Review of Terminator Genisys (2015) by Filipeneto — 20 Mar 2021

I have been watching the "Terminator" franchise for a few days, and I have come to the obvious conclusion that their quality has decreased dramatically, and any comparison between the oldest films and the most recent is almost coincidental. In this film, the protagonist is time: after a great offensive, John Connor gains access to the time machine built by Skynet and sends Kyle Reese into the past, on a mission to protect his mother, Sarah. We already know this, this was the beginning of the initial film in the franchise. However, when Reese arrives, she discovers that the past has been changed: Sarah Connor already knows everything that awaits her, Reese's arrival was expected and there is a T-800 model protecting her. So, they decide to try to destroy Skynet before it is globally released.

What this movie did was a mess. The temporal paradox created is so strange, confusing and raises so many questions that it is bad to think about it. Other films and franchises also played with the timelines, as did the X-Men with "Days of Future Past", but the care in writing allowed results that, here, cannot be achieved. After some reading, I realized that the production was troubled, and it was not a peaceful and easy effort for any of those involved, so I believe that no one misses the film, starting with the cast, and everyone breathed a sigh of relief when Paramount canceled the next two films.

The script is confusing and poorly written, the characters are almost all merely outlined and underdeveloped. Even so, the film has the merit of trying to escape a little from the usual formula of the "Terminator" films: mass destruction, persecution and a lot of twisted metal. There are, as in the past, efforts for some humorous moments, but they are misplaced and have never been effective. The direction, ensured by Alan Taylor, is an unfortunate effort, as the director had everything in his hands to do a decent job and never got it. It even seems that he felt lost and not knowing what to do, deciding to make a noisy film, with tons of noisy and flamboyant action instead of a darker, tense film, where the threat was truly palpable for the audience. Basically, he gave us a video game.

The cast is quite weak and seems to be acting on its own, without coordination or direction. Arnold Schwarzenegger returns to play the character that made him famous once again, and I have to applaud his effort to look credible, even after so many years. He is clearly a committed actor, who takes his work seriously, and I admire his dedication. I also appreciated Emilia Clarke's effort. Despite being an effort undermined by the terrible material she received and the virtual absence of direction, she worked as hard as she could and made Sarah Connor a more feminine, elegant character. Jai Courtney is annoying and acted randomly. He seems lost, not knowing how to play Reese properly. Jason Clarke is obnoxious in every way.

It is on production values and technical aspects that a good part of this film is based, which sounds like an excuse for a noisy action blockbuster. As I said above, the feeling of danger and tension never happens, and everything sounds as artificial as it is. The sound effects are very good and the CGI is good, but it is not exactly impressive. Cinematography is good, and makes good use of landscapes and green screen backdrops, but at times it looks gloomy and with somewhat washed colors. The makeup work and costumes are good, but they are within what was required and do not bring anything surprising. The post-production work was done with some laziness and sloppiness, and the cuts are sometimes sudden and evident. The soundtrack is forgettable and uninteresting, when it is actually used.