All one has to do is witness the Terminator: Genisys trailer and it becomes obvious. This is not even remotely the timeline we all learned about watching The Terminator and Terminator 2: Judgment Day. Emilia Clarke is playing her Sarah Connor as someone who was saved by Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Terminator when she was a young girl and he has even raised her, thus why she calls him “Pops.”
Clarke’s Connor is also not in need of saving when Kyle Reese (Jai Courtney) travels back in 1984 to prevent the Terminator from killing her, as we saw in the first James Cameron film from that same year. She’s a tough lady and in fact, it is Connor that saves Reese from a highly advanced Terminator T-1000.
The Movie Mensch does not want to give away any more of the plot, but we will say this: Pay firm attention to the goings-on in Terminator: Genisys because you almost need a roadmap to follow all the ripples in time that this Alan Taylor (Thor: The Dark World) directed effort gives audiences. Let’s just say that our heroes end up in 2017 and try once again to stop Skynet from launching missiles and ending the world as we know it. But, it is far more complicated than that in Terminator: Genisys and it, surprisingly, largely works and is also shockingly quite entertaining.
Why it works for us mainly has to do with the performance of Clarke. She is a vision of power and grace. Stepping into the boots of Linda Hamilton had to be an immense challenge, but Clarke does it with panache. She is a well-rounded character that pops off the screen and also creates some serious combustible chemistry with Courtney’s Reese. Not to take anything away from Michael Biehn’s Reese from the first film, but this time out, Courtney plays him as a much more fully fleshed-out character, and he is honestly given much more to do, both action-wise and emotionally.
Schwarzenegger has a ball returning to the role he originated all those decades ago. He has the challenge of not only playing the character as seen in 1984, but also an older, kinder version of his killer self, and an even older version we meet in 2017. To paraphrase his character, he’s old, but not obsolete.
What is fascinating about Terminator: Genisys is that the series can go anywhere from here. They have effectively reset the timeline, but as we know, Skynet can still find a way to rear its electronic head and cause havoc on our world and that is teased throughout the film. We know there are two sequels to Terminator: Genisys that have been green-lit by Paramount if this one resonates with audiences. If so, we hope that Taylor returns as director.
Taylor has a gift of giving the fantastical a realistic element that grounds it. There are flaws in Terminator: Genisys, sure, but with a complex story that interweaves plotlines from previous installments of the franchise, it could have been a huge challenge for any helmer. But Taylor manages to keep it firmly engrossed in the world he is creating and we think it largely works, even if it isn’t wholly necessary.
Did we need another Terminator movie? Probably not. Do we deserve one? Absolutely, as we have a feeling that audiences will be lining up for this film that ranks behind The Terminator and Terminator 2: Judgment Day in quality and well above the third and fourth films.
Grade: B-