Review - Terminator Genisys

Terminator Genisys is a Sci-Fi/Action film and is the fifth film in the Terminator series, the film is directed by Alan Taylor and stars Arnold Schwartzenegger, Emilia Clarke, J.K. Simmons, Matt Smith, Jason Clarke and Jai Courtney.... unfortunately.

Terminator Genisys is a soft reboot for the franchise, getting rid of most of the things we've seen in the previous film and bringing the story into the present, the film starts as the first one does with Kyle Reese getting sent to the past where he has to protect Sarah Connor, but when he gets there things don't go to plan and an unexpected turn of events creates a new timeline.

I'm not a die hard Terminator fan, i think the first two are great action films that still hold up today, but i don't have the same connection to them as some people do, so my review may be kinder than some others, I think it was a good idea to change things up for a sequel, we have seen the same Terminator film 3 times before and this one is very different, but unfortunately all of these differences make for a very convoluted and confusing plot that doesn't really make a lot of sense when you think about it after the film is over.

The film starts off great, with a lot of homages to the first two films in the first 30 minutes, but after that it goes off the wall, it just turns into run away from enemy, a bit of downtime and then run away from enemy again, rinse and repeat, so after a while the action gets boring, its constant CGI explosions and shoot outs which all blend together, unlike the other Terminator films this film has no really memorable action sequences.

The film also feels like it was just set-up for a sequel, i hate how modern filmakers are always thinking ahead of the film they are making, and trying to set up a sequel, because it damages the film you're creating, and this film definitely struggled with that and doesn't feel like a complete story on its own.

The positives in the film are mostly carried  by Schwartzenegger, who is back as the T-800, and is better than ever, he is bad-ass, awesome and has some great one liners, which is all you want from Arnold, i liked the older T-800 and i thought the relationship with him and Sarah Connor was done very well. Emilia Clarke's Sarah Connor was very good i thought, she shares a resemblance with Linda Hamilton and i think she did a great job. J.K. Simmons plays a new character, Detective O'Brian, he has a relatively small part, but as always J.K. was great and always left wanting more, hopefully he'll be back for a sequel if they do one, Matt Smith plays a mystery character who i won't go into here, but i'll say i thought he was underutilized which is a shame because i think Matt Smith is a great actor (My favourite Doctor Who!) and seems like set-up for a future film, Jason Clarke plays a good Jon Connor, we have had so many different iterations of the character, and he is one of the strongest, he feels like the Jon Connor that Kyle Reese talks about in the first Terminator film, now getting to Jai Courtney... who was my biggest problem with the film, he  soiled every scene he was in, i don't know why Jai Courtney keeps getting big jobs in Hollywood, he has never been great in a big blockbuster film yet, and he isn't Kyle Reese, Kyle Reese played by Michael Biehn in the first film was a mysterious and cool soldier, but Jai Courtney's acting is so bland that he makes him a generic hero with no personality at all, he and Emilia had no chemistry which ruined the central relationship in the film.

Another problem with the film but not really the filmmakers fault was the trailers. they are getting ridiculous now, the trailers for this film spoiled nearly everything in the film, including a big twist which happens about half way through (which i won't spoil) which lessened the impact of several scenes for me, which is incredibly disappointing, i want to go in to get surprised and be taken on a journey but most of that was shown in the trailers. STOP IT HOLLYWOOD!

Terminator Genisys is a disappointing yet still enjoyable film in the Terminator series, i like how it tries to change itself from the normal Terminator formula but unfortunately for things like confusing time-travel, the trailers spoiling all the great parts and Jai Courtney the film is good, but forgettable.

3/5

What did you think of Terminator Genisys?Comment below and let me know!.