I think we can all agree that this movie can not, under any circumstances, be considered good.
That said on the other hand, because I went into this movie with such low expectations (due to T3 and T salvation, god they were bad) I had a much better time than I thought I was going to so this review will be a bit more positive than others out there.
*Mild spoiler warning ahead*
First thing is first, Arnie is still great as the terminator, even when old. That part is actually well explained and implemented. His relationship between him and Sarah Conner works well too with them having some good dialogue.
Acting:
I have already mentioned that Arnie is great in the perfect role for him, a lifeless robot.
But, and its a big but, there are no other standout performances, or even good performances for that matter.
Emilia Clarke (Game of Thrones) as Sarah Conner seemed on the face of it to be a good choice as she can clearly play the feisty, independent, bad ass woman we see in Game of Thrones. But in this move her performance is very lackluster and at time almost seems like she is doing the performance after someone has briefly described what Sarah Conner should be like to her. It does get better through the movie , even to a point where it doesn't bother you so much though so its not the worst.
Her co-star, Jai Courtney (A Good Day to Die Hard, Jack Reacher) is just bland, there is no other way to put it. He has been bland in pretty much everything he has been in and to be honest, I don't know why he even gets works anymore. He is a vast downgrade from Michael Biehn who played the part so brilliantly in the first terminator.
The other major character in Genysis is John Conner played by Jason Clarke (Dawn of the Planet of the Apes) and if you have seen any of the trailers for T5 you will know *HUGE SPOILERS* that he is a terminator. Whilst the idea of a human being turned into a terminator is an interesting one and makes for a formidable foe, the fact that is its John Conner is dumb, plain dumb. Also Jason Clarke is not good in the role. First off he is a bit too creepy to be John Conner, the savior of mankind and when he is the terminator he deliver all his lines in the same sort of tone of voice which give a flatness to everything he does. *SPOILERS ENDED* .
Matt Smith (Doctor Who) gives the most competent performance in the move, although he only has a few lines. His part is an interesting one too which I won't spoil her as its integral to the plot.
J K Simmons (Whiplash, Spider-man) also has a small role in this in which he is great. Why is he not just in everything.
Plot:
The plot is convoluted and way to complicated also with lots of plot points that are started and never really finished which is quite frustrating when you want a payoff.
Although its complicated it does tread some ground that is interesting and give it almost a breath of fresh air that we haven't seen before in Terminator. Saying that though it also tries to rekindle the viewers nostalgia for the first two that it even goes to the length of recreating some scenes, sometimes even shot for shot. I will never understand that.
The addition of the T-1000 from T2 was nice and had some good CGI to it and young Arnie was a nice little addition too but I was disappointed that he wasn't featured more as he was an interesting antagonist.
Directing.
The directing and cinematography really is this one of this films weakest points. Its directed by Alan Taylor (known mostly for TV work except for Thor: the Dark World) and its not that his shots are necessarily bad per say but just flat and uninteresting. The only thing that makes the fights interesting at all is that the stuff that's happening on screen is cool (terminator on terminator, yes please).
Score.
Honestly, I already can't remember a thing about the music in this movie. I think that says it all
Conclusion.
No, this film is not the best Terminator film, not even close but it is better than Rise of the Machines and Salvation, by quite a lot.
It has sub-par acting and whilst the plot is convoluted it has some interesting ideas that keep the film moving along at a swift pace.
So I would say if you haven't, for some reason seen a Terminator film before, go and watch The first two and stop there.
If however you have seen them all and you are just up for a bit of stupid terminator action, yeah you might find a bit of enjoyment out of this flick like I did. Just don't go expecting Judgment Day levels of quality because sadly the franchise will probably never reach that height again, unless James Cameron comes back to it which I don't see happening because of his preoccupation with Avatar.
I also found the 3D pretty impressive in this movie too so if you wan't to fork out the cash for that I would recommend it. Oh and the title is stupid.
So I hope you all enjoyed my first review. Not all posts will be reviews of this length as most posts will probably be about film news an therefore wont be as word heavy. But thanks anyway. Please leave comments and stuff, I am really interested in hearing feedback and I will answer any questions you may have.
-Joe
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