Terminator: Genisys - Part 8

[I SEE SPIDEY]

Reese, as played by Michael Biehn, is basically an animal. He's paranoid, prone to panic, scrappy, quick to lash out, constantly scared, impatient, overly emotional, etc. The one time in the entire film that he relaxes and acts as a normal human being is a brief moment right after having sex with Sarah. It was really a rather brilliant and very underrated performance.

You said it better than I did. I didn't appreciate the character or performance until recently. It's a really different sort of character for a sci fi action/thriller movie.

I'm not really picky about height and builds of actors but I think making Reese have a bulky action hero body is yet another betrayal of the character. Making T-1000 a muscular type would have also made that character have less impact. Everything came together to make these characters interesting and memorable, you can't just toss all of that away.

I'm not a stick in the mud I'm fine with changes and new interpretations but the characters in Terminator are not 50-75 year old comic book characters that have been interpreted multiple ways. If you are going to change Reese and Sarah so drastically it damn well better be an interesting change because we only know them one way. The changes in Genisys were, in my opinion, bland and for the worst. They turned interesting complex characters into cartoons. I'm sorry but I don't accept that.

 

[Kahran Ramsus]

Interestingly, Arnold Schwarzenegger was originally going to play Reese and Lance Henriksen was going to play the Terminator, but Schwarzenegger wanted to play the Terminator instead. That would have been a VERY different film.

 

[I SEE SPIDEY]

I know all of the behind the scenes stories because I am a crazy for this franchise. I'm sure a lot of stuff in most films is a happy accent when those films are successful. Cameron did say that he never wanted Arnold for Reese anyway so unless he was forced to hire him, I don't think Arnold would have played that role. Correct me if I'm wrong about that.

 

[Kahran Ramsus]

I know all of the behind the scenes stories because I am a crazy for this franchise. I'm sure a lot of stuff in most films is a happy accent when those films are successful. Cameron did say that he never wanted Arnold for Reese anyway so unless he was forced to hire him, I don't think Arnold would have played that role. Correct me if I'm wrong about that.

Sounds about right.

 

[Lynice]

The thing that made both The Terminator and Terminator 2: Judgement Day memorable to me was the relatability of the main characters. Sarah Connor was a waitress turned badass. Linda Hamilton proved that she could play both parts well. You saw her transform before your eyes and it was believable. Michael Biehn is the only Kyle Reese I will accept simply because his performance was also very believable.

I had no problem with changing the story to show Kyle finding a version of Sarah who was raised by a terminator. The problem was the execution of that idea. The Sarah Connor Chronicles did a better job of showing that type of Sarah Connor than Genisys simply because they got it right with the casting. Lena Headey just has it. Clarke does not. It was almost embarrassing to watch her performance because it was like glorified cosplay.

Hamilton and Biehn's performances made me feel like we were in actual danger and mankind was at stake. They made you care, you were engaged. Not once, watching Genisys, did I feel anything other than "when can we get out of here?"

 

[DA_Champion]

Reese, as played by Michael Biehn, is basically an animal. He's paranoid, prone to panic, scrappy, quick to lash out, constantly scared, impatient, overly emotional, etc. The one time in the entire film that he relaxes and acts as a normal human being is a brief moment right after having sex with Sarah. It was really a rather brilliant and very underrated performance.

True !

 

[Jay Beezy]

You said it better than I did. I didn't appreciate the character or performance until recently. It's a really different sort of character for a sci fi action/thriller movie.

I'm not really picky about height and builds of actors but I think making Reese have a bulky action hero body is yet another betrayal of the character. Making T-1000 a muscular type would have also made that character have less impact. Everything came together to make these characters interesting and memorable, you can't just toss all of that away.

I'm not a stick in the mud I'm fine with changes and new interpretations but the characters in Terminator are not 50-75 year old comic book characters that have been interpreted multiple ways. If you are going to change Reese and Sarah so drastically it damn well better be an interesting change because we only know them one way. The changes in Genisys were, in my opinion, bland and for the worst. They turned interesting complex characters into cartoons. I'm sorry but I don't accept that.

Skydance did say that they wanted to be like Marvel with their franchises.

 

[Jay Beezy]

The thing that made both The Terminator and Terminator 2: Judgement Day memorable to me was the relatability of the main characters. Sarah Connor was a waitress turned badass. Linda Hamilton proved that she could play both parts well. You saw her transform before your eyes and it was believable. Michael Biehn is the only Kyle Reese I will accept simply because his performance was also very believable.

I had no problem with changing the story to show Kyle finding a version of Sarah who was raised by a terminator. The problem was the execution of that idea. The Sarah Connor Chronicles did a better job of showing that type of Sarah Connor than Genisys simply because they got it right with the casting. Lena Headey just has it. Clarke does not. It was almost embarrassing to watch her performance because it was like glorified cosplay.

Hamilton and Biehn's performances made me feel like we were in actual danger and mankind was at stake. They made you care, you were engaged. Not once, watching Genisys, did I feel anything other than "when can we get out of here?"

Lena Headey was certainly underappreciated for the sole reason of comparison to Linda Hamilton. You could certainly see a warrior's instinct in Lena. For the sake of the show, they had to combine that with the maternal instinct Sarah didn't have so much of in T2. And Lena had that as well. So it made for a palpable continuation of Linda's Sarah.

Emilia Clarke's version naturally didn't have the maternal instinct because she hadn't given birth yet, though that's in the writing. But when it comes to girls whom I can see believably wielding a firearm and giving orders, Emilia is certainly not one of those.

 

[I SEE SPIDEY]

Skydance did say that they wanted to be like Marvel with their franchises.

I thought they meant franchising like Marvel not copying the tone. I know I've said this a trillion times but that just isn't the right tone for the Terminator franchise. T2 already had a blockbustery tone, the films shouldn't get lighter than that film. I adore T2 more than anything but if anything I think they should have dailed back the blockbuster instinct in the follow up films.

 

[Jay Beezy]

I thought they meant franchising like Marvel not copying the tone. I know I've said this a trillion times but that just isn't the right tone for the Terminator franchise. T2 already had a blockbustery tone, the films shouldn't get lighter than that film. I adore T2 more than anything but if anything I think they should have dailed back the blockbuster instinct in the follow up films.

Attempting to be like Marvel could also mean attempting to appeal to the masses. That is something that can potentially affect tone, which it seemed to as this was the family-friendly Terminator movie.

 

[I SEE SPIDEY]

I keep hearing how the PG 13 rated Terminator movies are made the way they are to appeal to the masses and yet the films keep disappointing critically, audience wise and financially. Maybe they should spend less time trying to "appeal to the masses" and more time just trying to make an interesting and good Terminator movie.

Also it's obvious that these 155-200 million dollar budgets are too large, not enough people are supporting the films to cover these huge budgets.

 

[The Chris]

Lena Headey was certainly underappreciated for the sole reason of comparison to Linda Hamilton. You could certainly see a warrior's instinct in Lena. For the sake of the show, they had to combine that with the maternal instinct Sarah didn't have so much of in T2. And Lena had that as well. So it made for a palpable continuation of Linda's Sarah.

Emilia Clarke's version naturally didn't have the maternal instinct because she hadn't given birth yet, though that's in the writing. But when it comes to girls whom I can see believably wielding a firearm and giving orders, Emilia is certainly not one of those.

Yeah I always liked Lena's version of Sarah. It's hard to take the original out of your mind sometimes when it's as good as Linda Hamilton's Sarah, but Lena did a very good job with it. I felt like she was bringing her own to the character but yet the character's spirit was still and gushing through her. I just didn't see that in Genisys. I saw Sarah in name only.

 

[Schlosser85]

Others said it more articulately already, but casting Kyle Reese with a bland buff beefcake is a complete betrayal of the character.

Courtney doesn't look or act like someone who grew up in the apocalypse, he looks and acts like he just came from pumping iron at the gym to do some emotionless reading off cue cards. He has no feeling as Reese at all, while Biehn had tons.

 

[Jay Beezy]

I keep hearing how the PG 13 rated Terminator movies are made the way they are to appeal to the masses and yet the films keep disappointing critically, audience wise and financially. Maybe they should spend less time trying to "appeal to the masses" and more time just trying to make an interesting and good Terminator movie.

Also it's obvious that these 155-200 million dollar budgets are too large, not enough people are supporting the films to cover these huge budgets.

Attempting to appeal to the masses does work with some franchises like Marvel as well as Skydance's own Mission: Impossible franchise. Clearly no studio exec sees attempting to appeal to the masses ruins the franchise integrity of Terminator.

 

[Kahran Ramsus]

I keep hearing how the PG 13 rated Terminator movies are made the way they are to appeal to the masses and yet the films keep disappointing critically, audience wise and financially. Maybe they should spend less time trying to "appeal to the masses" and more time just trying to make an interesting and good Terminator movie.

Also it's obvious that these 155-200 million dollar budgets are too large, not enough people are supporting the films to cover these huge budgets.

You know what was actually appealing to the masses? T2: Judgment Day.

 

[I SEE SPIDEY]

You know what was actually appealing to the masses? T2: Judgment Day.

Exactly!

T2 is a billion dollar movie in today's ticket prices. And I hate to use that argument but Jurassic World I believe has sold almost as many tickets as Jurassic Park and that's why it has made 650 million dollars. Sometimes you can get nearly the same amount of people to see say a 90's hit and you'll make more money because of ticket prices.

Listen, I think filmmakers and studios are trying to make good movies and I even felt that with Salvation, even though I don't think it's a good film, but I felt like Genisys was nothing more than a pure calculated product. I didn't see any need to tell an interesting story in that film.

 

[Jay Beezy]

Exactly!

T2 is a billion dollar movie in today's ticket prices. And I hate to use that argument but Jurassic World I believe has sold almost as many tickets as Jurassic Park and that's why it has made 650 million dollars. Sometimes you can get nearly the same amount of people to see say a 90's hit and you'll make more money because of ticket prices.

Listen, I think filmmakers and studios are trying to make good movies and I even felt that with Salvation, even though I don't think it's a good film, but I felt like Genisys was nothing more than a pure calculated product. I didn't see any need to tell an interesting story in that film.

Salvation is the one movie where it felt like they wanted to do something actually different.

 

[AVEITWITHJAMON]

"Courtney having more chemistry with his beer can," is a hilarious line.

Kyle Reese is supposed to be paranoid, desperate and not a ****ing brick house. Reese is none of those things in Genisys and they don't explain the character change. The character being bland action guy makes him less interesting so even if they did explain that change I'd still hate it.

For me they did explain the character change, this had memory's from growing up in the normal world rather than the Apocalyptic one, I think that also changed parts of his personality.

 

[Teelie]

That does not go nearly far enough in explaining the physical and mental changes in him. There is no way around how poorly he was miscast because they wanted to use Jai Courtney for whatever god-forsaken reason. He's never going tobe a leading man, he's got the personality of a block of concrete (as opposed to Keanu's "wooden" one) and he intentionally ignored the previous actor's interpetation so he could continue being the makes no effort acting we saw.

 

[aNarcHy2day]

For me they did explain the character change, this had memory's from growing up in the normal world rather than the Apocalyptic one, I think that also changed parts of his personality.

Eh! Even then, it is just grossly unsatisfying even if they try to come up with some convoluted reason. If they were revisiting those characters, they had to necessarily feel like those characters.

 

[Goshdarn Batman]

Hamilton and Biehn's performances made me feel like we were in actual danger and mankind was at stake. They made you care, you were engaged.

This is so true. Same with T2.

 

[JtheDreamer]

That does not go nearly far enough in explaining the physical and mental changes in him. There is no way around how poorly he was miscast because they wanted to use Jai Courtney for whatever god-forsaken reason. He's never going tobe a leading man, he's got the personality of a block of concrete (as opposed to Keanu's "wooden" one) and he intentionally ignored the previous actor's interpetation so he could continue being the makes no effort acting we saw.

All I wanna know is which female (or male) movie execs is Jai Courtney banging to get all these roles? That guy is such a stiff.

 

[TheVileOne]

Courtney was good in Spartacus. I stand by that.

 

[I SEE SPIDEY]

Courtney maybe just has had some really crappy roles in which he is miscast...like Terminator Genisys for one. Maybe he is like Jake Gyllennhaal and is just really boring when he isn't hamming it up and playing a weirdo.

 

[Warhammer]

Jai Courtney will finally get his due in Suicide Squad, I'm betting. He is looking to be a scene stealer in that film. He's just not leading man material. That's no disrespect to him. Some studio exec is trying to make him happen the same way someone tried to make Sam Worthington happen. It's never happening.