The Barking Mad family are going on holiday next week but before all the packing and ironing gets done, there was time for a trip to the movies to see the latest instalment in the Terminator franchise
To start with I have to admit, its last entry Terminator: Salvation I found to be a major let down and the only thing I can really remember from it is Christian Bale’s epic rant off screen that became a viral sensation
None of that cast return and we are to believe that those events and those in the 3rd film Rise of the Machines never happened (which I’m sure most people wish were the case although I feel the 3rd probably gets put down a bit too harshly, I especially liked its ending)
This time we have a new Kyle Reese (played by Jai Courtney, no stranger to a franchise having appeared in Die Hard 5 and more recently the Divergent series) and his quest to go back to 1984 to save girl of his dreams (and photo =) Sarah Connor (Played by TV’s Game of Thrones Emilia Clarke) and thus see the birth of his good friend and her son John Conner (played by Jason Clarke in last years big blockbuster Dawn of the Planet of the Apes) however due to the intervention of the evil Skynet (and in particular a former time lord Matt Smith) timelines are changed and it is here where the film is at its most entertaining as it plays on the first film with Sarah and Kyle roles switched with Sarah becoming the heroine and Kyle the Damsel in distress and we get to see the script of the 1984 film re-used with Sarah demanding Kyle comes with her if he wants to live
Sarah also has a sidekick and this is the reason why most people will want to go back to this Franchise,Schwarzenegger is back as the Terminator continuing with his one liners and fun attempts to blend in as a human. Sarah has a plan to go back to 1997 to stop Judgement day but Kyle has a vision from his mixed timeline that they need to go further on to the day Genisys sets up all computers to take over the world via an app, the timelines etc can be confusing and you are best to enjoy this film for what it is, a big summer blockbuster, directed by Alan Taylor who had previously directed Thor: The Dark World (and our new Sarah, Ms Clarke in her hit show Game of Thrones)
In the new future, Sarah and Kyle have jumped to, they meet up with the Terminator who couldn’t do the time jump so has waited for years for their arrival and now has greying hair to match the real Arnold. Also however because of that alternate timeline we now have a Skynet new terminator which has meshed with human in the form of John Connor who reveals to Kyle that he is his son and that he and his mother Sarah should join them as Judgement Day is inevitable
They of course say no and vow to save the human race and we of course get a barrage of set pieces until the grand finale, will they be able to stop Skynet, are we all doomed, I suggest if you have enjoyed the previous films you go find out as this is the best film so far behind the first 2, Yes it never has the constant threat that the original Terminator had to stop human kind as the first did (possibly due to the 12a rating of this one) and the T1000 and John Connor hybrid never have the evil that Robert Patrick portrayed in the second one but the new John, Sarah and returning Arnold T800 all know what they are doing and the set pieces are directed with great skill, I certainly never felt bored watching it even though some of it’s storylines are just plain daft and the ending doesn’t make a lot of sense but with Arnie being ‘back’ after being represented by CGI in the last effort and taking and cracking jokes as well as battling/fighting/shooting everything that moves, the Terminator franchise doesn’t look like being Terminated anytime soon
Terminator: Genisys
Rated 12a
Running time: 126 minutes