He’s back! Arnold Schwarzenegger returns as the Terminator, but this time he is actually The Guardian. This time, however, he is affectionately referred to as “pops” by the new and (and improved?) Sarah Conner. Many of the original Terminator fans probably anticipated this movie with a mixed feeling of excitement and trepidation. Would it be as good as the original? Could any Terminator movie be as good as the original? Schwarzenegger has aged considerably since the first film came out. Even the special effects have come a long way since we first saw the Terminator land on the streets, sans clothes.

In a not-to-distant future, the war is still raging between humans and Skynet. The story opens with a young Kyle Reese being rescued by John Conner (Jason Clarke). Conner raises Reese to become his “right-hand soldier.” Fast forward … Tonight is the night that the humans must win or forever be ruled by the machines and an all-out battle ensues. Unfortunately, even though the mission is technically a success, the humans win too late. How is that for a twist? You win, but you don’t? As a result, Conner must send Reese (Jia Courney) back in time to protect Sarah Conner (Emilia Clarke). Unfortunately, the naïve image that Reese has been worshipping in his head is nothing like the Sarah Conner he encounters. This Sarah doesn’t need his help; she has pops, her guardian.

Great movie moments:

Sometimes I want to cringe when I see aging action heroes dye their hair and try to perform the same stunts they did when they were much younger. While Schwarzenegger did have some fight scenes, there were none that were so over the top that they were unbelievable and the movie embraced the character getting older.

Fewer corny lines. As much as I loved the first two Terminator movies, there were a lot of corny one-liners. Far fewer in this movie.

Not-so-great movie moments

I was so confused and a little creeped-out on some scenes. So Conner rescued Reese when Reese was a kid, but Reese was actually supposed to be Conner’s father?

There were so many back and forth, future to present, overlays in the story line, I occasionally lost track.

There is a pursuing terminator Cop / T-1000 played by Byung-hun Lee as with the first three movies, you know the one who takes the shape of the cop?? The T-1000 is killed early on and really didn’t serve much of a purpose other than to serve as homage to the original movie.

Jason Clarke was a little creepy-looking. I’m not sure if it was on purpose. It was hard to imagine him as the son of Reese and Conner. Schwarzenegger’s smile was far less creepy than Clarke's.

Emilia Clarke has a small stature (5’2) which made it little hard to view her as anything more than a kid playing an adult's role, but she played the part with passion and the chemistry between her and Jia Courtney definitely helped.

Overall, though I loved the Terminator and the idea of a current day movie, it wasn’t quite what I thought it would be. I give Terminator Genisys 3 out of 5 stars.

Details:

Rated: PG-13 – As always I ask, who makes these ratings? Violence, violence, violence – just not a lot of blood. A little side view nudity.

Run time: 126 minutes

Director: Alan Taylor

I paid for the movie ticket out my own funds and have not been compensated for this review.