After the Terminator franchise rebooted itself in 2009 with Terminator Salvation, but before it rebooted itself again in 2019 with Terminator: Dark Fate, there was a third rebooting which stands the highest likelihood of being lost to time.
2015’s Terminator Genisys is far from the best Terminator sequel, or even the best Terminator reboot, but the movie does have its fans and that begs the question: is it really as bad as word of mouth suggests it is? Let’s examine some of the movie’s successes next to its worst faults.
Isn’t: It’s Heavy on the Action
The original Terminator movie incorporated a number of different elements, from science-fiction to horror and suspense. But the first sequel firmly branded the title as an action franchise and, in this department, Terminator Genisys delivers on its end of the bargain.
Genisys provides fans of the franchise with a mountain of Terminator on Terminator carnage and, in the 5th installment, would it be so crazy to think that that’s what they’d be looking for?
Is: It Destroys Fan-Favorite Characters
Considering, again, that this is the 5th movie in a franchise with a fairly limited premise, it’s fair to assume that most of Terminator Genisys’ prospective audience is Terminator fans. But even if you aren’t one, it’s hard to see any positive qualities in the movie’s recreation of what were once iconic action movie characters.
Time-traveling selfless warrior Kyle Reese becomes nothing more than a naive teenager and Mother of the Resistance Sarah Connor is as equally whiny. To say nothing of what becomes of the legendary leader of the Resistance, John Connor, who is transformed into an uncharismatic supervillain in the movie.
Isn’t: Schwarzenegger’s Performance
Few stars have connections to roles as powerful as Arnold Schwarzenegger’s one with the Terminator. He can be the villain, he can be the hero, he can be the comic relief, he just needs to be in the movie and fans will be happy.
Celebrating his 67th birthday during Terminator Genisys‘ filming, Schwarzenegger brings a much-needed level of humor and gusto to the otherwise tired proceedings.
Is: Everybody Else’s Performance
This isn’t to say that Terminator Genisys isn’t full of great actors (it is) but nobody other than Schwarzenegger seems to have any idea as to what they’re meant to be doing with their character.
Part of what makes Emilia Clarke and Jai Courtney so disappointing in their roles as Kyle Reese and Sarah Connor is down to the fact that neither appears to have any clue as to what their character is really meant to be feeling, beyond scared or startled or momentarily angry.
Isn’t: It Makes an Honest Attempt at Rebooting the Franchise Without Discarding Its History
Terminator movies do not have the simplest timeline and you can forgive screenwriters for struggling with a premise that centers around time travel, the most notoriously difficult fictional device to use without falling into inconsistencies and paradoxes.
For all its faults, Terminator Genisys does its best not to throw away all the work done in other installments while trying to give fans something new. Its failure, however, resulted in the timeline being rebooted all the way back to Terminator 2 in the next movie.
Is: It’s Overly Convoluted
The most damning consequence of Terminator Genisys‘ toying with timelines is a plot that is forced to use time travel multiple times just to break it free from the original movies.
The result is an almost incomprehensible mess of quantum nexus time flows or something or other, which leaves the writers picking and choosing what they want from each version of the movies while leaving the audience completely confused.
Isn’t: It’s Not Just a Remake
Perhaps Terminator Genisys would have fared better with audiences if it had presented itself as a straight remake of the original movie, leaving its numerous twists and turns as something to be discovered whilst watching it and not from looking at the poster.
Regardless, Terminator Genisys deserves credit for at least attempting to create something new out what was left of the franchise instead of essentially rebooting its original story for a modern audience as the following entry, Terminator: Dark Fate, essentially did.
Is: It’s Still Incredibly Unoriginal
Despite all of its attempts at originality, the fact remains that Terminator Genisys is a disliked movie because it’s cliched and generic blockbuster moviemaking dressed in the skin of a once original franchise.
Watching the movie’s attempts at constructing new characters and action sequences is like watching a PowerPoint presentation. It ultimately just comes off as cold, calculated, and devoid of any actual personality.
Isn’t: It Opens Up the Possibility For Something Entirely New
When it’s all over and there are no more boxes left to tick off on the list of action movie necessities, Terminator Genisys leaves an obligatory open end for an obligatory sequel.
The possibilities of that sequel, however, are entirely new for the franchise. It leaves unanswered questions that present unexplored avenues for the continuing story. The drawback to this is…
Is: Nothing in the Story is Tied Up
It’s possible that, by the end of Terminator Genisys, almost everyone involved in it knew that they wouldn’t be returning for a sequel and its failure to answer any of its own questions is really more a Get Out of Jail Free card than it is an attempt at leaving a foundation to build on.
Either way, fans will never know because the plans for the sequel were promptly scrapped in favor of a retcon overhaul which posed its own unlikely-to-be-answered set of questions.
