Arnold Schwarzenegger has returned to the franchise that made him a Hollywood superstar. It's a new multi-million dollar reboot of the series and it's called “Terminator Genisys.” Time Warner Cable News’ Neil Rosen filed the following review.
The film begins in the year 2029. The world was basically destroyed twelve years earlier and it's been taken over by robots. John Connor leads a resistance group and sends his right hand man, Kyle Reiss, back in time to 1984 to protect his mother Sarah Connor.
But things don't go according to plan and to try and make things right, the main characters begin to time hop through several different time periods. In the process, the past, present and future keep changing.
The first half hour or so is OK. Arnold Schwarzengger plays an older version of his iconic robot character who, it turns out, has been protecting Sarah Connor for years. Early on, a CGI version of the younger Arnold battles his older self and that is sort of fun.
But overall, the storyline just seems to be lifting elements from the previous films, like the liquid metal trick, the T1000 bad cop character as well as famous catchphrases. It's as if director Alex Taylor and his screenwriters are doing the Terminator's greatest hits.
The time jumping device and the changing history along the way ultimately becomes too confusing to follow.
Eventually you won't even care what's happening as the film degenerates into a lot of big budget, action set pieces filled with chase scenes and explosions.
“Terminator 2,” the best film in the series, was funny, interesting and filled with sensational, innovative action sequences. But all those elements seem lost here in the new reboot.
Emilia Clarke, although OK as Sarah Connor, lacks the toughness of Linda Hamilton who originated the role. The other actors do perfunctory work, while Arnold and the filmmakers seem to be just going through the motions as they strain to recapture some of the franchises earlier magic.
However, the result is an overproduced, baffling movie that falls flat.
Neil Rosen’s Big Apple Rating:
Two Apples