When John Connor, leader of the human resistance, sends Sgt. Kyle Reese back to 1984 to protect Sarah Connor and safeguard the future, an unexpected turn of events creates a fractured timeline.Director:
Alan TaylorWriters:
Laeta Kalogridis, Patrick Lussier | 2 more credits »Stars:
Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jason Clarke, Emilia Clarke |
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Storyline
When John Connor (Jason Clarke), leader of the human resistance, sends Sgt. Kyle Reese (Jai Courtney) back to 1984 to protect Sarah Connor (Emilia Clarke) and safeguard the future, an unexpected turn of events creates a fractured timeline. Now, Sgt. Reese finds himself in a new and unfamiliar version of the past, where he is faced with unlikely allies, including the Guardian (Arnold Schwarzenegger), dangerous new enemies, and an unexpected new mission: To reset the future...
The original Terminator's horror aspects and Terminator 2: Judgement Day's big blockbuster feel make them two very important films in redefining the action genre and T2 was the film to showcase to us what brilliance can be done using special effects. The other entries in the series never really felt necessary and they never equaled the perfection of the first two.
Terminator Genisys has its positives, in the first 20 minutes we our given a broader view of the apocalyptic 2029 and the resistance's struggle against the machines and I enjoyed that. Also Matt Smith's character reveal is great and although he has only got a few scenes he is perfect for his role. Older Arnold Schwarzenegger has still got it and he is great in his classic role with a slight twist.
However, when Kyle Reese is sent back in time the movie falls apart and becomes a convoluted mess that simply does not work as its own story. One of the biggest problems I had with Terminator Genisys was that it never really tried to tell its own story it only exists off the success of the first two films, the continuous nods to T1 and 2 become extremely annoying and unwarranted. It lacks direction and every action sequence has been done to death at this stage.
Jai Courtney lacks the gritty edge or charisma that Michael biehn had in the role of "Kyle Rice". Emilia Clarke is badly miscast in the role of "Sarah Connor" and she try's her best Linda Hamilton impression but lacks the strength and venerability Hamilton brought to the role. The romance between "Kyle Reese" and "Sarah Connor" just doesn't work, mainly because there is a lack of chemistry between the leads. J.K Simmons is wasted as a forgettable side character.
The dialogue is poorly written and Jason Clarke's "John Connor" falls victim to this, even though he has some good scenes, the film also fails to resolve many story arcs possibly as a hope to spark viewers interests for future films.
Honestly, this film should never have happened and it relies far to heavily on the first two James Cameron films. It is not a terrible film but it is a mediocre one and audiences have got to expect more. Originality is loosing out to this sort of meaningless, unnecessary reboot.