Review: Terminator: Genisys

Terminator: Genisys

Director: Alan Taylor
Paramount Pictures
In Theaters: 07.01

To be honest, we haven’t had a great Terminator film in 14 years. Salvation was decent but still lacking, and don’t even get me started on the train wreck that was Rise of the Machines. Now, Alan Taylor offers a complete alteration to the franchise’s timeline, so when Kyle Reese (Jai Courtney) travels back in time to James Cameron’s 1984 version, he doesn’t find a feeble and terrified waitress like in the original. Instead, the new Sarah Connor (Emilia Clarke) has been raised by a protector terminator (Arnold Schwarzenegger) since she was a child, and is a warrior ready to fight a new threat called Genisys. Taylor transports us back to the fun of the original as he offers shot-by-shot recreations of Cameron’s classic and turns them on their head. Watching an Arnold in his late 60s beat the crap out of CGI-30s Arnold is quite entertaining, and they even recreated those awesome high-top Nikes that Reese steals from the department store! Now, with all of that craziness, the time travel element and everything in between is a total mess with massive plot holes, but Taylor still makes it fun and enjoyable. Just like Jurassic World, you must turn your brain off to enjoy. It’s the definition of a goofy, over-the-top summer blockbuster. I’ve said it many times in the past: Drool into your popcorn. –Jimmy Martin