Terminator Genisys may have had a rough weekend at the box-office but if you are a sci-fi buff this one won't disappoint you a bit. And if you are an Arnold Schwarzenegger fan, you are most likely to fall in love with the older-cuter version of this cyborg, again, who keeps saying “I have grown old not obsolete”.
It is 2029 and a sinister operating system (OS) Skynet rules the world. And machines are on a mission to obliterate human race from earth. But determined to change the future, John Connor (Jason Clarke), the leader of human resistance against Skynet, wages a war against machines. Just when John is about to win the war, the OS succeeds in sending a Terminator back in time (1984, when the first Terminator series film was released) to kill John’s mother Sarah Connor (Emilia Clarke). Once Sarah is killed, John existence is erased from the past and so are all his victories against the malevolent Skynet.
John sends Kyle Reese (Jai Courtney) from future to save his mother, who was rescued from a Terminator by Arnie when she was nine and raised by the cyborg. Now 67-year-old, Sarah shares a beautiful bond with Arnold and calls him Pops. What’s disheartening, though, is Emilia is as dull as Jai when it comes to emoting on screen. It seems fair in case of Arnie as he plays a robot.
Arnold Schwarzenegger in a still from the film
After gauging the situation both Sarah and Kyle decide to destroy the OS so they time travel again from 1984 to 2017—the year when Skynet was launched by the name of Genisys—with the help of Pops. Just when they think that things are falling in place, John, who has been possessed by Skynet and turned into a mean cyborg, travels to the past, finds Sarah and Kyle and tries to kill them and destroy the nasty system.
While the story is interesting it is a tad bit complicated, especially if you are a first timer. Blink once and you have lost track of it. For instance, it is difficult to understand how Kyle, who is as young as John in future, is actually his father but is unaware of the fact. But he can father John only after he travels to the past and meet Sarah there. So, it is nowhere explained how Sarah and John know this but Kyle doesn’t.
In another such scene, Kyle has some random childhood memories (a solution that is told to kid Kyle by adult Kyle when he time travels to save Sarah) about destroying Genisys is the only way to free the future from the clutches of Skynet. What makes up for the ambiguity are power-packed fight-sequences and special effects. And there is Arnie.
Film: Terminator Genisys
Director: Alan Taylor
Cast: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Emilia Clarke, Jai Courtney, Jason Clarke
Rating: 3.5
