Writers: Laeta Kalogridis, Patrick Lussier
Director: Alan Taylor
Arnie's oft-repeated line "I'll be back" holds true here for he is most definitely back, front and centre, in this continuation of the Terminator franchise. This time out, John Connor (Clarke - Jason, not Emilia, obviously) has to protect mum Sarah (Clarke - Emilia, not Jason, obviously) from being bumped off by a time-travelling cyborg so he sends back trusted soldier Kyle Reese (Jai Courtney) back to 1984 Los Angeles to prevent the dastardly deed from being done.
Hold on, isn't this the first movie only with the addition of a fancy, effects-laden prologue featuring an attack on Skynet? Well, for a few minutes it seems as though it may be, with a more youthful Arnie's T-800 spec Terminator falling out of the sky near the same garbage truck and then marching across the grounds of the Griffith Observatory where he's about to acquire some clothing from three punks. Which is where the plot takes a pleasing left turn as....actually, if you're going to watch it, I won't spoil this but suffice to say the expected timeline has been all messed up. For all you fans of Nike Vandals then don't panic, Reese still makes sure he gets himself a shiny new pair but in his quest for classic footwear the Genisys version of the character finds himself trying to evade more than the cops. As for Sarah Connor, she's no waitress but a gun-toting, order-giving survivalist with an Arnie of her own in tow.
With me so far? If you're not then you're going to have an issue with the alternate timeline shenanigans which are rolled out in this flick. The pasts, presents and futures of various characters criss-cross each other and set forth numerous permutations as to how the fate of humanity may or may not play out. To be honest, it's more or less a load of guff but the proceedings shoot along at such a clip that you're not given much of a chance to ponder the plot holes in between the fisticuffs, gunplay, chases and explosions.
Unsurprisingly, Genisys doesn't hit the heights of Cameron's original (or indeed its sequel) but it's several notches up on Terminator: Salvation and it's in a totally different ballpark to the execrable Rise of the Machines. It pays a lot of respect to the original movie while still having plenty of fun riffing on it. Of course, it's great to see Arnie back in the role he was pretty much born to play and the fact that he's here again after all these years - the plot deals with his aging in fairly swift order - lends the film a warm glow of comforting familiarity.
Elsewhere, issues do arise with new actors replacing old ones in familiar roles. Emilia Clarke does a perfectly decent job as Sarah Connor but Linda Hamilton was so good as Sarah Mark One that Sarah Mark Two takes some getting used to. Likewise, Jai Courtney proves he can handle both the action and emotional beats as Kyle Reese but he's not Michael Biehn. Jason Clarke is saddled with a somewhat underwritten part as both a good and bad guy and he doesn't make quite the impact I'd expected but to be fair this doesn't sink the movie, which rests more on the admittedly entertaining interplay between Arnie, Ms Clarke and Courtney. The movie does, however, commit one huge faux pas in giving the great J.K. Simmons the square root of eff all to do. Apparently he may figure more if/when there are follow-ups to this and I hope this is true because his considerable watchability is totally squandered here.
To conclude, this is enjoyable blockbuster fare that doesn't take itself too seriously (the odd line even pokes fun at its own improbability) and keeps the action coming thick and fast. Even the 12A rating doesn't hamper things as I thought it might, the fights between the machines being lengthy, crunchy and destructive. Yes, the plot - which somehow manages to be both dumb and needlessly complicated at the same time - doesn't exactly help matters but overall the fifth Terminator outing functions capably as undemanding action fodder.
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