Terminator Genisys

 TERMINATOR : GENISYS

Director : Alan Johnson

Year : 2015

Genre : Action

Rating : ***

Ever since the 2003 release of the dismal 'Rise Of The Machines', the once renowned and highly respected 'Terminator' series has become somewhat defunct. McGee's equally rubbish 'Terminator Salvation' released four years didn't do anything to help proceedings and it seemed that despite massive leaps in both CGI technology and methods of storytelling, no movie was going to be able to successfully follow in the metallic footsteps of James Cameron's original two landmark and massively influential science-fiction masterpieces. However 'Terminator Genisys', the latest movie from 'Thor : The Dark World' director Alan Johnson and the fifth film in the disparate franchise finally manages to succeed where others have so spectacularly failed - it manages to be a wholly fulfilling entry in the beloved series while still keeping the tone, threat and, most importantly, the fun of both 'The Terminator' and 'T2 : Judgment Day'.

Taking us back to the events of 1984, 'Genisys' once again sees the young Kyle Reese (now played by 'Divergent's Jai Courtney) sent back through the time to protect Sarah Connor, the mother of the future rebel leader from a murderous T-800. However, thanks to a fault in the time travelling process, the 1984 Reese is sent back to is far more different than the 1984 we saw in 'The Terminator'. Sarah ('Game Of Thrones'' Emilia Clarke) is no longer a humble waitress but rather a ruthless and hardened warrior who has her own T-800 guardian for protection; an older robot affectionately named Pops played by recurring series favourite Arnold Schwarzenegger. Together, the unlikely trio must work together and traverse time and space to rid the world of Skynet once and for all before Judgment Day occurs and humanity is destroyed by the machines. 

The unfortunate victim of a terrible marketing campaign and even worse reviews from both critics and audiences, 'Terminator Genisys' has had an incredibly hard time during it's short time at the box office so far. And I think unfairly so. Yes, it certainly lacks the edge and hard-hitting wit of it's far superior predecessors (well, the first two anyway) and the many action scenes are a fraction as exciting. But thanks to an intriguing and meta script, an entertainingly silly plot and and surprisingly likable characters, 'Terminator Genisys' was for me a great deal of fun. The numerous and incredibly well executed re-stagings of key scenes from the first 'Terminator' picture as well as little visual and audio nods throughout the film all help to add to the nostalgia while the performances from it's cast which also includes Jason Clarke and J.K Simmons are all perfectly substantial. 

Unfortunately and quite disgracefully, one of the main narrative twists is revealed in the hideously bad trailer campaign so a lot of the tension the movie is building up to is sadly lost before the beginning frame even appears on screen. But while this badly detracted from any sense of threat or surprise, I must say that it didn't detract from the overall entertainment value of the film. It is far from perfect and it may be universally disliked but as completely unnecessary reboots go, I for one enjoyed 'Terminator Genisys' enormously and it shows that much like it's titular machine, the series may be old but not obsolete just yet.