Terminator Genysis Review
After talking about The Usual Suspects on the way back to the car, and having throughly enjoyed the movie, my then-girlfriend turned to me and said, “You didn’t really understand the ending, did you?” And she was right. I had an idea of what had happened with the Keyser Soze stuff, I guess, but not really. I’ve always been more of a “tone” guy than a fancy “understands tricky plots” guy, I guess. I’m still baffled by Back To The Future, for example. So with that in mind, we come to Terminator Genysis. I loved this movie. I couldn’t begin to describe the plot to you, not in the slightest, but as a fan of the first two movies, and Arnold Schwarzenegger in general, this film was a huge and pleasant surprise.
No one is going to mistake this for a James Cameron film. This a clunky, overlong film, with characters (including The Terminator) constantly explaining the film’s plot out loud. And Emilia Clarke as the new Sarah Conner, Jason Clarke as her adult son John Connor, and Jai Courtney as Kyle Reese (lieutenant to John Connor, and also his father) are not going to give any of the other actors who have played those roles sleepless nights. But the actors, including a very funny JK Simmons who plays an old detective almost killed by a Terminator in 1984 and a robot “truther” ever since, were all very good, and very much in the spirit of the franchise.
But no one is having more fun here than The Man himself. He looks great, and really goes to town on the comedy, including one ridiculous new one-liner to add to the one we all know so well. It’s back, you might say. This is vintage Arnie, and it is exactly what this film needs. There are alternate realities and timelines and all kinds of things going on here that make little sense, but what they do do is give us the chance to see several vintages of the T-800, and of our man over the years. Some clever CGI mixed with old footage, I assume, and it’s used judiciously, and to great effect. The big twist in this (no spoilers, look at the poster) is that the Terminator we all know is mixed up in an alternate timeline, and has aged accordingly from the time we met him/it 1984. The skin and hair, anyway; underneath is the same fearsome killer robot, just now with arthritis and bum knees. There is also some wonderful stuff involving Sara trying to “humanize” the robot she calls “Pops” (long story). The whole thing is a loving homage to the first two films of the franchise, packed with nods and enduring love for them, and the eras they spawned. It also wipes away the dreck that was the last two films, especially the glum Christian Bale one, starting a fresh. Afresh-ish, maybe.
This is a deeply nostalgic film that wants to appeal to old fans rather than new ones. Whether nostalgia will affect the box-office, or if the kids will take to it, I’m not sure. The liquid-metal T1000 is back, and there’s even a cool new Terminator to deal with, but this franchise just might not have enough left in the tank to be relevant again. Still, I’ll always have this goofy, funny, action-packed slice of utterly confusing and charming fun, and that’s alright by me.