Well, we broke down and did it…saw the latest installation of the Terminator franchise. At this point, it’s managed a 7.0 on IMDB but a miserable 27% from critics on Rotten Tomatoes. In this installment, in 2029 John Connor (the savior/kid from the original movie) is still around. His mission in life is to prevent the launch of Skynet, a hugely massive iCloud on steroids and meth that actually possesses artificial intelligence which has decided that organic humans are no longer needed. Skynet is using a time machine to send back an Arnold Schwarzenegger clone to kill Sarah Connor before she bears Connor. Meanwhile future-Connor has sent back a friend and soldier, Kyle Reese, to protect Sarah. This is easy enough, however, until the time-travel demons intervene. Time has been altered, so now it turns out that Sarah has been protected since childhood by another Arnold, presumably the actual Arnold (who is showing his age), who has become rather paternal to Sarah. The overarching goal here is to eliminate Skynet, so the world can be safe until another sequel.
In case you have not guessed, who else would play the Terminator but Arnold. He is his usual Austrian accented monotone self (yes, he does say “I’ll be back” a few times), coming back from all sorts of dangerous situations, rescuing Sarah and Klye more times than you can count. Meanwhile we have those nasty T1000’s that are made out of something that looks like self-organizing mercury. Not matter how many bullets you shoot, how much you blow them up, burn them or reduce them to fragments, they always turn back into what they want to be. Now for the tough part. Sarah Connor is played by Emilia Clarke (Game of Thrones), an actress who looks NOTHING like the Sarah Connor of previous movies. I know that the prequel time line is supposed to be before the old movies and she’s younger, and yes, I know that Linda Hamilton doesn’t wear her age well and could not play the role, but really. Clarke isn’t the lean, buff Hamilton of 1984, she doesn’t bear any resemblance, doesn’t do anything that makes me think she’s the new/old Sarah…it just doesn’t work.
As you expect for a summer action movie, Genisys is dominated by running, shooting, stuff blowing up, and in this case, lots of careful animations of T1000 melting back into shape after being shot, eviscerated, decapitated or whatever. When it’s over, the past version of Sarah is safe for the moment, free to bear John, presumably with Kyle, so Skynet can be stopped in humanity pulled from the trash bin. The FX are great, action is continuous, you won’t be bored. That part is clear, but what is not clear, is anything else. This movie combines the Frankenstein theme of out-of-control technology with the logical absurdities of time travel. The writers laid it on really thick, trying to make clarity out of this mashup, trying to explain how the two timelines mesh, how all this makes sense, but they do not do that well. The plot and its machinations are a mess. Unless you are smarter than I am on time travel, you will have to get through the movie on the action and the resolution alone.
I did sort enjoy it, so it’s not a complete waste, but damn, what a mess. The acting isn’t any better or worse than you might expect but nobody there will be in contention for an Oscar. Arnold is Arnold, no more needs to be said. Jason Clarke is mostly pretty flat as John Connor; I don’t know why anybody would follow him as a leader. Jai Courtney is OK as Kyle Reese, but also a flat role. Emilia Clarke is OK, but nothing more as Sarah. I can think of a lot better reasons to be in a theater, but I’m guessing that reviving the Terminator once more for old time’s sake makes for a good box office.
[rating]2.5[/rating]
