Review of Terminator Genisys (2015) by Filmphonic — 01 Jul 2015

As expected ‘Terminator Genisys’ is a lavish all-action affair that occurs before the events of the original ‘Terminator’ presenting what follows in a new light, but when is a reboot not really a reboot?, when the film consists of brazenly re-hashing and combining the elements that made all of its predecessors successful.

From the mythology and characters of the original, to the scale and dynamics of “T2″ and the lighter nature of Terminator 3 plus the CGI that re-created young T-800 in ‘Terminator Salvation’ and memorable lines from all previous ‘Terminators’, this film feels like a movie made by committee with as many boxes ticked as possible and with little risk taken, particularly if you consider that a reboot has the same actor playing the same central character.

But the most offensive element of ‘Terminator Genisys’ is not its lack of creativity and reliance on nostalgia, it’s the ungainly storyline that features alternate and converging timelines and a narrative so convoluted it almost covers over the huge plot-holes and disparate elements that must be brought together, with the stakes set so high in the story, it’s remarkable how in the end the audience can care so little about the conclusion to all this mess.

This film is not completely without merit, there is an attempt at a cautionary tale about dependence on interconnected technology, but this gets lost in the quagmire of the story, the action set-pieces and CGI are impressive but not enough to sustain interest for 2 hours and nothing we haven’t seen before, but despite the scene in “T2″ never did we think that the T-800 Cyberdyne Systems Model 101 would actually become “uncle Bob”.

The Bottom Line….

Despite plenty of action sequences and the return of “Arnie”, ‘Terminator Genisys’ is an unnecessary and unmemorable addition to the franchise relying heavily on nostalgia without offering anything you haven’t seen from your typical modern Hollywood action-blockbuster.