Going all the way back to when we were tracking Terminator Genisys here, there was this gnawing feeling that this was going to be a train wreck. The initial trailer turned me off immediately and all hopes for something remarkable or at least something that does the series justice were dashed right then and there. And then the movie came out and the negative reviews were everywhere. I expected it. So, with the sh*tty trailer and the bad word of mouth since then, I was still somewhat hopeful and kind of excited to see this for myself today when I picked up my DVD copy from the Library. I was actually kind of enjoying the spectacle of the first 20-30 minutes in spite of not liking the idea of Emilia Clarke and Jai Courtney replacing iconic characters. For the record, I do like Emilia in GoT, but I've always hated Jai. So, the first 30 minutes or so, kind of enjoying it. And then the big twist (which wasn't a twist as everyone already knew about it, myself included) that revealed John Connor to be a  T-3000 happened. This is where the movie lost me as it went careening off the rails. Really dumb move on the part of the writer to take it there. If that wasn't bad enough, the whole alternate time line plot was a convoluted mess and gave me a massive headache. FYI, I thought Jason Clarke was a horrible choice for the role of John Conner.

Now the one thing that I thought would be the biggest misstep was having Arnold Schwarzenegger return as the T-800 was asking too much given his age. It turns out that the one thing that I liked about Genisys was his role. I thought that his Pop's version in 1984 looked better than he did in Rise of the Machines. Go figure. And even the Old Pops in 2017 made sense and didn't do harm to the character given the fact that he does have Human Flesh and he will naturally age over time. FYI, his role is very limited. Even though he has top billing, he's more of a minor supporting player. But that's about the only thing I can come away from this movie as far as liking. There were just way too many 'Homages" throughout the movie that lifted scenes and actions directly from Terminator and T2. I can't recommend this as a Rent as I know I will most likely never watch this again.

Now, with that all out of the way, one thing I kept asking myself throughout the movie. Would this film have worked had they made it in 1994 with  Linda Hamilton and Michael Biehn reprising their roles? If it was the same script, would I have been more forgiving of the major plot holes and alternate reality? Even with James Cameron behind the lens, would he have been able to make this a better film? Speaking of Cameron, what the f*ck was he smoking to go on record saying that Genisys would reinvigorate the franchise? I wanna know how much he got paid for lying outright.

Finally saw this.  So many thoughts, i was trying to figure out if I should show this to my mom, she likes comic book movies and she always liked the T-1000, so even if it's just those chapters, which basically make a little mini-movie, I might see what her reaction is.

The movie's big issue is the script, there's no real theme to it, like the first two (basically "how can you bring a child into the world when everything is so messed up?"), there's no clear villain/thread throughout the flick either, you know?  I actually really dug the T-3000 (the Jason Clarke character) and I suppose there's little you CAN do to distinguish him from the hunting Terminators from the past flicks, but... I have an issue with turning Conner into a villain, but I can't put my finger on exactly WHY.

The cast... the problem is that they're kind of all the same, they're all soldiers obsessing over the future, it's like if The Scooby Gang was all Fred.  There's very little nuance or difference to them to allow for sparks to go between any of them.  They just talk function, we have to do this, go here, mate, etc... they were even both taken at an early age and got this military survivalist lifestyle drilled into their heads.  What's the difference?  They do eventually crack some jokes, but it's way too late.

Compare that to the first Terminator, where it's a regular waitress and a PTSD soldier running from an unstoppable killer, or the punk kid with his crazy mom and the focused guardian, or the third one with the woman whose life is falling apart, the... crazy bum again, and the robot with his own agenda.  Different types make interesting things happen.

The one thing the two of them actually made me think of was Aladdin of all things, the whole thing where she has to marry a "prince" but doesn't want to and has this responsibility of running the kingdom that she doesn't want, and he's the scamp who's in love with her but she won't give him the time of day... except really really boring.  I just thought that was kind of interesting.

One thing I did like about the movie, though.  The action scenes.  Particularly the gags, you know?  There were some moments that were just genuinely clever.  The T-1000 coming out of the mirror felt like the kind of fake-out Cameron would do.  The dead T-800 turned into a puppet to drive the truck felt like a neat callback, the MRI machine peeling layers off of the T-3000, the T-1000 using a blob of himself to fix the dead T-800, the acid trap... that was really freaking clever, I thought.

BTW, on the DVD, there's a track where they describe the action on screen for blind people.  I HAVE to know how they describe some of that insane sh*t.  Another reason I wait until the disc release of movies.

And the whole timeline thing... I get that they're trying to reset sh*t, and honestly the way everyone was talking about it made it seem like we were going to jump from universe to universe or something... it wasn't overly complicated, but it was just-- you don't need it.  Before the movie I kept thinking of Jurassic World, where they mistake the style for the substance and go overboard on the park, and I thought this would fall into the same trap, and it kinda did, getting too complicated and getting away from the simple theme of motherhood that's always been the series' strength.