I don’t understand, why such abysmal ratings?
I feel like the T-800, trying to figure out incomprehensible feelings of other people. I didn’t just enjoy Terminator Genisys, I really enjoy it! There were some rocky bumps along the way, like a wooden roller coaster from the past—yet similar to a well-made wooden roller coaster, it’s a complete thrill ride. When it comes to film, I’m well accustomed to being in the minority opinion (it’s happened at least a dozen times with 2015 releases alone), but it’s still rare for me to be this far off the general consensus. The film has a 25% on Rotten Tomatoes—lower, in fact, than the abysmal excuse for a sequel known as Terminator Salvation. How? Why? What am I missing here? I agree the Terminator franchise should have finished with Judgement Day—it was the ideal way to end the series—but Terminator Genisys is similar to a really well made fanfiction: an unnecessary, yet highly entertaining alternate version of a series that remains faithful to its lore while trying out interesting “what if” scenarios.
Let’s individually examine certain aspects of Terminator Genisys:
The Action: Great. An Intense, consistent, and engaging action-adventure. Pacing has a few rough patches here and there, yet is mostly fast and fluent.
The Plot: Convoluted and almost certainly containing a bunch of plot holes…just like every Terminator film! The first two films hide it better, but they still have multiple wacky time travel paradoxes. SPOILERS BEGIN: Genisys takes advantage of the series’s nonsensical time travel logic to explore fascinating alternate timelines, such as what if Kyle Reese survived the first film? What if Sarah Connor had a terminator when she was young? What if Kyle Reese found out he was John Connor’s father? What if John Connor worked for Skynet? Not all these situations are ideal (some, in fact, are quite awkward to watch), but even the roughly handled events are fascinating to see explored. SPOILERS END
Characters: Both Emilia Clarke (Sarah Connor) and Jai Courtney (Kyle Reese) have a fair share of nearly-cringe worthy romance scenes, primarily thanks to some very cliché lines (romance has never been the Terminator franchise’s strongest suit). Their acting, however, is far from awful, with Clarke being an acceptable replacement for Linda Hamilton and Courtney delivering a far better performance than some of his previous roles (A Good Day to Die Hard, Divergent, etc…). Oh, and also ARNOLD F@#%ING SCHWARZENEGGER’S back! And (as expected from his usual performance as the T-800) he’s completely awesome, delivering signature Schwarzenegger puns, delightful fish out of water comedy, and complete badassity while playing his iconic character. Having J.K. Simmons in your film is also an automatic plus.
Faithfulness: Notice how Genisys returns the 1997 Judgment Day where T3 altered the date to 2003. Notice also how Genisys returns laser guns after Salvation ditched them for more “realistic” weaponry (yet kept in the time traveling aspect). Genisys is very faithful to the James Cameron films, the most accurate non-Cameron sequel yet. It respects the franchise’s original lore, even when taking alternate paths—which is the way a sequel/reboot should be done.
I’m sticking to my guts here and I don’t care what anyone else says. Terminator Genisys is a really good action-adventure film, as well as the best non-Cameron Terminator yet. I’m generally upset I didn’t see/support it in theaters, which if anything, offers an important lesson regarding judging a film by its ratings. Sicario has a 93% on Rotten Tomatoes; Terminator Genisys has a 25%. One of the two films will likely place first on my worst of the year list, while the other will be making my best of 2015.