TERMINATOR GENISYS

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3 stars
When Arnie said he'll be back, he meant it. Thirty years since The Terminator (1984) first walked the earth, Terminator Genisys picks up the time-jumping story of John Connor, Skynet and the fall of humanity. It comes some five years after Christian Bale and Sam Worthington tried to inject new blood into the franchise, and if early reports from the US are concerned, director Alan Taylor hasn't fared well in the cross-fire.
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Of course, your level of enjoyment depends entirely on how much you're willing to jump in and go for a ride. Terminator Genisys is certainly wild and casting Arnold Schwarzenegger as the protective cyborg is either brilliant or ridiculous, depending on your sympathy for where the franchise has gone. Both he and his character are sent sky-high as 'Pops', as he's now called, quips that he may be old, but he's not obsolete. Hmmm, again, this only works assuming you've arrived with a bundle of sympathy for ageing Arnie, and the franchise.

Terminator Genisys starts as it means to go on, with an eye-popping, seat rumbling, opening sequence in the distant future. In cheesy voice over, Kyle Reese (Australian Jai Courtney – The Water Diviner) brings us up to speed as the forces of rebel hero John Connor (Australian Jason Clarke – Dawn of the Planet of the Apes) takedown Skynet and would win if not for a time machine. To secure the present, he pitches Reese into the past – 1984 – who, as is the way of these things, witnesses the future moments before plunging back into a game-changing fractured timeline. His mission to keep Connor's mother (Emilia Clarke – Game of Thrones) safe is thwarted and within minutes they're under attack from the mercurial T100 killing machine that shouldn't be there. The fight begins.

With writers Laeta Kalogridis (Shutter Island) and Patrick Lussier, Alan Taylor (Thor: The Dark World) is having a ball referencing, self-referencing and generally blitzing the franchise and players therein. They also create a wonderfully complicated narrative maze that turns expectation on its head while giving themselves a get-out-of-jail-free card by way of re-written timelines. Effectively, they eat The Terminator alive. However, Taylor also keeps the retina bursting action pulsing along with some thrilling, and thrillingly vertiginous, scenes, notably a bungled bus chase on the Golden Gate bridge. He ups the ante when Kyle, Sarah and John meet up in 2017 to stop Genisys, a killer app that will integrate all devices on the planet (Google: Next Generation if you will) from going live.

Courtenay is easy to watch, as is Emilia Clarke updating Linda Hamilton's iconic role. Not so convincing is Jason Clarke who lacks the brittle menace to take this all the way home, and as game as it is to bring Arnie back, he simply looks awkward. And I'm not just talking about the smile. Compounded by some cringe-inducing dialogue, Terminator Genisys lacks the smarts and raw energy to rival The Terminator, but what you loose on the time machine, you gain in the military firepower. For sheer, unadulterated popcorn thrill, this has more than enough to keep undemanding viewers happy throughout. Demanding viewers have a take home that the future is not set.

None of which explains why Skynet, hell bent on destroying mankind, gave their robots teeth. It's not like they bite anything.

// COLIN FRASER

Previewed at Event Cinemas, George St, Sydney, on 29 June 2015

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STARRING
Arnold Schwarzenegger
Jai Courtney
Emilia Clarke
Jason Clarke

DIRECTOR
Alan Taylor

SCREENWRITER
Laeta Kalogridis
Patrick Lussier


COUNTRY

USA

CLASSIFICATION
M

RUNTIME
125 minutes

AUSTRALIAN
RELEASE DATE
July 2, 2015
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Terminator Genisys (2015) on IMDb
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