It is a familiar pattern — an epic film stalked by half a dozen sequels. Terminator Genisys is fifth in the series, and the ‘save humanity’ theme notwithstanding, it’s really all about saving the franchise. The first two hugely successful Terminator films not only cemented director James Cameron’s career, but also catapulted Arnold Schwarzenegger to an iconic status, adorning him with the ever so popular one liner — “I’ll be back”.
Well, in the latest instalment, Schwarzenegger is definitely back and so is all the nostalgia that we have come to associate with the series. While we can hold a grudge against director Alan Taylor for adding precious little to the film, and being mostly preoccupied with resuscitating the Terminator franchise from the dying gasps of boredom, it still is innocuous fun with some truly entertaining bits thrown in to make for a perfect popcorn cruncher.
The film begins in 2029 when human rebels are still fighting the robots of Skynet. We have a brief stopover in 1997 when on Judgment Day in a world ruled by machines, 3 billion humans were killed. John Connor (Jason Clarke) wants to kill Skynet at its genesis and therefore Kyle Reese (Jai Courtney) is terminated back in time to 1984 where his job is to protect John’s mother Sarah Connor.
Game of Thrones star Emilia Clarke as the tough nut Sarah is brilliant but the most fun we have is thanks to the eponymous character played by our beloved Arnie. In his inimitable style he declares, “I’m old but not obsolete” and this is exactly what the makers of the film want us to believe — both about the franchise and the Terminator himself.
There is even an Arnie Vs Arnie face-off smuggled in with the, now pushing 70, star trying to save Sarah Connor and a magnificent CGI generated wrinkle-free Schwarzenegger trying to kill her.
Terminator Genisys tries very hard to please us and in parts is even successful. There is a whole lot of nostalgia in play recalling the first two films, indulgent time travelling and bloodless action sequences of gigantic proportions with some Arnold Schwarzenegger brand of humour thrown in.
Although there are far too many twists in the plot to keep track of, but once we have nicely settled in the brilliant pace at which all the action unfolds ensures the 2 hours are definitely well spent.
While not as sparkling as the original, go for Terminator Genisys with your expectations in check and you will find it a worthy sequel to the Judgment Day and frankly a very good excuse to see Arnie do what he does best – save the world while we sip cola.
I’ll go with 3 and a half QUINTS out of 5.
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