The Aluminum Falcon said:
To be perfectly honest, I quite liked Terminator Genisys! It's, in my opinion, the best thing to happen to the franchise since T2.
I wholeheartedly agree with Cameron and Arnold that this is the "official" third movie in the franchise, being superior to Salvation and the utterly abysmal Terminator 3. Visually, it hearkens back to James Cameron's films. The opening war scene set near Skynet's time displacement machine is a great spectacle. It's fulfilling to witness the 2029 victory that has been talked about since the first movie. You can see why Cameron considered using it as the opening of T2. Thankfully, unlike Terminator 3, there is no hamfisted inclusion of the American flag, which entirely belittles the fact that this is the struggle of a united race to survive. Independence Day, this is not. Jason Clarke did a good job as the weary, messianic leader of the Human Resistance, much better than Christian "Batman voice" Bale or Nick "paintball gun" Stahl. I appreciated that they resisted the urge to throw in a wife. Having a partner humanizes John Connor, and, for reasons I'll expand on later, the character should not be humanized.
Once Reese travels back in time, he finds, as I assume most of you know, the 1984 world of the first Terminator with marked differences. The editing and effects are markedly improved from the promotional material. I was worried by a lot of amateurish cuts in the TV spots, but none of those are replicated in the actual movie. Similarly, I was impressed by how the CGI young Arnold looked. Though superior to the instances in Tron Legacy and Terminator Salvation, it's not perfect, but I daresay we're only about a decade away from photorealistic replication of actors. Overall, it was exciting to watch this new Terminator flick, especially since it didn't adhere to the tried formula without adding anything new (Terminator 3, I'm looking at you.). Except for the well-known SPOILER that John Connor had been converted to a Terminator, I didn't know what was coming next most of the time, and, for fear of ruining anyone experiencing it for the first time, I think I'll stop divulging plot details here.
Alan Taylor is admittedly no James Cameron when it comes to action and suspense, but his directing worked for the most part. He, without a doubt, trumps McG, whose movie contained baffling lapses in logic (open heart surgery in a post-apocalyptic wasteland?). The rather large budget shows, making it feel more epic and like an open world, unlike the cheap looking Terminator 3. Until the end, the film continues to feel like the spiritual successor to the Terminator and T2, visually continuing with a color Cameron-like palette, staying away from dwelling in warm colors (Terminator 3) and desaturated ones (Salvation.)
I think the main reason that Terminator Genisys works much better than Terminator 3 or Salvation is that it fits the criteria for a good sequel, expanding on the themes of the last installment and growing the characters to create an emotionally satisfying follow-up. Despite being a fantastic movie taken in a vacuum and one I personally love, Alien 3 is a prime example of an unfulfilling sequel. With Hicks and Newt so unceremoniously killed off, Ripley is regressed, going from lone survivor (Alien) to mother of makeshift family unit (Aliens) to lone survivor once more. The audience at least partially rejected Alien 3 because they, on a conscious or subconscious level, felt cheated. Alien 3 makes Aliens useless, as it renders the extensive character development there inconsequential.
Amazingly, Terminator 3 does the same thing as Alien 3 but even worse and without the benefit of being a good movie on its own. In a nutshell, The Terminator was about maintaining the world's destiny. Kyle Reese ensures that John Connor is born, and the T-800 inadvertently (as shown by T2) ensuring that Skynet is also likewise born. Brilliantly, T2 alludes that the future may be altered, taking to heart- John Connor's iconic message— “no fate but what we make.” The ending is wonderfully open-ended, not stating whether or not the events did make a difference. But, then Terminator 3 completely betrays this! In stating that Judgment Day is inevitable, it not only completely disregards the hope of T2 but also John Connor's iconic message. On the other hand, Terminator Genisys expands on the idea that the future may be changed, and Judgment Day may be stopped. It leaves open the possibility that preventing Skynet from rising is possible, albeit really complicated. Yet, as the mid-credits scene shows, Judgment Day may still come. Ambiguity is essential in this franchise, as James Cameron and the makers of Genisys understand.
A running sub-theme of T2 is that man is becoming more machine-like in the name of victory. Sarah Connor, with her knowledge of the horrible future, teeters close to the edge of Terminator-esque merciless efficiency. This is particularly highlighted in the scene where she tries to kill Miles Dyson. The picture of the future John Connor is an even bleaker one; in the once scene we see him, he is emotionlessly scanning the battlefield like a Terminator. Those behind Terminator 3 thought the most interesting progression would be to turn John Connor into a hobo played by Nick Stahl, who gets bullied by Arnold for the length of a movie. They humanize him by showing that he has weaknesses and has qualms about violence, as shown with the paintball gun. Giving him a wife and “important,” assassination-worthy lieutenants undermines James Cameron's depiction of John Connor as a “Great Man” of history, who used his burdensome knowledge of the future to save the human race. John Connor is supposed to be distant and rather inhuman; having him be married and overly friendly with anyone but Kyle Reese betrays that. Like Salvation almost did beforehand, Genisys has the novel idea of making John's machine-like tendencies literal. This completes the progression of him slowly losing his humanity.
Terminator Genisys also is superior to Terminator 3 in terms of character progression. In their modifications to the timeline, the creators of Genisys ensure Sarah Connor is still a badass like we saw in T2, albeit one who has her humanity fully intact. It would be awful to have Sarah regress to being a waitress, a passive character, as she would be, had the timeline not been rebooted. They go on to explore the interesting possibility of Kyle Reese meeting this toughened Sarah Connor, which he didn't get to originally because of his death at the end of the first Terminator. The character who the Genisys filmmakers did justice most in terms of logical progression was Arnold's. Now, let me preface this by declaring that I understand Arnold is playing a different Terminator in every movie. Even so, because it's always Arnold, it's hard for an audience not to at least subconsciously think of him as a single entity. Between Terminator 2, he undergoes a radical character arc in the eyes of the audience, from unfeeling monster to benevolent compassionate surrogate father figure. It is unsatisfying in Terminator 3 to “regress” to unfeeling but benevolent, with occasional outbursts of physical violence towards John. Genisys instead continues along the natural arc set up by two, showing him turn to a more positive character— from the father figure in T2 to a literal father named “Pops,” who basically raises Sarah from the age of 9.
Sorry if this post has been long, but I really wanted to explain why I feel that Genisys doesn't deserve all the wanton bashing it gets throughout the Internet. To conclude, in no way am I saying that Terminator Genisys is better than T2 or The Terminator but it is the sequel I can put next to those classics without regret.
I agree with this review, with one ENORMOUS reservation.
Also, I might have appreciated T3 and TSal a little bit more. I went into those movies expecting that they would use T2 as a platform to launch to the next level. I wasn't overwhelmed in that regard. T3 had a cool twist at the end and TSal developed themes. Apart from colors, I thought they were solid additions to the constantly shifting universe.
TGen is definitely shooting high. It's suggesting provocative themes in the future (should it come.) The movie itself was a platform. As such, in story structure, screenplay, FX, and faithfulness to the universe, I give it high marks.
I will be a contrarian and praise the acting efforts of the entire cast. I was concerned after seeing the first trailors, but I thought they were all spot-on. When fanboys trash them, I believe they are expressing their great frustration at the sense that these newbies weren't nearly enough like the originals.
And this brings me to my ENORMOUS reservation. Going in cold with no time to consider shifting timelines, this movie flew DIRECTLY into the face of my GREATEST PET PEAVE with hollywood practices like an unstoppable force at an immovable object.
When I become The Supreme Commissar For Screen Entertainments, it will be STRICTLY FORBIDDEN for the big-wig wizards of prepro to even consider casting characters who are supposed to be the same as originals at a different or alternate time without making every possible effort to find someone with as many of the physical qualities of appearance, bearing, presence, voice quality... as much like a fraternal twin as is possible. Much the same with characters who are supposed to be near kin such as siblings, parents or children. Failure to comply will result in lifetime forced labor washing dishes in craft service.
There must be a way to cast a very wide net to pull in those with the greatest likeness. Casting is of CRITICAL IMPORTANCE. It rates a significant percentage of the budget. Could a library of all high school yearbooks be assembled? Could a substantial finder's fee be offered to high school drama coaches and teachers who might remember students with the most potential similarity? If you could find 100, at least 3 or 4 of them will have strong innate acting ability even if they've never performed. Whatever, they've got to start GETTING THIS RIGHT. Nothing else can blast me straight out of a movie like insufficient likeness.
NuSC is more pixie than LH/SC, but otherwise I had no problem believing she could be a fraternal twin. It would have been helpful to make it clear that the timeline had been altered before her conception (my rationalization for character differences in ST09.) Had she been playing opposite a character even remotely like MB/KR, and a John Conner who seemed even remotely related to both of them, there might not have been a significant problem.
T1 was a work of casting genius. Ahnohd had that alien, powerful, not a normal human quality, LH was perfect as a struggling young women discovering her inner strengths, and the detectives and psychiatrist hit their marks and beats without fail. MB probably doesn't get his due. The character he projected through his voice, leaness and gaunt wide-eyedness was just exactly what it should have been. I had no trouble accepting him as a refugee from a post-apocalyptic future. That I had no idea what he would have been had judgement day never come, a serial killer or a college professor or a taxi driver or an insurance adjuster or mechanic...gave him the mystery he needed as the tale unfolded.
I was actually impressed by the way NuKR was able to step into that impossible position and represent. Dude is a competent actor. But for his physical qualities, beefyness, no wide-eyes, working-man demeanor, deep voice... he was just too different from MB/KR for me to accept him in the role. He came across as a bro-dude who would raise his son to be state champion full-back and then go into construction contracting. I greatly appreciate those salt-of-the-earth types of people and regard them, at the end of the day, as VASTLY more intelligent than the characters we are supposed to regard as our betters, but that's just too pegged for the KR of the apocalypse that I imagined. There seems to have been some deliberate counter-casting.
NuJohn was also very competent with what he was given. His sharp angular features were ABSOLUTELY NOTHING like his parent's. It was as though they had cast a Tanzanian with a thick African accent. Without time to account for alternate timelines, all I could think while watching the first 80 minutes or so was WWWHHHHHHYYYYYY?!?!?!?!? WWWHHHHYYYYYYY did they do this?!?!?!?!?
About three-quarters through I finally was able to think "It is what it is" and settle more into the story. It was quite solid and open to future developement.
If I was a studio suit and this film, with it's tremendous problem, earned back even half it's money, I would risk my career to green-light the next installment. It definitely has places to go.