I myself have never been a die-hard terminator fan. I like the first two a lot, think the third one isn’t very good, and the fourth one is utter garbage. When this film was announced I was not too excited, and even thought it looked pretty bad. I saw very negative reviews pouring out and thought this would easily be my least favorite film of the summer, but to my surprise I did not hate it quite as much as critics (and other moviegoers) did. Do not get me wrong; there are plenty of flaws here, but also a lot of fun to be had.
I’ll Be Back
Starting off with what I liked about the film, the biggest plus is the plot. I quite liked how this film basically messes around with the timeline associated with the first two films. Is the time travel flawless? No. Are there paradoxes? Yes, and plenty of them. Still though, I like a clever use of time travel, and this film uses time travel to create an engaging narrative. I also did not find it very hard to follow the plotline, but I would understand if someone else did. Needless to say, if you have never seen a terminator film, you will be very confused. Another plus to the film is the man, the myth, the legend: The Terminator. Arnold Schwarzenegger returns to this dying franchise and breathes new life to it. I thought he struggled a bit when he first popped up on screen, but he quickly became some of the best parts of the entire film. Another highlight in the acting department is Jason Clarke as John Connor. The film uses the character like never before, and I quite enjoyed how he was used. I will not spoil how the film uses him (even though the promotional material has, more on that later). Clarke brought intensity to the role, and became my favorite John Connor since the original kid. Matt Smith (from Doctor Who fame) was also in the film, and gave a memorable performance. He had a very short role in the film, but it was important nonetheless. J.K. Simmons was also reliably entertaining, but his role was not too important, and felt a bit of a wasted opportunity. Nonetheless, he did provide some great scenes, and I loved whom he played. Lastly, I really enjoyed the films’ score as well as several action set pieces. While neither were particularly innovative, they were still fairly enjoyable.
Come With Me If You Want To Live
Unfortunately for the movie, it suffers from really bad writing. The fact of the matter is that the film is dealing with really complicated concepts, and it does not handle them very well because of poor writing. Time travel is very tricky, and if you do not have vigilant writers, it will cause your film to have some major plot holes. The writing was not completely bad, but it fluctuated a lot. Another product of both poor writing and poor acting is the main love interest. Both Emilia Clarke and Jai Courtney performed very poorly in this film, and it did not help that they were given the worst lines. Not only that but the two actors did not have any chemistry whatsoever. This is something that really hurt the film because a good portion of the plot focuses on their relationship. Another problem of the film is the CGI. Occasionally it is passable, but it can also be painfully obvious. The ending is also really bad. By ending, I mean like the last 2 or 3 minutes. The moments leading up to it were pretty good, but the ending was a big pile of ‘meh’. Lastly, I need to express my disgust with the marketing of the film. There is a major twist, and I mean MAJOR TWIST that is completely spoiled in the trailers. While I was watching I thought how cool the twist would have been if I was not aware of it. There was absolutely no reason to spoil it, and because of the trailers, my experience diminished. Sure there were several other twists along the way, but none could compare.
Closing Remarks
Terminator Genisys had its moments, but could not deliver a return to form. While it is a step up form the previous two installments, it has a lot to fix. I heard that there are two more films planned. I really hope they are listening because I will never watch another trailer for a terminator film. Why? Because I am sure they will spoil some major twists just liked they did for this film, and even the fourth film. Too much was revealed, and it does nothing but harm the film.