Time to be Terminated- Terminator: Genisys Review

<p>James Cameron&&num;8217&semi;s 1984 classic<em> The Terminator<&sol;em> set a new standard for sci-fi thrillers and launched a hugely successful franchise&comma; not to mention the acting career of Austrian bodybuilder Arnold Schwarzenegger&period; Five movies and a television series later&comma; a series of increasingly diminished returns continues with<em> <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;bagogames&period;com&sol;terminator-genisys-love-story&sol;">Terminator&colon; Genisys<&sol;a><&sol;em>&comma; which sits somewhere between a clever reshuffling of the film&&num;8217&semi;s notoriously paradoxical time travel plotting and a blatantly soulless cash grab&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The film opens in the year 2029&comma; as John Connor <a href&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;imdb&period;com&sol;name&sol;nm0164809&sol;">&lpar;Jason Clarke&rpar;<&sol;a> realizes that the malevolent robot force called Skynet has sent a T-800 terminator <a href&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;schwarzenegger&period;com&sol;">&lpar;Schwarzenegger&rpar;<&sol;a> back to 1984 to kill his mother Sarah <a href&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;imdb&period;com&sol;name&sol;nm3592338&sol;">&lpar;Emilia Clarke&rpar;<&sol;a>&period; Connor decides to send Kyle Reese <a href&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;imdb&period;com&sol;name&sol;nm2541974&sol;">&lpar;Jai Courtney&rpar;<&sol;a> back to protect her&comma; in what fans will recognize as the backstory behind the first movie&period; When Reese and the T-800 arrive in 1984&comma; however&comma; things play out quite a bit differently&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;91742" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-91742" style&equals;"width&colon; 640px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2015&sol;09&sol;04173852&sol;terminator-genisys-picture-arnold&period;jpg"><img class&equals;"size-full wp-image-91742" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2015&sol;09&sol;04173852&sol;terminator-genisys-picture-arnold&period;jpg" alt&equals;"Terminator&colon; Genisys &sol; Paramount Pictures" width&equals;"640" height&equals;"804" &sol;><&sol;a><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-91742" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">Terminator&colon; Genisys &sol; Paramount Pictures<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>Sarah is no longer the helpless damsel from the 1984 film&comma; having grown up under the tutelage of an older T-800 &lpar;also Schwarzenegger&rpar; that was sent back to 1973 to protect her&period; In addition&comma; a T-1000 &&num;8211&semi; the shape shifting model played so well by Robert Patrick in<em> Terminator 2<&sol;em> &&num;8211&semi; has been sent back to 1984 to kill Sarah and Kyle&period; Sarah explains that all the <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;bagogames&period;com&sol;wrap-mind-around-terminator-genisys-confusing-future&sol;">time travel<&sol;a> has created a new timeline&comma; the same trick used by J&period;J&period; Abrams in his 2009 Star Trek reboot&period; This new&comma; audacious version of the plot is probably too convoluted for some to follow&comma; and verges on self parody&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The gritty look and feel of the first two films is gone&period; While much of<em> Genisys<&sol;em> is shot at night or in dark environments&comma; Courtney&&num;8217&semi;s hopelessly wooden performance and the silly alternate timeline conceit robs the narrative of gravitas and immediacy&period; The lack of an R rating cuts down drastically on the sense of danger as well &&num;8211&semi; the T-1000&&num;8217&semi;s ability to morph its limbs into blades only feels threatening when we see the results&comma; as in<em> Terminator 2<&sol;em>&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Why James Cameron chose to endorse this mess as the third &&num;8220&semi;real&&num;8221&semi; film&comma; effectively writing off the last two movies&comma; is anyone&&num;8217&semi;s guess&period; Perhaps the story read better on the page than it plays out on the screen&comma; or perhaps his participation was needed to pull Schwarzenegger back in after his stint as California&&num;8217&semi;s governor kept him out of the last two installments&period; Whatever the reason&comma; Cameron&&num;8217&semi;s influence on director Alan Taylor is obvious in this film&comma; especially during the challenging recreation of scenes<a href&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;theverge&period;com&sol;2015&sol;7&sol;2&sol;8874735&sol;terminator-genisys-movie-director-alan-taylor-interview"> from the 1984 original<&sol;a>&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em>Genisys<&sol;em> makes no mention of the events from the third and fourth films in the series&comma; which is just as well&comma; considering how overstuffed with plot the movie already feels&period; It has under-performed both critically and commercially&comma; sitting at a 39 on <a href&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;metacritic&period;com&sol;movie&sol;terminator-genisys">Metacritic<&sol;a> and opening at number 3 in domestic box office&period; Fans of the franchise have found little to praise beyond Emilia Clarke&&num;8217&semi;s spot on casting as Sarah Connor&comma; citing the uninspired writing and direction as major drawbacks to the film&&num;8217&semi;s watchability&period; This doesn’t seem like much of a surprise as the sequel <em><a href&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;whatculture&period;com&sol;film&sol;50-reasons-why-terminator-2-is-the-greatest-film-of-all-time&period;php">Judgment Day<&sol;a><&sol;em> was the only film that generated as much excitement as the original&period; In fact&comma; it’s argued that this movie is even better than the original&comma; and is certainly played far more often by the likes of <a href&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;radiotimes&period;com&sol;news&sol;2015-07-04&sol;terminator-2-judgment-day-harry-potter-and-the-half-blood-prince-burn-after-reading--films-on-tv-today">C4<&sol;a> in the UK and <a href&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;direct-ticket&period;net&sol;">DTV<&sol;a> in the U&period;S&period; Although the third and fourth films received less than thrilling reviews&comma; <em>Genisys<&sol;em> has been said to be a &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;franchise-killing disaster” even before it premiered&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;91743" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-91743" style&equals;"width&colon; 1600px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2015&sol;09&sol;04173839&sol;terminator-genisys-arnold-smile&period;jpg"><img class&equals;"size-full wp-image-91743" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2015&sol;09&sol;04173839&sol;terminator-genisys-arnold-smile&period;jpg" alt&equals;"Terminator&colon; Genisys &sol; Paramount Pictures" width&equals;"1600" height&equals;"800" &sol;><&sol;a><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-91743" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">Terminator&colon; Genisys &sol; Paramount Pictures<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>The rebooting and re-imagining of major film franchises is becoming a more common practice&comma; as studios hope to cash in on branding and audience familiarity&period; However&comma; it takes more than imitation for them to succeed&period; Filmmakers must have fresh and engaging ideas at their disposal to engage viewers and it&&num;8217&semi;s here that <em>Genisys<&sol;em> falls short&period; Upcoming reboots like <a href&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;imdb&period;com&sol;title&sol;tt1289401&sol;"><em>Ghostbusters<&sol;em><&sol;a> and <em>Star Wars<&sol;em> have the potential to be exciting and profitable &&num;8211&semi; as long as the creative forces behind them respect their audiences and explore intriguing new terrain&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;