Terminator Genisys (2015)

[JOE SOAP]

Another reboot that needs to verbally state everything that's 'literally' going on where the original didn't.

[Spikes]

Extremely tired looking, and they lost me forever as soon as they started using catchphrases from the other films.

Why, oh why do they do that? Surely its the biggest give away that what you have is a piece of shit.

[TordelBack]

I don't think the concept is necessarily a bad one (sending a Terminator even further back is a bit Prof Dibworthy, but not entirely without merit), and Clarke makes a decent younger version of the T2 Sara, but from the trailer it looks like a French & Saunders movie skit.

[HdE]

Completely agree that use of memorable lines from previous movies is a tired trope.

I've actually spotted 'Come with me if you want to live' recycled in DOZENS of unrelated books, TV shows, comics, etc. It was horribly corny in the first Terminator movie, but at least that movie had ownership of the phrase, in a sense. Anywhere else I've seen it used, it just ellicits a pained groan.

Oh, and I DO hope somebody makes a new Predator movie and manages to shoe-horn in the line about him being an ugly motherf***er! Again! Because we really need that.

Nothing wrong with recycling unoriginal ideas, if they're presented in the context of an original and appealing story. But this thread just makes me pine for The Sarah Connor Chronicles.

[-Dunk!-]

Might be a case of hearing so much negativity about the trailer before hand meant my expectations were somewhat lowered, but that was enjoyable.

All your favourite bits fromm the first (and only) two Terminator films squeezed together + state of the art CGI?

I'm sold.

Well, until the reviews on release tell me it's rubbish, but until then...

Dunk!

[Keef Monkey]

I didn't watch that with particularly high expectations, but did hope to be pleasantly surprised. Sadly I was not!

It just looks tacky and soulless, none of the class of the originals (I count the first two movies as being up there with the best action films ever made), it just looks like glossy nonsense. It doesn't help that it looks relatively cheap - it wrongfooted me immediately when the CG in the very first shot looked pretty poor, and there are a few other points where the effects look similarly ropey (certainly looks worse to me than the 25 year old film it's aping).

The crowbarring of old lines is a real cringe too, the 'come with me if you want to live' is okay and actually quite a nice reversal, but the 'I'll be back' moment felt horribly forced and that coupled with the way the helicopter jump looked made me laugh involuntarily which is a bad sign. Not sure what the song is but the way it comes in with that 'I'd love to change the world' line just as they're discussing the time travel mission was another real cringe moment.

Plus points...Emilia Clarke really looks the part and seems to be doing a great job of pulling that badass T2 Linda Hamilton thing. That's about all I enjoyed of it though unfortunately. Sigh.

[Recrewt]

Nothing wrong with recycling unoriginal ideas, if they're presented in the context of an original and appealing story. But this thread just makes me pine for The Sarah Connor Chronicles.
[/quote]

The SC chronicles started off pretty strong but it definitely lost its way in that second series and it was probably the kindest thing that it got cancelled.

I really don't know what to make of this new movie but terminator (along with predator) seems like a franchise that should have scope for several movies but they can't seem to progress past the original idea. In the case of terminator they just seem obsessed with sending robots back in time. For me, salvation was a decent movie because it tried to do something different and move on with the story. 

[HdE]

The SC chronicles started off pretty strong but it definitely lost its way in that second series and it was probably the kindest thing that it got cancelled.

Couldn't disagree more.

For me, what made the show great and engaging was that - a handful of episodes that could debatably be described as filler aside - the show was just starting to go places and threatened to actually explore the ideas that underpinned the whole franchise. And there was an actual story developing that went beyond the simple dynamics that the mvies offer of chase / action / more chase / big fight / end credits.

I also like looking at Lena Headey very much. But that probably weakens my case. Ahem!

[Spikes]

I really don't know what to make of this new movie but terminator (along with predator) seems like a franchise that should have scope for several movies but they can't seem to progress past the original idea.

You can add the Alien film's to that list as well. And probably a few other franchises as well...

But yes, these seem stuck down a cul-de-sac, dont they. Which is a real shame.

[IAMTHESYSTEM]

Where could you take the franchise? As Joe Soap said the Terminator seems to have covered so much ground so well it didn't really need a sequel. Arnold is getting old and a Terminator armed with a Zimmer frame is hardly awe inspiring.

The back in time/Kill the Queen plot line is the easiest for film makers because it doesn't involve building large sets or commissioning masses of special effects etc that a futuristic plot line would inevitably involve.

The original Terminator was an 18 certificate and perhaps something made for Adults doesn't work to well when it's re made for a family audience. 

This version doesn't look to good from my p o v. Still it might surprise us all. Hopefully in a good way.

 

[TordelBack]

So much of the success of The Terminator comes from its simplicity- one unstoppable killing machine that does just one thing, and the neat closed loop of Kyle/Sara/John. The second opens that up a bit with some new roles and while diluted at least adds some spectacle. Plus who didn't want to know what became of Sara?. The increasing complexity of later installments just doesn't replace that simplicity with anything new.

[HdE]

I would say, though, that later instalments weren't actually that complex at all.

T3 basically just existed to give us a twist and punt the franchise forward a bit by saying 'You know what? Judgement Day happens. There. Deal with it.' Salvation was essentially just an action flick with a few new ideas lobbed in. I don't think either are bad movies - they just don't offer a lot to justify their existence.

I mean, where was the story progression in the broader scope of the franchise?

This is why I enjoyed T:SCC so much. There's a sense that there's a much wider plan in motion by the end of the series, and you're left with some genuine questions. Admittedly, this may be down in no small part to the show's hasty wrap-up in the face of cancellation. But it posed a few new ideas within the story setting.

And that's what I'd like to see - new stuff, story driven stuff, with less of the forced 'this is a Terminator movie, so we must do this' style thinking.

The Terminator is a dumb idea played straight with gusto, and works all the better for it. As soon as the minds behind the movies start dumbing them down, that's when the wheels on the cart start to wobble. I'm not saying this is what's actually going to happen with the new movie - it just marks the slippery path the makers need to avoid.

[von Boom]

Tordelback has summed up Terminator nicely. It was simple and to the point. I think this new film is overly complicated and will get mired down in its own loops.

I would have kept is simple. Skynet sent two T-800s back, one went too far and simply went into hibernation until the the appropriate time. Now this Terminator sets out to kill Sarah. The events would take place after the first film, maybe in Mexico. No need for Reese at all and easily explains the old Terminator.

[Recrewt]

Where could you take the franchise? As Joe Soap said the Terminator seems to have covered so much ground so well it didn't really need a sequel.

I'm sure that I read somewhere that Cameron's original idea behind the terminator was the robot stepping from the flames and he reverse engineered from there.  That first movie was always designed as a taut little story that made reference to an even bigger story.  The scope is the bigger story but they just seem to ignore this and go back to different remakes of the same film. 

I understand that it is difficult to come up with original ideas given there have been so many sci-fi books and films that have come out over the years.  I don't mind them reusing ideas that have gone before but at least put some effort in and think up something new for the audience rather than the same story with bigger explosions.

[Dark Jimbo]

Ha ha ha!

http://www.screenjunkies.com/video/this-new-trailer-for-terminator-genisys-should-clear-up-any-confusion/