Terminator Genisys
- Jul 3, 2015
- 2 min read
This is the summer of amazing action movies claiming to have depth and creativity, but feel more like fan fiction with high budgets than the masterpieces they dream to be. Terminator Genisys is not a bad movie and I greatly enjoyed watching it. However, when you compare it to Terminator 2: Judgement Day, which it wants you to do in the opening 30 min, you realize there is much to be desired. While playing off of many great themes and sequences of the first two movies Genisys falls to many of the same time travel confusions that plague Rise of the Machines and Salvation.
IMBD rightly gives the movie a low 7. It is an action movie that tries to reach for greatness seen in the likes of Terminator 2 and the most recent Mad Max and in those scenes falls on its face. To give it a mid 20% as Rotten Tomatoes has it listed it wrong though. If you go to watch the newest Terminator because you expect to have your view on artificial intelligence changed, guess what you will be disappointed as Rotten Tomatoes is. If you go to see Genisys to watch Arnold Schwarzenegger kick ass and deliver great one liners this will be one of the best action movies of summer.
The plot of Genisys could have been written by two fanboys in the basement of a house talking about every single “what if” scenario imaginable. For long time fans of Schwarzenegger, specifically him in the Terminator movies, the story is a joyride through the first two films followed by a rehashing of what Skynet today would look like. It is fun and does not take itself too seriously outside of when it tries to explain time travel and the related subjects. To fault it on the confusion of time travel is laughable. Critics might as well be saying, “your fiction isn’t factual enough.” I understand that every director wants to have Neil deGrasse Tyson comment of the science of their movie but the point of science fiction is just that… it is fiction.
Terminator Genisys is a light hearted sci-fi, action, summer blockbuster. It does not reinvent the wheel or make a groundbreaking comment on the human condition, but it does let you suspend reality for a good two hours. If you liked the Terminator series, especially if you could survive the later two, this is a must see. If you want a blockbuster for $12, this is worth your money. If you want to be mentally stimulated and see characters truly develop with real emotions, I’m mostly just impressed you read this much of the review.
6.8/10
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