Terminator Genisys was exactly what I feared it was going to be. Not very good. Actually looking back it was bad. A complete disappointment.
The Terminator franchise has so much potential. Terminator and Terminator 2 were great films. The first was a sci-fi horror action movie and the second was more of characteristic sci-fi action film. In my opinion they are two of the greatest films of the last 30 years. Masterpieces. With that type of heritage, expectations are raised for sequels. Terminator 3 was ok but not near as good as the first two. And then there is Terminator Salvation. I loved the idea of the movie. Show the war with the machines in the future after Judgement Day. But the execution was so so. I didn't hate that one but wasn't blown away either. It was kinda boring, and a Terminator movie being boring is a bad sign.
So now we have Terminator Genisys. An opportunity to right the ship and take Terminator back to glory. The filmmakers talked about how this was going to call back to the originals and feel like the originals and try and use the same tones as the originals. We were going to go back and visit recognizable characters like Kyle Reese and Sarah Connor. This movie had potential. It could very easily have been good, even with its stupidly spelled title. But it wasn't, so here is my breakdown of why this movie was bad.
1. The trailer: I know that this actually isn't the movie, but it pretty much was. The marketing department for this film was idiotic. If you haven't seen the full movie yet but you are familiar with the trailer, then you have pretty much seen the movie except for the final action sequence. It includes the money shots from almost every action sequence. Every surprise reveal. It even includes the biggest twist in the movie. If you have seen the trailer it effectively ruins the movie. All the dramatic tension and suspense is drained from the film because you know what to expect. It makes the movie a lot less enjoyable.
2. The Story: The story of this movie is terrible. Due to the crazy time travel dynamics in this film, they have erased the other films, including the original two movies. Similar to how J.J. Abram's Star Trek film created an alternate timeline, the events of this movie result in the events of the previous films never happening. Instead of taking what works and building upon it, they gutted the franchise and erased the parts of it that fans actually liked. The story was convoluted and confusing. It jumps around time periods too much and doesn't focus on the parts of the story that actually work. It didn't feel like a Terminator movie. It had Terminators in it, but that alone doesn't make it a Terminator film.
3. Jai Courtney: Can we please stop putting this guy in movies! His portrayal of Kyle Reese was terrible. He looked out of place, had no chemistry with the other actors, and dragged down scenes he was in, which is almost every one. And his character had no personality. But these are recurring problems for Jai. He had similar issues in Jack Reacher, has no personality or gravitas in Divergent, was terrible as John McClain's son in A Good Day to Die Hard, and in this he wasn't good. Maybe he will be better in Insurgent, but i'm not expecting anything. But he needs to be better in Suicide Squad. It might help that he will be surrounded by great actors and a great director for that, because he was really good on the Starz show Spartacus which had a large cast. Studios need to stop putting him in leading roles.
There were some things that were ok with this film. Here they are.
1. Emilia Clarke: Emilia Clarke is famous for her role as the Mother of Dragons on Game of Thrones, but she is not as spectacular in this role. At the beginning of the movie, it feels like she is doing a poor Linda Hamilton impersonation, but as the film progresses, she takes the role and makes it her own and she grows into it. By the end of the movie you believe that she is Sarah Connor, but it is not seamless. She is good in this movie but not great. If they make another one of these, she could be better, but I hope for the sake of her career that they don't. I like her as an action star and think she can pull it off. She needs however a better franchise that she can make her own, just like she made her character in Game of Thrones her own.
Things that were actually really good!
1. Arnold Schwarzenegger: This was the biggest surprise in this movie. Arnold was awesome. For a few years now Arnold has been trying to reestablish himself in the film industry and this is by far his best attempt. He was really good in this movie. His take on this Terminator, being older and more experienced, was a great character progression and he played it brilliantly. Even with a bad story around him, Arnold shined in this film. He was funny, you felt for his character, and he was shockingly relate-able. You understood his characters motivations and were able to connect with him. He was the best part of this movie. I just wish that the trailer wouldn't have ruined many of his best moments.
Overall this movie was not good. I was bored in the theater, but felt that if the trailer had not given the whole movie away ahead of time it would have been better. There was a whole 10 minutes in the middle where the audience is obviously not supposed to know what is going on so that they are as shocked as the characters are at the big twist. But because the trailer revealed the twist, the importance and magnitude of the sequence is lost. If I had never seen the trailer I think I would have given this movie a 2.5/5. But I did see the trailer and the movie suffered for it, my final grade for Terminator Genisys is 2/5.
No comments:
Post a Comment