JOIN USTerminator Genisys
English, U/A Director: Alan Taylor
Cast: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jai Courtney, Emilia Clarke, Jason Clarke
Reboot is old hat for franchise films in Hollywood; it became passé when something as timeless as James Bond got the same treatment. The new trend is reboot, coupled with a timeline change. The people behind X-Men treated the franchise thus, and a lot of people were brought back. But in the process, a lot of what happened became inconsequential.
It’s the same with “Terminator Genisys”. Yes, that’s supposed to be a nod to “genesis”, and implying that this is a reboot. However, the new timeline suggested in the reboot takes the entire franchise and turns it on its head! Spoiler alert: John Connor (Jason Clarke) becomes the hunter instead of the hunted, while his mother Sarah Connor (Emilia Clarke) is rescued as early as age nine by a robot “guardian” she calls Pops (Arnold Schwarzenegger), and John’s otherwise absent father Kyle Reese (Jai Courtney) is in the thick of the action!
Oh, and instead of 1997, the “Judgement Day” takes place in 2017, and Cyberdyne's Skynet is now an all-pervading operating system called Genisys. Yes. That's where the name comes from.
Now, the biggest draw of any Terminator film used to be a struggle and eventual victory of the underdogs. With “Terminator Genisys”, the disadvantages our protagonists have are clearly blurred, because they anticipate the opponents' moves, and are well-equipped to counter them, making it somewhat difficult for the audience to root for them. Yes, there is indeed a lot to root for, but the action leaves the audience somewhat jaded.
As for the story, it is too convoluted a mess, and held up by flimsy logic that don't even cover the gaping plot holes. The screenplay is no better either, and there is only so much of the old music and dialogues you can reuse without falling into the cliché trap.
Acting-wise, Courtney and Jason Clarke are mediocre, while, Emilia Clarke is strictly OK as the robot-raised emotionally conflicted, stern-yet-soft Sarah Connor. It's good old Schwarzenegger who gets some of the best lines and draws the laughs.
This is strictly a fixture for the fans of the franchise. And that too for all the memories, a lot of which it ends up desecrating.