There is just the issue that the story with its leaps from the past to the future and from the future to the present made such a mess of it that it is hard to set it to the timeline of the previous instalments. Especially of the third instalment, which it completely ignored. On the other hand, it is made better by Arnold Schwarzenegger, whose sparse acting is good enough to not only entertain, but also awake some nostalgia. Just enough for three stars.
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The worse the film, the better you know the rules of its narrative. What starts out as promising entertainment that boldly requires viewers to be well familiar with the previous films and to find their bearings in several time planes soon turns into tiresome recycling of previously utilised ideas and the same narrative formula. Furthermore, the filmmakers didn’t make any effort to disguise the fragmented nature of the episodic narrative. The elimination of a villain in one period is followed by a shift to another period, in which another villain is taken down without really addressing what happened in the preceding minutes. The most extreme bits of screenwriting laxity and the overall mechanical nature of the film, in which you won’t find much that is sincere other than from Arnold, take the form of additional patching of holes in the logic with dialogue explaining what happened when the camera wasn’t running. Why bother with the more skilful incorporation of explanations into the ongoing plot when you can resolve everything ex post with a few horribly stilted lines. The gritty 1980s stylisation is luke-warm due to the PG-13 rating and mainly relates only to how the film looks. Because of the hackneyed characterisations and bland actors (or rather, blatantly bad actors, which is true mainly in the case of Courtney, who is simply unable to portray complex emotions), the mediocre melodramatic storyline with “daddy” and his adopted daughter (a tough girl who quickly turns into a victim who has to be protected and rescued) doesn’t work, nor does the attempt to add depth to the characters’ motivations. Arnold, who is the only one of the actors who clearly rises above all of this, can scowl a lot, but he can’t give any firm shape, order or meaning to this trash heap of worn-out blockbuster ideas. Unfortunately, the film is not pulled out of its misery even by the action scenes that form its foundation and which are filmed in a completely dull manner, without suspense, surprise or regard for 3D technology. If a two-hour recognition game of “find all of the (visual) quotes from Cameron’s movies” is enough to make someone happy, I wish them pleasant viewing. Personally, however, I would rather watch those Cameron films in their full-blooded form instead of this watered-down mash-up. 40%
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An absolutely un-charismatic film. It’s also archaic in the worst possible way. I'm sorry, but if I got my hands on a legendary franchise and a hundred and fifty-five million to spare, I'd go the route of innovation, not recycling. To hell with logical lapses and rewriting timelines, that's the least of the film’s evils. What bothers me about Genisys is that they built a bunch of cheap actors around Arnold (who’s the only goof thing!) and wrote absolutely bloodless characters who just go through bigger or smaller action sequences, so that you can clearly see where it will all lead. By the way, this whole dramaturgical system of most studios, i.e., going for craft certainty, is perhaps the most striking here. This is because of Alan Taylor, who obviously knows how to keep the crew on set under control, just like I do with my cat when I don't want him to walk on the table (do remember any film that had the name of the director of the action scenes in the opening credits?). If the sterility of Thor: The Dark Worldwas kept afloat by Kevin Feige's production scheme, in this film Taylor shows his creative cluelessness to the fullest and the new Terminator looks as if the desperate editors in the editing room glued together something that should at least resemble a two-hour film. PS: The fact that Cameron praised it means that either his brain has definitely turned blue or he's a sell-out.
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It's certainly not a bad film. The opening part, which plays with the viewer and (mainly) with the first part of the saga, was even excellent, but then it (very smoothly, I admit) turned into an extremely and unnecessarily overcomplicated goulash, which was only saved by every shot, every line and every "smile" by Arnold Schwarzenegger. If someone asked me for one reason to see the new Terminator, I'd tell them it's because of Arnold. Actually, for the Arnolds, to be exact. Otherwise, I was disappointed by the lack of action scenes, the sometimes very flashy digital gimmicks (not true of the 1984 T-800, but definitely true of the school bus crash or the helicopter chase), the supremely unsympathetic Jason Clarke, and I was literally annoyed by the scene in the end credits.
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And the arrival of Windows 10 begins to provoke a wave of fears... An entertaining mishmash spiced with action with an interesting theme, but a miserable screenplay, ruined in places by stiff dialog and sloppy effects. Overall, I had a better feeling after watching part five than after four and five because it at least tries to link the story to Cameron’s masterpieces, even though this comes nowhere near them. Courtney is still miserable, but less irritating than in the preceding movies, the Clarkes had their best moment some other time or in some other movie, but they give a decent performance. In fact, I would say that we were treated to the most ingenious version of John Connor yet and the twist in the spoiler trailers is one of the most positive aspects of Genisys. Good ol’ Arnold Schwarzenegger is the viewer’s favorite, of course, and the best thing you’ll see in the movie. He repeats himself, says great lines the way we love it, but he’s no longer the Terminator we know. There was only ever one of those - or rather two - Cameron’s. Overall pretty decent entertainment that updates us (very like Jurassic Park, but with diametrically different results - a box-office failure), but not a full-fledged part of the saga, more of a bolt-on.
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