TERMINATOR : GENISYS

The curse of movie sequels is that where the franchise is a box office success,
studio honchos will milk the franchise for every single dollar by churning out
sequels, prequels, remakes and remakes of remakes until you get to a point
where you ask; was there really any need for that installment? The 4th
installment of the Die Hard franchise readily comes to mind.
But with Terminator:Genisys, you hope it'd be different. Especially as the last 2
sequels in the franchise sucked with Rise of the Machines being worse and
salvation being fairly watchable with a kick ass female lead (which is critical to the
franchise) in Moon Bloodgood.
But then, this is the Terminator franchise. The 1984 original Terminator is a cult
classic and arguably the vehicle that launched James Cameron into the pantheon
of Gods in Movie heaven and cemented Arnold Schwarzenegger as an all - time
action movie great. Terminator 2: Judgment Day is one of the few movies to break
the curse of the sequel by being better than the original.
Despite early reviews suggesting otherwise, Genisys is pretty good. No, scratch
that! Genisys is very good! It advances the franchise in ways 2003's Rise of the
Machines and 2009's Salvation failed to do. It essentially ignored the last 2
installments and continues from where 1991's judgment day stopped. As if
pleading with the audience to forgive and forget the disappointments of Rise of
the Machines and Salvation, it pays homage to the original Terminator and
Judgment Day by reprising iconic scenes from them that made them such
memorable hits.
The fact that the explanation of the quantum leap and nexus yada yada yada in
Kyle Reese ' s time travel from the future back to 1984 needs an algorithm of its
own for the audience to understand it doesn't detract from the plausibility if you
are truly a fan of the franchise. It didn't make sense but it made sense!
Schwarzenegger 's aging T-800 series model was inimitably played by him with
just the right amount of the robotic stiffness we've come to love. And the penile
pun jab at Kyle Reese must be the first time a robot has ventured into that
territory in movie history. No?
Emilia Clark ' s turn as Sarah Connor, while mildly watchable, didn't reprise the
kick ass intensity Linda Hamilton brought to it especially in Judgment Day. Even as
a brunette and try as hard as I did, I couldn't shake off images of Daenerys
Targyrean from my mind watching her. It became even worse every time the
name Kyle Reese was mentioned as it always sounded like Khaleesi!
Much like Clark, Jai Courtney failed to bring the intensity Michael Biehn brought
to Kyle Reese in the original Terminator. His buff look to Biehn 's lean made it
even more unconvincing. However, Lee Byung-Hun 's T-1000 was a fitting homage
to Robert Patrick ' s intensity and lethal single mindedness that stole the show in
Judgment Day!
The negative reviews by critics just show why you shouldn't let reviews decide
which movie to see. Genisys delivered and gives the franchise a a badly needed
reboot, and justifies why 2 more sequels are in the works. Genisys is a fitting 'I'll
be back" for the Terminator franchise!