THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS OF THE DISCUSSED FILM. READERS DISCRETION IS ADVISED.
Terminator Genysis is a reboot that displays an alternate timeline to the Terminator franchise, but is done in such a confusing manner, so bear with me as I summarize. Kyle Reese from 2029 time travels to 1984 to save Sarah Connor, mother of Resistance leader John. When arriving to the past, she rescues him from a T-1000. She explains that she is aware of the future and the stakes because she has been protected by a reprogrammed T-800 she named ‘Pops’ since she was a kid. This shows that the timeline altered after Reese traveled. Sarah’s plan is to travel to 1997 to Skynet from being self aware, but Reese convinces her to travel to 2017 based on a vision he had. They go to that year but are apprehended by police as they landed on a San Francisco Highway. When recovering at a hospital, they discover a new operating system named ‘Genysis’. This triggers Reese because in the vision, he saw his younger self saying ‘Genysis is Skynet’. They are then rescued by John who spills the beans that Reese is his father, before being shot by Pops. As John gets back up, he reveals to have become an advanced terminator. The moment when Reese time traveled, Skynet attacked Connor and infected him with machine phase matter. He is now tasked to assure that Skynet will be created by assisting Cyberdyne with Genysis' development. The trio flee from their new foe and now plan to attack Cyberdyne in order to destroy Genysis' mainframe. As they head there, John is in pursuit but Pops slows him down. Upon arrival, Sarah and Reese plant bombs around the facility as they hold off John. As they escape from the blast, Pops traps John in the magnetic field of the prototype of a time machine, which led to becoming enhanced after being exposed to mimetic pollyalloy (liquid metal). After escaping the rubble, they go to Kyle's childhood home where he can tell his younger self and instruct him the warning that Genysis is Skynet, in order to ensure their arrival from 1984. The film ends with the trio driving off countryside after this encounter. When seeing this film in 2016, I had low expectations and even after not being hyped, I was still disappointed. This is an example of how a movie can go all over the place. While the time travel scenario is normally handled in this franchise, they made it more confusing than Back to the Future ever could, which loses focus. Even though there are elements that sound good on paper, do not deliver at all. I want to respect this ensemble but it doesn't look like any of these actors are putting any effort. If Skynet wanted to stop the future from changing, he should’ve killed John Connor way before Reese entered the time machine. And how did Reese forget the date he traveled to, after Connor and the resistance already told him? Makes no sense at all to forget when/where he’s at. And if he has one memory of another timeline, why doesn’t he remember the rest? Would’ve been cooler if he knew the whole other timeline. The backstory of young Sarah being protected by the T800 Pops sounds way better than this whole movie. And if the cop O’Brien was at the clothing store where Sarah met Reese, how did even see her when she was hiding behind a counter? And seriously, how does evil John think he’ll survive the future if he kills his parents? Sure, Dark Fate shows that there will always be a Resistance with or without John but it is still massive bullshit because ensuring that your parents conceive is like the one rule in time travel movies that remain significant. And the fact that he thinks he’ll survive without them is massively ridiculous. And you’re wasting your time giving me a post credit scene of a sequel that’ll never happen. If you think this story sucks, you haven’t even heard of my thoughts on the cast yet. Jai Courtney fails to convince me as a leading man because he does not bring the same energy that Michael Biehn and Anton Yelchin brought when playing Kyle Reese. I like that Reese is relevant in this arc but he oddly doesn't fit. I thought I would enjoy Emilia Clarke as Sarah Connor because I was still blown away with what she brought with HBO's Game of Thrones as Daenerys Targaryen, but she doesn't bring that same empowerment this time. When you want to put aside Linda Hamilton, I’d say that Lena Headey from Fox's Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, is the better depiction unlike Clarke because Headey expresses the determination that Sarah is all about. While I like that Arnold Schwarzenegger goes through another protector perspective, the problem with Pops is that his bond with Sarah is a living replica of John and Uncle Bob from Judgment Day, as how it doesn't see eye to eye with Reese is exactly how it was with Sarah in the said sequel. Knowing that, the chemistry between all three is completely forced. Matt Smith is as forgetful playing Skynet as was Helena Bonham Carter in Salvation for the same role. J.K. Simmons is the first wasted actor in this movie as I did not care at all with his character O'Brien, because he clearly does not drive the plot at all. Another waste is Courtney B. Vance as Miles Dyson. It felt pointless having Miles back in the first place because he is another character that couldn't drive the plot either. While Sarah was re-casted because she had to be young, I honestly, respectively would've preferred if Joe Morton returned for the given time the character had, rather than waste someone talented like Vance. While I normally like Jason Clarke in various roles, he does not convince me on either perspective because he is clearly trying too hard throughout. Lastly, I was livid on how easy it was to beat a T-1000, as it was the most intimidating figure in Judgment Day. The twist would’ve been better received if they didn’t spoil it in the trailers, which is the same problem Salvation had. And the worst part is that Byung-Hun Lee does not reflect the same fear Robert Patrick had before. To wrap up, Alan Taylor provided the most unfaithful Terminator film to date, making it the worst. Good luck getting through this movie.
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