Starring: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Emilia Clarke, Jai Courtney, Jason Clarke
Director: Alan Taylor
Running Time: 126mins
Cert: 12A
Now lets see, ignoring the fact that the Terminator series is essentially the same story told over and over again from different angles and perspectives and timelines and dimensions or whatever, this particular installment was actually pretty good!
For the fans who are familiar with the Terminator films, Genisys goes back to the first film when the bad T-800 (Schwarzenegger) is sent to kill Sarah Connor (Clarke). However, things have changed some what and instead of a lowly waitress who has no idea what special child she is supposed to bring forth from her womb to save the world; instead Sarah is a bad ass terminator killing machine…..no pun intended.
Anyway, because of this, we get a very convincing digital version of the younger Arnie who subsequently confronts the older Arnie who is now Sarah’s protector and has been for a number of years whereby she affectionately calls him Pops. Too sweet! There are further nostalgic moments of machine awesomeness from Terminator 2: Judegement Day, which is the best one in my opinion! The T-1000 or liquid metal terminator to you lesser mortals is as sick as ever, but not as sick as the ultimate villain; a new and obviously improved, hybrid terminator thing that just never seems to die! Seriously, its dope! Look out for the MRA scene which was visually very cool in deed and also the “walking out of the explosion unscathed scene”. There are more than one but you’ll know the one i mean!
Story aside, there is a bit of slow motion overkill in this film and although there are some choice moves from the T-1000 in terms of shock factor, its all pretty visual. Its all visual obviously but i mean in terms of the effects used to create excitement rather than any real brain frying back story or deep emotional acting etc. There are however no epic battles between the machines that we haven’t seen before. A few bent mental railings to show that yes, they are made of metal and are extremely heavy, was not really enough.
By way of acting, our girl Khaleesi did good. Wondering whether she would be able to make them jump from the fantasy epic that is Game of Thrones to an ultra modern she-now-gets-to-shoot-guns big screen film was questionable, but she has done extremely well and the American accent isn’t at all bad. Jai Courtney aka John McClane Jr is a decent choice of love interest/eager soldier/hero, so no complaints there. He spends a lot of time on his hands and knees which is interesting and highly entertaining when trying to escape a Terminator!
Last but not least, we have Arnie and his relentless pursuit of this role. Let it go for the love of God man! There are women and children out here!
Seriously, as amusing as it is to watch them continuously try to teach him social skills, he really needs to let it go. The terminator is an iconic role and he is in danger of destroying it. He does well by not making him involved in too much fighting as it would just look odd! Gereatric robots are not cool people!
All in all, Genisys was a surprisingly good film. It shamelessly sets itself up for sequels which will forever not make sense as the Terminator universe is one of a fixed timeline. NO MATTER WHAT YOU DO, SKY NET WILL DESTROY YOU!
Until they figure that out, we’ll have fun watching them fight!
NB: How do Jai Courtney and Emilia Clarke result in Jason Clarke?! The genetics make no sense!
Starring: Johnny Depp, Geoffrey Rush, Javier Bardem
CertifiedViewing 