Review: Terminator Genisys (2015)

UPDATED POST: Now that Jenna's seen the movie!

I’m doing fairly well with the summer blockbusters so far, which is unusual for me. Thanks to my local Odeon sending me a 50% off tickets for the weekend offer, I got to go and see Terminator Genisys on a Sunday evening. I’m so glad Jenna and I watched the original Terminator movie a few weeks ago, or I would have been tempted to skip this one all together. Sadly, I didn’t get a chance to see Judgement Day, which I now think would have really helped.  Seven months after the original post, I managed to get round to seeing it.  I'm now annoyed that I waited so long!

Excuse me now while I set the scene badly. John Connor (Jason Clarke) sends Kyle Reese (Jai Courtney) back in time to 1984 to protect Sarah Connor (Emilia Clarke) from the Terminator (Arnold Schwarzenegger), just like in the original. However, something goes wrong, and now Kyle has been sent back to some kind of alternate timeline where Sarah is already tough as nails, and has her own Terminator looking after her, named Pops.  That was pretty good!

Let me start with what I loved. The nods and references to the original movie were awesome and are the reason I’m so glad I watched it. There was even (were even?) purple pew pew lazers at the start! Arnie as Pops was my favourite character, as terrifying as his smile was. I only know Emilia Clarke from Game of Thrones so it was nice to see what else she can do, and damn that girl kicks ass!  Loved that smile, it was hilarious, i'm guessing there would be a few out-takes from those scenes because how could you not laugh at this face:

I can’t help but feel that a viewing all the previous movies is mandatory before watching Genisys. As clear as the references to the first movie were, I got the distinct feeling there were many moments from the others as well, and that really hindered my enjoyment of the whole thing. I knew enough to (almost) understand what was going on, but I might have to revisit this review in the future after watching the full series.  This is surprising because I noticed a few mentions of Judgement Day but I didn't feel like I was missing anything having not seen it.  However, I do now REALLY want to see it!  

Now, I feel like I should say that I love time travel. You can do almost anything you want with it, and I love trying to work my head around alternate timelines and what not. This was too much for me though. I think I was doing okay and then I got myself confused halfway through and missed probably 20 minutes of the movie trying to get my head around it. Again though, I think the knowledge of the previous movies would help.  I struggled with the timelines and such for a while but about half an hour in I got to grips with it and I think I managed to hold onto it until the end.  I've lost is now though so don't ask me to explain it! I feel like I may have watched the films in the wrong order as I started with 4, then 1, now 5 and I still haven't seen 2 and 3 but I'm desperate for number 6 - now I am confused!

I loved this way more than I thought I would and personally, I preferred the chemistry between Emilia Clarke and Jai Courtney than I did the original cast (this comment may get me some stick but hey ho!).  I really did enjoy trying to keep track of the timelines and how it differed from the original.  One thing that did throw me was how Sarah knew how her entire life was supposed to play out, I pondered over that one for a good half an hour before I clocked that Pops obviously told her!

Ahhhhh how could I forget JK Simmons, love him!!  Didn't know he was in this, loved watching him bumbling around, tripping over stuff.  He can play anyone and I will automatically love him!

That said then, my score is a placeholder for now based solely on my enjoyment of the screening (as always). I’ll watch the other movies and revisit this at a later date. Or should I say...I’ll be back.  Now's your chance....