Terminator: Genisys - Part 7

[Loki882]

I'm a completest.

 

[The Slang]

My morbid curiosity got the better of me and I went to see it. By the time 'Sarah Connor' appeared on screen, I realized what a horrible mistake I had made. I've spent all my time since then sobbing in the shower and begging God for forgiveness for giving money to the people who raped my childhood.

These stories and characters were a big part of my life and I love them. This was like watching the big, slow neighbor kid playing too rough with your cat.

 

[flickchick85]

Why are some of you still wasting your money on this film?

Well I did say it was against my better judgment, lol. Curiosity's a b****.

 

[Soapy]

I think the negative reception this is getting is kind of overblown. It's not great, but it's not terrible either. It's just a middle of the road action movie. Nothing more, nothing less.

 

[Loki882]

And that's the problem. When the first two films were so much more than that, people who are fans expect more, and that's perfectly reasonable. It shows just how far this franchise has fallen. "Middle of the road" action movie isn't good enough for a Terminator film.

 

[Man in the Suit]

And that's the problem. When the first two films were so much more than that, people who are fans expect more, and that's perfectly reasonable. It shows just how far this franchise has fallen. "Middle of the road" action movie isn't good enough for a Terminator film.

Bingo. The first two movies are classics from a master filmmaker in his prime. Why settle for "middle of the road" or worse?

 

[The Slang]

I admit it was fun to see Arnold come back, but it was fun in a terminator-themed SNL skit kind of way, not a Terminator movie. My favorite part was the future war at the beginning, even though the cgi endos were bad. I liked this version of John Connor. He seemed like a truly inspiring leader, and there was this mysticism surrounding him, where people believed he could see the future and he was a prophet.

 

[TheFuture]

And that's the problem. When the first two films were so much more than that, people who are fans expect more, and that's perfectly reasonable. It shows just how far this franchise has fallen. "Middle of the road" action movie isn't good enough for a Terminator film.

If you're holding a film to the standard of T1 and T2 then there's only going to be one result and that's disappointment.

 

[Supernova]

If you're holding a film to the standard of T1 and T2 then there's only going to be one result and that's disappointment.

Why wouldnt you? Arent movies suppose to get better, not worse? Its really sad when in a franchise the 5th entry in 2015 has worse effects then a movie from 2 decades before. When movies like the T1 and T2 set the tone you should try tonthen raise the bar even further and not aim for mediocrity.

 

[TheFuture]

Why wouldnt you? Arent movies suppose to get better, not worse? Its really sad when in a franchise the 5th entry in 2015 has worse effects then a movie from 2 decades before. When movies like the T1 and T2 set the tone you should try tonthen raise the bar even further and not aim for mediocrity.

Because films like T1 and T2 are the exception rather than the rule, where even Cameron himself has at times struggled to match the quality of those films.

I'm not sure either about the criticism of the special effects either. The effects were non nonsensical at times yes such as Arnie still having his skin coming out of a burning wreck, but worse? Not for me.

 

[elgaz]

One of my biggest gripes with the Terminator franchise has been its inclusion of humour.

I was 6yrs old when the original film came out in 1984, and I remember watching it on VHS video a couple of years later (my Dad had it, but I must have 'borrowed' it as he didn't usually let me watch films geared for adults). I watched it, loved it, but came away terrified of this nigh-unstoppable, unsmiling, unfeeling totally unemotional and totally merciless machine known as the Terminator.

I'm now almost 30 yrs older and whilst the film doesn't scare me any more, I still get a bit of a chill in certain scenes, such is the effect of how they sold this notion of an unstoppable predator. In some ways it symbolises death stalking us, something we can't escape from no matter how hard we run.

T2 came out and whilst it introduced some humour to the proceedings, it was mostly low-key and worked in the context of a young John Connor trying to educate a robot in contemporary lingo and so on. It wasn't farcical.

I'm not averse to humour in 'serious' films, when used correctly and appropriately. But some films just don't need it, and I feel like it kills any tension which has built up and does nothing to help the consistency of the film's tone.

Arnold putting on Village People sunglasses in T3 didn't not help me find him believable as an ultimate killing machine. Neither did his constant forced smiles in T5. Or his indiscreet reference to Kyle Reese's penis.

I'm sure the producers are trying to appeal to all bases; want action? Watch Terminator films! Want sci-fi? Watch Terminator films! Want laughs? Watch Terminator films! Want a doomed love story? Watch Terminator films! .............................. as Hollywood execs are want to do these days. But IMO, the entire concept of Terminator films - fate, the destruction of the human race, machine logic - is not suited to humour. And the beauty of Cameron's original film was his singled mindedness in sticking to one tone for the film and not trying to make it appeal to everyone.

 

[Loki882]

If you're going to retcon/contradict the entire point of the first two film just so that you can continue to make more, then the subsequent movies had better be up to the quality of the first two. Otherwise, people are going to complain because all you're doing is damaging a franchise that already HAD a natural/proper conclusion.

And this is doubly so if you're going to retcon out of existence or at least heavily rewrite the events of those films. If your film is crap, then people will be even more angry/annoyed because you messed with the films that they loved, all to give us a subpar one yourself.

 

[Loki882]

One of my biggest gripes with the Terminator franchise has been its inclusion of humour.

I was 6yrs old when the original film came out in 1984, and I remember watching it on VHS video a couple of years later (my Dad had it, but I must have 'borrowed' it as he didn't usually let me watch films geared for adults). I watched it, loved it, but came away terrified of this nigh-unstoppable, unsmiling, unfeeling totally unemotional and totally merciless machine known as the Terminator.

I'm now almost 30 yrs older and whilst the film doesn't scare me any more, I still get a bit of a chill in certain scenes, such is the effect of how they sold this notion of an unstoppable predator. In some ways it symbolises death stalking us, something we can't escape from no matter how hard we run.

T2 came out and whilst it introduced some humour to the proceedings, it was mostly low-key and worked in the context of a young John Connor trying to educate a robot in contemporary lingo and so on. It wasn't farcical.

I'm not averse to humour in 'serious' films, when used correctly and appropriately. But some films just don't need it, and I feel like it kills any tension which has built up and does nothing to help the consistency of the film's tone.

Arnold putting on Village People sunglasses in T3 didn't not help me find him believable as an ultimate killing machine. Neither did his constant forced smiles in T5. Or his indiscreet reference to Kyle Reese's penis.

I'm sure the producers are trying to appeal to all bases; want action? Watch Terminator films! Want sci-fi? Watch Terminator films! Want laughs? Watch Terminator films! Want a doomed love story? Watch Terminator films! .............................. as Hollywood execs are want to do these days. But IMO, the entire concept of Terminator films - fate, the destruction of the human race, machine logic - is not suited to humour. And the beauty of Cameron's original film was his singled mindedness in sticking to one tone for the film and not trying to make it appeal to everyone.

T3 strikes me as a case of the people who made it going "lets do T2 again, but this time with more comedy." And Arnold likely had a lot to do with that. One of the things that I've noticed about him is that he seems to be in on the joke that is himself. He knows that he's over the top and ridiculous and has run with that (often to great success). Heck Commando is basically 90 minutes of Arnie making fun of himself. His natural instinct seems to be giving his work a more comedic edge, be it a quip, a one-liner, or some kind of physical comedy.

With the first two films, Cameron was able to keep those instincts largely in-check. But the people who made T3 and this movie weren't going to be able to tell THE Arnold Schwarzenegger to "dial back on the comedy" the way that Cameron could. That's why in T3, the T-800 felt the most "Arnold" that he's ever been. It was Arnold being Arnold, just as a machine.

At least that's how it struck me anyway.

 

[P Supreme]

Skynet was still functioning under the rubble.

Thanks!

 

[Iron_Stark]

Why wouldnt you? Arent movies suppose to get better, not worse? Its really sad when in a franchise the 5th entry in 2015 has worse effects then a movie from 2 decades before. When movies like the T1 and T2 set the tone you should try tonthen raise the bar even further and not aim for mediocrity.

Yeah, sorry, but no. Don't go back and try to revise history. Sure T1 and T2 had the better story and all, but better effects? Come on.

Spoiler

Also in the close up shots in T2 it was real obvious Arnold had a prosthetic glued on the side of his face and whenever the T-1000 got shot it was also real obvious those bullet hit wounds here clipped to his shirt the way they were dangling and flopping around whenever he was running.

And then don't get me started on the blatant stunt doubles.

I love, absolutely LOVE the originals, but I don't come on here pretending they're this holy grail of effects wizardry and perfection.

 

[P Supreme]

its a decent action movie but a horrendous Terminator movie

all of the t-1000 screen time was in the trailers
Jai Courtney was terrible as everyone predicted

 

[TeeKay]

Wait there was a post credit scene?

 

[henzINNIT]

T3 strikes me as a case of the people who made it going "lets do T2 again, but this time with more comedy." And Arnold likely had a lot to do with that. One of the things that I've noticed about him is that he seems to be in on the joke that is himself. He knows that he's over the top and ridiculous and has run with that (often to great success). Heck Commando is basically 90 minutes of Arnie making fun of himself. His natural instinct seems to be giving his work a more comedic edge, be it a quip, a one-liner, or some kind of physical comedy.

With the first two films, Cameron was able to keep those instincts largely in-check. But the people who made T3 and this movie weren't going to be able to tell THE Arnold Schwarzenegger to "dial back on the comedy" the way that Cameron could. That's why in T3, the T-800 felt the most "Arnold" that he's ever been. It was Arnold being Arnold, just as a machine.

At least that's how it struck me anyway.

That is what I believe too. The films actually follow Arnold's career path pretty closely. His presence was low-key and intimidating in T1 because he was an unknown entity and inexperienced, but he was an action hero in Hollywood by the time T2 came around. By the time T3 was made, Arnie was a certified icon who had taken a turn into more comedic and self-aware projects. It's quite easy to see how it turned out.

 

[MadVillainy]

That is what I believe too. The films actually follow Arnold's career path pretty closely. His presence was low-key and intimidating in T1 because he was an unknown entity and inexperienced, but he was an action hero in Hollywood by the time T2 came around. By the time T3 was made, Arnie was a certified icon who had taken a turn into more comedic and self-aware projects. It's quite easy to see how it turned out.

And now TG where he's old, out of touch and really is just trying to recapture his glory years by leaning on stuff from is old movies.

 

[henzINNIT]

And now TG where he's old, out of touch and really is just trying to recapture his glory years by leaning on stuff from is old movies.

Yup, pretty much. The line "Old, not obsolete" is quite telling.

 

[Supernova]

Yeah, sorry, but no. Don't go back and try to revise history. Sure T1 and T2 had the better story and all, but better effects? Come on.

Spoiler

Also in the close up shots in T2 it was real obvious Arnold had a prosthetic glued on the side of his face and whenever the T-1000 got shot it was also real obvious those bullet hit wounds here clipped to his shirt the way they were dangling and flopping around whenever he was running.

And then don't get me started on the blatant stunt doubles.

I love, absolutely LOVE the originals, but I don't come on here pretending they're this holy grail of effects wizardry and perfection.

Alot of those effects are more believable then todays crap. The T1000 from T2 looks just as good as this movie too. Atleast with the head mold it was creepy actually seeing some of the skeleton under the damaged skin in T1

 

[Mysteryman]

Wait there was a post credit scene?

More like mid credits .

 

[Iron_Stark]

Alot of those effects are more believable then todays crap. The T1000 from T2 looks just as good as this movie too. Atleast with the head mold it was creepy actually seeing some of the skeleton under the damaged skin in T1

No they aren't. That head mold looked fake back then and looks worse now. Those effects may have looked good back then because of the TV's we had and because we didn't have reference point to compare them to. But I just saw all of these movies on my big screen HDTV over the weekend, and cringed at most of the effects. The Sarah dream sequence is another example of out dated effects. You can tell those are miniatures getting blown up and model vehicles getting tossed aside.

Sorry, like I said, I love those movies, but a lot of those effects just don't hold up, and my nostalgia for them isn't going to have me believe they're better than the effects we have today.

 

[MessiahDecoy123]

There was one scene that seemed like a dig at John Connor fans.

When Kyle or Sarah (I can't remember which) is pleading to try and save cyber John Connor, Arnold tells them it's impossible because he's been changed on a cellular level.

The movie almost breaks the fourth wall to point out that the John Connor character cannot be redeemed in any way.

It's so callous towards fans it reminds me of the midiclorians explanation in episode 1.

 

[BatLobster]

I'm seeing this for five bucks tonight. Yeah, it'll probably be a mistake but I agreed to go with a friend. My expectations are very low based on everything I'm hearing. The whole "but why should we lower our expectations when the first two are such classics?" is a nice thought, but unfortunately I'm unable to be that idealistic about the franchise anymore. Terminator 3 and 4 happened. At this point more Terminator films have been made by people other than James Cameron than by the man himself. My expectations for a franchise can't just automatically reset to the the highest of highs once it's been watered down. Sad but true. I just watched T2 though, and man does that movie hold up quite beautifully. So that probably won't help this movie for me. The franchise was probably always destined to live in that movie's shadow with or without Cameron. It was a perfect storm. This might be the last time I get a chance to see Arnie as the T-800 on the big screen, so hopefully I'll at least enjoy that aspect of it. My expectations are basically another T3, just more comedic by nature of Arnie being older. I prefer a more stoic Terminator myself, but given his age you almost have to go that route at this point.

The sad thing is I think if Salvation had been a better movie, we could've gotten more sequels exploring the war which could've been a nice fresh direction for the franchise. I wanted to see more of that world, and the franchise really needed to become Arnold-independent to truly have a viable future. They had the right idea, but unfortunately the movie just wasn't up to par.

T2 is really the heart of the franchise though, precisely BECAUSE it contradicts everything and becomes more about a bond between man and machine and all that good stuff and even though the idea of stopping Judgment Day is a bit of a logical fallacy given the existence of John, and the Terminator universe is extremely wonky with its lack of clearly established time travel rules, T2's optimistic-yet-ambiguous ending was probably the most beautiful way for the franchise to have ended.