Terminator: Génesis

Not quite as bad as i thought it would be, Terminator: Genisys brings back the nostalgia of the first two films. It even has the same old-school vibe to it. But when you get to its core, Genisys is simply a rehash of the first two masterpieces, which are so good there was no point in revisiting them.

I just don't know what to say. Having grown up with the first 2, I'm a big Terminator fan, but having watched 3 & 4, I'm a realistic Terminator fan. I knew going in it was never going to top the first 2, I just didn't want it to be worse than 3 & 4, and it is. It really is. I've seen it twice now and I don't think I can accurately describe how disappointing it is. It runs the gauntlet of prequel, sequel, remake, reboot and parody (of other terminators) never fully deciding on what it is. What we're left with is a convoluted mess that is neither prequel, sequel, remake or reboot, but rather a film that just says "F&%^ all the other ones"

I've heard people say it's similar to the star trek reboot, no its not. Star Trek created a parallel universe in which the adventures of the originals still happened, while their younger selves now travel a new path. In Genysis, the parallel universe only serves to Completely negates everything we've ever seen in a Terminator movie. Which is weird cause they pay homage to the original at first, and then crap all over it.

While the voice over was cheesy, the movie actually starts off strong and shows A LOT of potential, you're thinking "alright, this is interesting." And then, all of the sudden, without any real warning, all that potential is gone and the movie drops off completely. Arnold is nothing more than a caricature of himself, Emilia Clarke (Sarah) is decent enough but the Sarah we know is no more, Jason Clarke (john) is awful and has less charisma than most math teachers, but the worst is Jai Courtney (Reese) whose wooden performance is made all the worse by his odd horse face. And now for the action, eh. What's the 1 thing a Terminator movie has to have in it (besides a cyborg and a Connor)? An edge of your seat, over the top car chase scene right? Yeah, this bus chase does not, IN ANY WAY, cut it. Yes, a worse chase seen than Salvation.

Why didn't they just make a movie set in the future that tells the story of Kyle going back? And now plans for a trilogy, this being part one. Really? Why? (Writing this the day it came out), this movie is probably going to come in 4th on opening weekend, behind a stripper movie, a kiddie movie that has been out for 2 weeks, and another sequel that has been out for 3 weeks. Do you really need to waste more money with this cast and storyline? Mad Max, which was never ever near as popular, both financially and critically, did way better than you and without their ageing star who would've made the movie worse.

Paradoxes puzzle and abound, contradictions, conflict, chaos all confound, no rhyme or reason to the madness, no method to the flatness, just concept caged confusion to astound.

It's all a bit cobbled and confused, inconsistent, quite erratic and diffused, some spectacular set pieces, the action seldom ceases, but the arc, the arch, the story's all bemused.

The new Terminator wasn't terrible! I'm surprised. Though it had its flaws it was much better then Terminator 3 and Salvation... and I actually enjoyed it mostly. I probably won't be watching it like 30 times like Judgement Day, but its not like I expected it to ever live up to Cameron's work....

First off, the action was good and so was the pace, the film never became boring even with how complex the story was so it certainly gets points for that.

The film itself runs like the greatest hits of the the franchise which is both good and bad.

The pros: Revisiting 1984 (the first terminator timeline) was a lot of fun for obvious reasons.. You get more things like crazy manoeuvres from the T1000 etc and Arnie gets to kick some ass and even be funny at times....

The cons: How many times do they have to repeat lines from the previous films? Sarah Conner says: "Come with me if you want to live" Really? Again? Really? Come on, having that as an obligatory line in each movie is actually annoying. "I'll be back" is just like an obligatory oh, we'll just squeeze that in there, the audience will love that! Nope, not really, see in the first Terminator that had impact! Like the impact of a car coming through the wall! This is there just for the sake of it...

Aside from that, I think JK Simmons character was borderline pointless, you could nearly have cut him out of the movie and barely noticed! A crying shame for such an excellent actor.. Generally the script could have done with more tweaking, some plot towards the end just seemed outright silly, but I will say the chemistry between Arnie and Emilia was actually pretty good!

Overall: It's no Judgement day but you know what, it was actually a decent film and it was great to see Arnie as the Terminator again, and not saying "talk to the hand" . I can see why James Cameron endorsed this as the true sequel to T2...

I was told multiple times that it was awful, boring, unwatchable, so foolishly I didn't.

However, I thought I'd give it a try, and I really liked it. Of course it's flawed, of course it's outrageous and over the top, but the good heavily outweighs the bad, it made me feel incredibly nostalgic, plenty of references and heads up to the first two films.

It was a huge gamble to bring Arnie back, I think he's brilliant here, I've never been a huge lover of him as an actor, but in this role he is iconic. He's great. Great to see Matt Smith.

Massive special effects, it's all guns blazing. It is perhaps a little too long.

Totally enjoyed it, 7/10.