Terminator: Genisys: A Review

MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD

Since retiring as the Governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger has been trying to break back into the movie star game. His first couple movies since returning didn't do much in that regard, so returning to the role that made him famous in the first place seems like a good path. But Terminator: Genisys isn't only trying to reignite Arnold's star, but also breathe life back into the moribund Terminator franchise which flared out with Terminator: Salvation in 2009. To help, the filmmakers have brought in Game of Thrones' Emilia Clarke and other new talent to support Arnold and make Terminator feel fresh. Does it work?

Well, it's certainly an interesting attempt. The film opens during the last days of the future war against Skynet, the evil AI seemingly destined to destroy the world. Human resistance leader John Connor (Jason Clarke, no relation) prepares his final attack, sending Kyle Reese (Jai Courtney) back to 1984 to protect his mother Sarah (Emilia Clarke) from the Terminator sent to kill her. At this point, it seems like Genisys will just be a straight-up remake of the original Terminator film. But something strange happens when Reese arrives in 1984. He's rescued from a liquid metal T-1000 by Sarah Connor, much more prepared for Skynet than she should be and accompanied by an aging T-800 (Arnold). We learn that the timeline as we knew it has been changed and that events are happening out of order. Figuring Time is on their side for once, Sarah and Reese decide to press their advantage and strangle Skynet in the crib before it can harm anyone but find themselves blocked by an unlikely foe.

Arnold, happy to be back.

Genisys provides yet another example that pacing is apparently a lost art in Hollywood blockbusters. Nobody seems to know when to slow down anymore, to just let things settle and give us an opportunity to live with the characters and get to know them. This is especially a problem with this film as the characters actually have some interesting dynamics and personal issues to discuss and work through, but the film is so trapped by its own forward momentum that the only time the characters have to just interact with each other is in the lull between action scenes. All the slower moments are pulling double duty for both character building and gearing up scenes for the next action beat. And it's not that the action is bad either. It's quite good, well-polished and exciting courtesy of Game of Thrones and Thor: The Dark World director Alan Taylor, but it would be nice if the action was counter-balanced with some quieter moments. The narrative also relies on the same kind of casual familiarity with who these people are and what their situation is that Age of Ultron did, but I feel like it's more of a hindrance here given how fallow Terminator has been since 1997.

The film also continues Summer 2015's other trend of questionable gender politics in blockbusters. Maybe it's just because Mad Max showed everybody up, but almost every big blockbuster so far has had some kind of strange decision regarding its female characters. The most egregious was probably Bryce Dallas Howard's running in heels back in Jurassic World. In this case, the strange decision is to bring up how Sarah feels trapped by her seemingly pre-ordained role as mother to the savior of humanity and not really do anything with it. There's a lot of baggage and potential in that story point, there's a lot you can do with Sarah Connor, one of the most iconically feminist characters in action cinema, struggling against her perceived destiny that only wants to reduce her to a mother of yet another grizzled macho warrior dude. But Genisys doesn't really do anything with it, making it more underutilized character drama. I'm willing to be a little more forgiving toward this decision because it ties into the larger themes of the film, but it's still disappointing and I felt I should bring it up.

Emilia Clarke, picking up where her Game of Thrones
co-star Lena Headey left off.

Those themes are probably the best part of the film and make the surprise twist (which I am going to spoil) seem both genius and inevitable. See the Terminator films exist in a highly deterministic universe, all the characters' actions and choices have already been decided before they even make them as if by fate. Skynet will blow up the world, John Connor will become the leader of the resistance, Skynet will send a Terminator back in time to kill Sarah, John will send Kyle Reese back to protect her, Kyle will father John with Sarah, Skynet will be created from the Terminator it sent back, and the cycle will endlessly repeat. Genisys' main conceit is that the characters have become aware of their lack of agency in their own lives and are struggling against it, they want to break the cycle. So it's only natural that the surprise villain turns out to be the only person who benefits from the cycle continuing. Genisys' most genius point is realizing that Skynet isn't the villain of Terminator, John Connor is. Think about it, all the other characters' pre-ordained choices and actions, even Skynet's, only exist to elevate John Connor to his vaunted place as savior of humanity. They are all trapped in this deterministic cycle so that he can be the legendary hero. John Connor is a being who only exists to ensure that he exists, even if it means millions die in nuclear fire and his loved ones are denied any free will. So is it any wonder that he's the one who tries to stop Sarah, Reese, and Arnold from killing Skynet? After all, without Skynet why does the world need John Connor?

True this is contrived in universe as John being assimilated Borg style by Skynet, but the thematic weight of this choice still stands even if it is as underused as everything else in the film. At least the acting is on point. Arnold is as fun as ever, finding some great wry humor in the stoic T-800, and Emilia Clarke finds a great snarky, teenage take on Linda Hamilton's iconic performance from Terminator 2. J.K. Simmons is good in a minor role as a Terminator conspiracy theorist and Korean action star Byung-Hun Lee is cool as ever as an updated T-1000. And was anybody better for the morally compromised and roboticized John Connor than Jason Clarke? The only weak link in the cast is Jai Courtney as Kyle Reese, he's too much of a generic action guy to match the out-of-his-depth ordinary soldier that Michael Biehn portrayed in the original. He lacks the relatability and genuine paranoia that Biehn originally brought to the character.

Terminator: Genisys is a very muddled film that doesn't exactly achieve its goal of reviving the Terminator franchise. It's in such a rush to get to the action that everything else only gets the bare minimum of attention. Which is a shame because as good as the action is, the brief shades of characterization and thematic elements are interesting on their own and have a lot of potential if properly utilized. And while the cast is good, they are somewhat hampered by the dialogue which spends too much time discussing how exactly time travel is supposed to work and how things are different in this timeline. Nevertheless, it's an exciting movie that never gets boring and sees Arnold back in fine form. A worthy attempt and worth seeing, even if it doesn't entirely succeed.

Final Score: 3/5