Skip to main content

Terminator Genisys (2015) - Movie Review


Just like Jurassic World, this is another new addition to a classic and beloved franchise we got this year. And in similar fashion, I was both excited and doubtful. Luckily, the movie turned out to be better than what I expected but it had lots of quirks.

Arnold kicked it out of the park. I loved him. He was funny and he was awesome. Emilia Clarke (Khaleesi) was a pretty good Sarah Conner. She was just like what you'd expect a girl in her situation to be. Jason Clarke as John Conner was OK. And Jai Courtney as Kyle Reese wasn't that bad like everyone made him out to be. He still had that bland look about him though, don't think he'll ever get rid of that. Lastly, J.K Simmons role was pretty good, albeit a bit too short.

The movie pays a huge homage/respect to the James Cameron Terminator movies (T1 and T2), especially part 1. Hell, some of the starting scenes were recreated shot for shot and it was great seeing that along with some bits and pieces that added to those scenes. Lots of fan service. This was the most humor filled Terminator movie so far. Many of it was timed pretty well and I really liked it. I gotta tell ya, those Arnold smile scenes, a homage to T2, really cracked me up. Also, I loved how they used that famous "Dudun dun dudun" soundtrack for cool Arnold scenes.

The problem was that the movie tried to overdo with the time travel plot. The beauty of the first two terminator films was that it kept the time travel aspect simple. Here, they did a lot more twists and turns and it got convoluted and messy. Also, the stupid marketing team SPOILED a lot of the movie in the trailers. Seriously lousy job there Paramount. Not that I liked that whole John Conner thing but still the shock value could have been cool. And the non-R rated rating had its downsides as well. Biggest for me was that the damage to Arnold looked lame without any detail to blood and skin like in the previous parts because they had to tone it down for PG-13.

The action, aside from a select few scenes, was pretty OK. I mean it was decent but there was nothing truly memorable in it. And I don't know where the used all the budget because many of the action sequences had sub-par CGI for today's standards.

All in all, I had a good enough time with this movie even with its flaws. I re-watched all the previous parts before this. And I would recommend everyone to watch Terminator 1 and 2 before watching this, just to refresh the memory. It is just sad for me that I wanted a future movie more. I'm one of those few who actually LIKED Salvation a lot. And I honestly wanted a sequel to it more than this. I wanna see the future stuff because this going back to the past and stopping SkyNet stuff has been done four times now, including this.

7/10

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Baywatch (2017) - Movie Review

Baywatch is a movie based on the old TV series of the same name. It's about a bunch of lifeguards on a beach who try to uncover drug smuggling in their area...yeah, that is the plot. It's dumb, it's stupid, but I was pleasantly surprised that it wasn't that bad. Don't get me wrong, it's not good, but it wasn't horrible either.  The movie actually had some fun in it. The Rock, as always, was charismatic, funny and likable; and Zac Efron, surprisingly, was similar to that. He got ripped AF for the movie. Alexandra Daddario was fun as well, although any movie gets bonus points for just including her in my book. Priyanka Chopra was in it as well, and between her in this and Deepika Padukone in XXX: The Return of Xander Cage, Priyanka definitely was the better one.  There were legit funny scenes sprinkled throughout, but there were also a shit ton of scenes that tried too hard to be hilarious but fell flat instead. Baywatch also had a large dosage...

13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi (2016) - Review

This movie is based on a true story about the attack on an american embassy and a secret CIA base in Benghazi, Libya, on the 9/11 anniversary in 2012. And how a few numbers of of Ex-Soldiers managed to repel the attack. Directed by Micheal Bay, I was surprised to see him holding back his Bay-ism and deliver a straight forward focused film. The story got a long build up at the start, setting up the location, the characters and the situation. And then chaos. What I liked most about this film was the fact that you felt just as lost as the soldiers and people in this movie. The confusion, the chaos, the uncertainty, it was delivered quite nicely, creating tension and thrill. There are a lot of characters in the movie, but ultimately it is focused on these soldiers, and while the movie could have done a better job developing them, what it did was good enough in a sense that it worked for the movie. I liked em. Acting varied, with some delivering pretty good performances. Also, again wi...

John Wick 2 (2017) - Movie Review

John Wick 2 is a sequel to the 2014 surprise hit John Wick, and it follows him as he is forced to return to his former life once again. The trailers did a good job of not giving much away, so I'll keep it vague as well. The first one was great, so naturally, I was hyped for the sequel, and suffice to say it delivered where it mattered.  Keanu Reeves once again reprises the role of ultimate bad-ass assassin John Wick, with different character motivations this time around, resulting in a more subdued performance than last time, which nonetheless works for the story, and it's just great seeing Keanu again in style. There are some familiar faces from the previous film like Ian McShane (Winston) and Lance Reddick (Hotel Manager), giving similarly good performances. And new ones like Laurence Fishburn, resulting in a reunion of Neo and Morpheus, which should make any Matrix fan cheer up inside, and he gave a good performance as well. One of the things that stood out to ...