Starring
Arnold Schwarzenegger
Emilia Clarke
Jason Clarke
Jai Courtney
Lee Byung-Hun
Directed by
Alan Taylor
Screenplay by
James Cameron et al
The Ultra Review are massive fans
of Terminator. We’re talking a
time-bending, reality-questioning, epiphany-inducing, existentialist crisis-causing
level of fandom.
We know the name of the niteclub
was Tech Noir and the street it was on was called Pinco in The Terminator. We know Miles Dyson’s middle name
is Bennett and he called his son Danny. We know that John Connor’s stepmom, Janelle
Voight, was played by Jenette Goldstein of Aliens
and that she is Michelle Rodriguez’s mother. We know that the Terminatrix, in Rise of the Machines, was initially
meant to be an Asian woman because the “Eastern look” is more menacing than
that of a Caucasian woman to an American audience. We know that the name of the Cyberdyne’s
cancer patient employee in Salvation
was Dr Serena Kogan played by Helena Bonham Carter.
You get the picture.
So you can imagine our scepticism
when we saw the trailer for the latest instalment in the Terminator franchise.
Sure, there appeared to be plenty of special effects, chase scenes and action
but we are part of an audience who were mesmerised by the first two movies,
only for Hollywood to come along and take a big steaming dump on our beloved
series by releasing two bastardised sequels, unworthy of the Terminator name. First, Rise of the Machines, ahem, gave rise to
the pseudo-comedy version of Terminator,
a movie in which armour-plated killing machine Arnie actually said the line “talk
to the hand”. Then McG came along with Christian Bale’s MASSIVE ego and tried
to completely destroy the winning formula of cat and mouse.
Going into a movie and expecting
it to be rubbish gives it a tremendous advantage which Genisys took full advantage of.
There are three reasons The Ultra
Review left the screening with a huge smile on its face.
1 – Attention to detail
There is so much attention to the
little things in this movie that the inner nerd couldn’t help but literally coo
when certain things happened on screen. For example, when half of Arnie’s face
is taken clean off – hardly a spoiler, it’s about as inevitable as him uttering
the words “I‘ll be back” – the exposed T-101 eye moved in sync with the human-looking
eye. This has never happened before. In the past, the eye remained static. You
may question the validity of highlighting this point in a review but this is
just an example of the pain-staking lengths the makers of this movie went to to
bring you an experience that even the most specky of Terminator nerds found hard to fault.
Danny Dyson is in the movie. Kyle
Reece’s scars match those from T1. When
recreating the opening scene from T1 they took care to remove Arnie’s gentials
from the shot. These are all subtle but important details that add up.
2 – Logic
This film, unlike ROTM and Salvation is full to the brim of logic. For example, Arnie is old
and looks it. Whereas in ROTM, his
elderly appearance is poorly hidden behind layer upon layer of make-up, it is
explained that Arnie looks old because his living tissue had aged over his
metal endoskeleton because he has been around for so long. That makes sense.
That is what was missing from this franchise – logic.
Another example of this detail is
the plot. Skynet is directly linked to a new social network application which
connects all of our devices. That makes sense. Judgement Day’s occurrence was
blamed on inevitability in ROTM. How lazy
is that?! Did they really sit around a desk, trying to decide on the plot and
went with that? It just happened? Couldn’t they have said that they found Arnie’s
arm from T2, the one we all saw him
lose in the battle with the T-1000? Couldn’t they have said that the work Miles
Dyson had done was backed up on an external computer system and that they
merely carried on his work?
By using the app storyline, Genisys plays on the fears of technophobes,
a theme wonderfully explored in the otherwise deeply flawed yet beautiful I Robot. This plot plays on the
reservations and fears those of us who are unhappy with the level of communication
surveillance that exists today and for those of us old enough to have been
around for the entire franchise, there are bound to be a few.
3 – Finally…
This is the sequel that we have
been waiting for since 1991. Lose ends are tied up. Things are explained.
Angles are covered. The story is furthered. The product is enhanced. All
without doing the sort of damage that the intervening movies have. Not to
mention that AWFUL TV series which, other than in this sentence, we refuse to
acknowledge.
Dark, exciting, thought-provoking
and thoughtful, the movie was well on the way to be considered only the third
movie ever to receive a five star rating from The Ultra Review.
However, there
are flaws which prevent this. One of which is HUGE!
1 – Pops
Sarah Connor refers to Arnie as “Pops”.
Again, this is the movie applying logic but Pops? It just doesn’t suit an
armour-plated killing machine, whose entry into our psyche is typified by
requesting a Plasma Accelerator in a 40 watt range in a local gun store in the
80s.
2 – Comedy
When Arnie smiled in the Director’s
Cut of T2, it was hilarious. It was a
gem of a moment in a movie almost completely bereft of humour. It was a dark
movie about the end of the world, insanity, existentialism and the
inevitability of death. This moment was enough. However, the smile was
recreated in Genisys at least five
times which was at least four too many.
Also, the relationship between
Kyle and Sarah contained far too many laughs and flirting. The Kyle of T1 was depressed and melancholic, a
product of his time; ill-at-ease with the opposite sex and even ill-at-ease
with the world’s scenery. This Kyle is smooth and comfortable with women and
seems to know his way around a chat-up line. NO. NO. NO. Where is the pain? Where
are the effects and the physical demeanour and shyness that come with a life of
knowing nothing other than death and despair?
3 – John Connor
While the aforementioned flaws
are just that – flaws – they can be overlooked due to the sheer quality of the
movie. However, John Connor cannot. Why is he even in this movie? For fear of
spoiling Genisys, I shall refer to
this matter no longer as it would spoil a movie you really should see for
yourself. Safe to say, his place in this movie leaves a sour taste in the mouth
and takes away plenty of the good work done elsewhere.
The movie is crisp, special and
if it were a book it would be a page turner. But John Connor takes an entire
star off this movie.
Genisys is the perfect summer’s day; not a cloud in the sky, just
the right amount of breeze to keep the heat bearable and as you stroll along
the beach with your beautiful other half, you forget all of life’s troubles
that come along with days that don’t begin with ‘S’ and all is well with the
world. Then a big dirty seagull named John Connor comes along and streaks a big
smelly stream of turdacious sputum across your favourite shirt.
However, it is the nuances that
make this movie. Not merely copying the old movies but paying homage to the
giant shoulders on which they stand.
That breeds greatness.
Rating: ✮✮✮✮
Trailer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rGSxss7gWak
