BY TIM ESTILOZ.-
Terminator: Genisys is the latest popular but passe’ film franchise to be dusted off and gussied up with a brand new coat of reboot paint to razzle dazzle the summer blockbuster movie crowd. Alas, this fifth installment spends much of it’s time simply rehashing much of the same ground covered in the film’s first two popular installments directed by James Cameron decades ago; only to suddenly deviate into a confusingly convoluted new time-travel plot line that’s a messy disappointment.
As in the original Terminator film, John Connor, (Jason Clarke) leader of the human resistance against the oppressive machines of the future sends his soldier friend Kyle Reese (Jai Courtney) back to 1984 to stop a Terminator assassin from killing Connor’s mother; who, if it succeeds, will prevent Connor from being born to fulfill his future destiny. However, in this version of the otherwise familiar story, Reese ends up in an alternate timeline where Sarah Connor (Emilia Clarke) is already battle hardened and ready for the fight to come, aided by a protective older Terminator she affectionally calls “Pops”, appropriately played by Schwartzenegger.
This time around, the mechanized Skynet system will bring about the mankind ending “Judgement Day” subversively via a popular worldwide portable device app called “Genisys” forcing the key players to jump to 2017 to save the human race. However, blocking their way to that end is a key player in the film’s mythology that upends everything we’ve grown to know about the franchise before. The massive plot holes, labyrinthine storyline, unanswered questions and the ultimately annoying set up for a sequel are best summed up in one of the film’s best lines, “Time travel makes my head hurt’.
On the plus side, Clarke makes an impressive Sarah Connor combining toughness with just enough subtle vulnerability as someone learning the ropes as Mankind’s co-savior from the machines. However, as expected, it’s Schwartznegger who steals his own show in this film. Combining his patented Terminator one-liners with a full on embrace of the fact that the 67-year-old actor is “old, not obsolete” by returning to his original star making role makes the film generally bearable, and often fun, humorous and exciting when he’s on-screen.
However, despite Schwartzenegger’s presence, this film is a big-budget, confusing mess who’s ultimate insult is an ambiguous post-credits final scene trumpeting an unnecessary sequel to come. This franchise just needs to terminate permanently.
CAPSULE REVIEWS
TED 2:☆☆
Mark Walhberg and his vulgar stuffed bear return for more of the same. Tedious, repetitive and sophomoric.
JURASSIC WORLD:☆☆☆
An occasionally exciting, but vapid return of the franchise driven more by special effects than actual plot or characters.
