Arnie is back in one if not thee most iconic roles associated with the living legend himself. So can the return of The Terminator Himself save the once great franchise? Who knows but here are my thoughts on the matter.
Lets have a look at he cast first shall we. Now because some of the people are playing characters that have been portrayed before they will be compared to the actors that came before them. So lets start with the main man himself the titular character.
Arnold Schwarzenegger As The T-800 (The Terminator)
So this comparison will be easy does Arnie play the Terminator as good as Arnie? Answer is yes (what where you expecting a twist?) Arnold was as good here. He just simply commands presence when he is on-screen and plays the detached machine that’s trying to blend in amazingly. He must have been channeling his inner 1991 self because this performance did nothing but remind me of the charm from the Terminator 2. I can honestly was expecting him to stink up the set with every word spoken but the man in my humble opinion more than held up his end of the bargain. I mean come on just look at that smile.
Emilia Clarke as Sarah Connor
(Insert Daenerys Targaryen joke here.) Ok now that is out-of-the-way how did Emilia do? Well at first I wasn’t impressed. I mean she has a lot to live up too here I mean she’s playing Sarah Connor here. But as the film went on I began to realize something. This Isn’t the same Sarah Connor form either of the first two movies. As I told a friend of mine she isn’t the Damsel in distress from the first or the bad ass from the second she’s more of the in the middle in my opinion. I mean she hasn’t had the same hardening to life as she did in the first film that made her become the cold hardened person she is in the 2nd film. Emila plays the part of a Woman who has been raised to be a solder not the one who has turned to that path and walked it themselves. And with that in mind I have to say I thought Emilia done a good if not slow burning job.
Jai Courtney As Kyle Reese
Now here is where the where the film starts with its downward spiral. Now I will say I like Jai Courtney. I think he will be a Leading man for a good few years. But boy I don’t think this went well at all. He just doesn’t seem like the man who has lived through a war for human survival here. He just seemed to be someone who has daddy issues about his hero becoming the bad guy. (And before you cry spoilers it’s in the trailers about John Connor.) Now I’m sure some people might say he is justified but could you imagine Michael Biehns’ character being a angst teenager in the same situation? No because he was a soldier that knew better. But I will say this I did believe the chemistry between him an Emilia.
Jason Clarke as John Connor
And here is the biggest problem with the film in my opinion, but this was always going to be an issue. I mean how can you cast a character that has been stated as the savior of the human race? There has been 3 attempts before if you don’t count the short scene from T2 of a man holding binoculars. Edward Furlong who you could say doesn’t count because he played him when he was a kid. (And I might add the best John Connor so far by a long shot) Then we had Nick Stahl in the very forgettable Terminator 3 Rise of the Machines. And most recently we has one of the finest actors working today Christian Bale who I even felt didn’t capture the character right. Maybe he was too busy yelling at the lighting guy? (I get to make that joke right because it happened during the terminator film right? No? OK.) Anyway Jason just didn’t feel like the savior of the human race. He just doesn’t have the charisma I would expect the leader of men to have. But when he started to play the bad guy I thought he was good just the right amount of menacing and threatening along with smugness I would expect from a cyborg thing… I Don’t know maybe going into the film knowing that he would turn bad skewed my initial perception of the character but hey guess we will never know will we.
The Good Bits
Well lets talk about the good bits of the film. well the tone of the film felt right for a terminator film it has the same feel as the first 2 in the franchise. And like I said before Arnie and Emilia Clarke done a good job. Jai Courtney I feel could grow into the role with any sequels that may or may not happen in the future. I personally also enjoyed all the little nods to the other films in the series with the quotes and moments. I also have to admit it was fun seeing the Doctor turning up. (In a film involving time travel none the less.)
The Bad Bits
Now the inevitable bad bits and they are a few. I feel the film was to wrapped up in its own mythology and could at times easily lose newer audience members to the franchise, Also it felt just strange going to see a Terminator film that is rated 12A which I felt was a big stumbling block for the last 2 films as well. another thing I noticed was that the film looked too clean. The original film looked like it had been through the wars and dragged through the mud which added to the setting and how bleak the future is, this film just looked too polished and pretty. I would also like to point out that whoever came up with the marketing campaign needs to maybe needs to look for a new career. Lastly and this is a really annoying thing is the Spelling of the word Genesis. I mean just look at this Genisys? What the hell is that y? why has the I jumped away over there? I mean whats going on?
Summary
Well to summarize I would say this film isn’t a bad film but didn’t do the job of reinvigorating this dying franchise. In conclusion I would consider this film a must see for all Terminator fans, and only if you simply cannot wait to go to the cinema before Ant-Man comes out for all you other people. With that said I give this film
5 out of 10
The Nerd Shack 