Score: 3.5/5
“Terminator Genisys:” At least it’s not “Terminator Salvation.”
Jokes aside, the latest installment in the Terminator franchise is actually the best since “Terminator 2: Judgment Day,” narrowly edging “Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines” and helping purge the awful “Terminator Salvation” from fans’ memories.
In 2029, John Connor (Jason Clarke) is prepping his devoted followers for a final attack on Skynet. It looks like the battle is won, but Skynet uses its secret weapon, a time machine, to send a T-800 back to 1984 to kill Sarah Connor (Emilia Clarke) so John is never born.
Kyle Reese (Jai Courtney), John’s most loyal follower, volunteers to travel back in time to save Sarah. As he spins in the time machine, he sees John attacked by a machine posing as a human and he begins to gain memories he doesn’t remember living.
He arrives in 1984 to find Sarah alive and well and being protected by a reprogrammed T-800 known as “Pops” (Arnold Schwarzenegger). Kyle reluctantly joins forces with the duo who have constructed a makeshift time machine to travel to 1997 and stop Judgment Day from ever happening.
John’s newly gained memories cause him to ultimately convince Sarah that 2017 is where they must go because the timeline has changed.
What follows is John, Sarah and an aged Pops trying to blow up Cyberdine Systems before its Genisys app launches, which is actually Skynet.
Naturally there’s a lot of gunshots, explosions and vehicle chases, all things the audience would have expected going in.
The audience gets a small chance to see the film explore humanity as Pops makes jokes and works on his smile. While Kyle and Sarah jump from 1984 to 2017 instantly, Pops passes the time the long way, stockpiling an unbelievable amount of weapons in a makeshift bunker.
But it’s the addition of what we presume are Sarah’s hand drawn photos of the pair of them that pack the most punch in a scene that takes place in a room full of guns. His programming is to take care of Sarah at all costs, but Pops has genuinely developed an attachment to Sarah that seems to go beyond what would be expected of a mere robot.
The writing is poor in parts, and the performances aren’t exactly stellar (although they are respectable), but they didn’t need to be to enjoy the movie for what it is.
The biggest problem the film has is that it gave away its biggest twist in the trailer. It’s highly disappointing to see a movie and know when and where everything is going to be turned upside down.
“Terminator Genisys” definitely doesn’t deserve the unfair criticism it has received. It isn’t flawless by any means, but man, is it fun.
You can reach Jack on Twitter @Jack_TDR.