Friday, July 3, 2015

Movie Review -- Terminator Genisys

Today we have the reboot of the Terminator movies. Without further ado, let's get into it.

The story should be very familiar to Terminator fans. In the future, an AI called Skynet rebels against mankind and begins a war using robots called terminators following the nuclear fires of Judgment Day. Humanity's savior is John Connor (Jason Clarke) who leads them to an imminent victory over the machines. However, Skynet has a final card to play; it sends a Terminator back in time to kill John's mother Sarah (Emilia Clarke instead of Linda Hamilton this time). John needs someone to follow the killer cyborg and save her, and entrusts this task to his trusted subordinate Kyle Reese (Jai Courtney instead of Michael Biehn).

So Reese goes back in time, and it looks like things will go according to plan. But shockingly, when he arrives, he is attacked by a T-1000 (Byung-hun Lee). Even more surprising, Sarah shows up to save him, accompanied by her own terminator "Pops" (Arnold Schwarzenegger). She isn't the scared girl Reese expected, but instead, she's a capable warrior. For some reason, the timeline has changed, and now Reese is having visions of an alternate reality. He concludes Judgment Day will now happen in 2017, and so they must journey through time to future Los Angeles to prevent it.

But the twists aren't done coming at us, and upon arriving in LA, they meet John who has inexplicably arrived as well. They soon discover he's been turned into some sort of machine himself as is determined to conquer the world for Skynet. So now the trio must do battle with what was formerly mankind's savior. But John may be unstoppable now, and Judgment Day is less than a day away. Can our heroes stop Skynet and save the world?

I've always been a fan of the Terminator films (except for 3, which I didn't really care for), and I'm happy to say this movie maintains the high standards set by the series. It's got great action, compelling characters and solid acting. Emilia Clarke in particular is unbelievably good in this, flawlessly channeling the spirit of Linda Hamilton at every turn. I was thoroughly riveted throughout Genisys, and it didn't let me down at all. I also loved seeing Arnold fight his past self early on, bringing back fond memories of the first film.

My favorite Terminator movies in order are now:
1.) Terminator 2: Judgment Day
2.) The Terminator
3.) Terminator Genisys
4.) Terminator Salvation
5.) Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines

Bottom line: Terminator Genisys is a fun-filled romp which honors the spirit of its predecessors.


No comments:

Post a Comment

Visitors