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| Courtesy of Paramount |
The fifth
painful installment in the exhausting Terminator series is exactly the kind
of movie people have in mind when they complain about lazy, unnecessary
sequels. It’s franchise filmmaking at its worst, with no real reason to make it
other than name recognition and an iconic actor interested in revisiting past
glories for a massive paycheck.
Funny
that it opened the same holiday weekend as the genuinely delightful Magic Mike
XXL, as they’re opposite sides of the same crank-’em-out studio mentality. The
former has no respect for its audience, while the latter makes viewers’
happiness its top priority.
On
the plus side, Terminator Genisys (I want to punch that spelling in the face)
pretends the bland third and fourth entries never existed. But screenwriters Laeta
Kalogridis and Patrick Lussier make the first and second movies – widely
considered modern action classics – irrelevant with their “erase everything and
start over” storytelling mentality.
Like
the first film, the story kicks off in a future where robots have almost wiped
out humanity. John Connor (Jason Clarke), leader of the human resistance, knows
the robots are sending one of their own back in time to murder his mother,
Sarah (Emilia Clarke, no relation), in order to erase him from existence. So he
sends Kyle Reese (Jai Courtney), his best solider, back in time to protect her.
But
once he arrives, events play out much differently than fans of the original
remember. The iconic T-800 (the role that made Arnold Schwarzenegger a
superstar) is immediately killed by an older version of the cyborg (also
Schwarzenegger). Instead of a scared, fragile Sarah Connor, Reese meets an
experienced soldier similar to who we saw in Terminator 2: Judgement Day. Now
they must all work together to prevent a different version of the apocalypse
from happening, this one set to happen in 2017. Why? Honestly, the movie never
gives us a reason to care.
Alan
Taylor, who also directed the far superior Thor: The Dark World, tries his best to
put an interesting spin on the material, but he’s hamstrung by a script that
has no clue what made the original so special. Special effects, killer robots
and time travel paradoxes are nice, but people loved James Cameron’s compelling
narrative and fascinating characters above all else. This new one’s just a soulless
CGI spectacle. It also doesn’t understand that the only Cameron-created sequel
exists because it had something new and interesting to say – not just to make a
few more truckloads of money.
Worst
of all, Terminator Genisys erases everything that happened in the best movies
while also subconsciously sending the message that the new story doesn’t
matter. If you can erase everything and start over, there are no stakes. No
sense getting invested in a newer, even more meaningless, story.
The movie’s
casting is a disaster. Aside from a solid turn from Schwarzenegger (turning the
T-800 into an overprotective dad) and recent Oscar winner J.K. Simmons (injecting
far more personality into his minor role than the actors playing main characters
we’re ostensibly supposed to care about), the performances are groan-worthy.
If
we’re judging Clarke solely on how much she resembles 1984-era Linda Hamilton,
then mission accomplished. The casting director nailed it. But she’s not
remotely believable as the T2 version of the character. She’s too baby-faced
to look like a battle-hardened warrior.
And
I genuinely have no idea how Jai Courtney keeps landing these high-profile
action hero roles. For all I know, he could be the nicest guy in the world. But
he has absolutely no charisma, which is a disaster when his character is
supposed to be madly in love and also spouting off hypothetically funny
one-liners.
The
film poses several big questions so it can address them in future sequels, but
I’m glad I’m not invested in the answers. Based on its current box office
performance, we’re probably not seeing another Terminator movie for a very
long time. Consider it a mercy killing.
Terminator Genisys is rated PG-13 for intense sequences of sci-fi violence and gunplay throughout, partial nudity and brief strong language.
Grade:
D+
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