Arnold is Back, For Better or For Worse

The fifth installment to James Cameron’s Terminator franchise has overstayed its welcome with a muddled concept and uninteresting thrills. 

---

In all honesty, the Terminator franchise should have ended at Terminator 2: Judgment Day. Director James Cameron (Titanic, Terminator 1 & 2) perfectly crafted these Cyborg-born machine sequels and was able to end them on a satisfyingly high note. Sadly, Hollywood got greedy and wanted to continue the series with more bloated sequels (Terminator 3: Rise of the Machine, Terminator Salvation and now Terminator: Genisys). 

The first Terminator was the story setup, while T2 concluded that mythology with eye-popping action sequences and a bravura Arnold Schwarzenegger performance. Now, 24 years later Hollywood hasn’t made any progress with expanding upon that intriguing concept of Cyborgs taking over. Stacked with a sharp cast (Emilia Clarke, Jason Clarke, Jai Courtney, J.K. Simmons and even the Terminator himself, Schwarzenegger), Terminator Genisys failed to get its feet off the ground and got jammed in its own mythology ... dammit Alan Taylor (director of this mess and Thor: The Dark World). 

Genisys takes the “forget everything you’ve learned before” concept to an irritating new level. With action sequences that drain instead of wow, Genisys is a real headache to Paramount’s newly rebooted trilogy. Now, we are stuck with at least two more PG-13 sequels. By the end of the film, I as many others in the theater were machined out. I wished Mr. Schwarzenegger had never said that iconic phrase, “I’ll be back.” 

Terminator: Genisys is rated PG-13 (Parents Strongly Cautioned). For intense sequences of sc-fi violence and gunplay throughout, partial nudity and brief strong language.