With James Cameron serving as a consultant and the return of Arnold Schwarzenegger,Terminator Genisyshad all the ingredients to be theTerminatorfilm I’d been waiting to see sinceTerminator 2, but unfortunately, it turned out to be one of the franchise’s worst. BetweenTerminator 3: Rise of the Machinesbeing an uninspired carbon copy ofT2and the absolutefailure ofTerminator Salvation, the franchise that was once synonymous with groundbreaking science fiction was in a bad place in the early 2010s.Terminatorwas also dealing with behind-the-scenes changes, which eventually led to a new movie finally entering active development in 2011.
Terminator Genisyswas supposed to be a return to form fortheTerminatorfranchise, with iconic characters such as Sarah Connor and Kyle Reese being brought back into the mix in addition to the return of Arnold Schwarzenegger. Given the strong marketing campaign, the exciting new cast led byGame of Thronesstar Emilia Clarke, and the fact that Cameron had publicly backed up the film, I really thoughtTerminator Genisyswas going to be the satisfying movie that none of theT2sequels managed to be. However, that was not the case at all.
6Terminator Genisys Relied Too Much On Nostalgia
Genisys Recreated Several Moments From The Previous Films
James Cameron recently talked about howTerminatormust learn how to move away from the franchise’s established iconography, which is precisely one of the biggest problems withTerminator Genisys. Rather than a new addition to theTerminatormovie universe that would move the saga forward,Terminator Genisysfelt like a “Terminator’s greatest hits” compilation. From a new spin on the“Come with me if you want to live”line to an alternateT-1000 played by Lee Byung-hun,Terminator Genisyshad very few fresh ideas and relied too much on nostalgia.
James Cameron Explains Why The Terminator Franchise Needs To Move On From Past Characters & Iconography
James Cameron teases what’s next for the Terminator saga, revealing that it’s time for the franchise to move beyond what’s come before.
Given thatTerminatoris about time travel to some extent, I would have had no problem withTerminator Genisysplaying with the timeline and referencing a couple of iconic moments from previous iterations of that world. However, the 2015 film did not have much else to offer beyond that. As a result,Terminator Genisyscomes off as a lesser version of the first two movies for most of its runtime.The fact that the film was all about new versions of the T-800, Sarah, Kyle, and John contributed toTerminator Genisysbeing more a nostalgic trip down memory lane than a proper reboot.
5Terminator Genisys’ Travel Shenanigans Were Too Complicated
Terminatormay be a sci-fi franchise about time travel at its core, but those were never the only elements that made the James Cameron films so good.Countless time travel movies never found the same success asTerminator, and that is because Cameron played with genres in the first two films and only used time travel as the backdrop for an action-packed story.TheTerminatorwas a slasher in which the killer was an unstoppable robot, whereasTerminator2 was a full-blown action movie with lots of shooting and explosions.
100%
91%
Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines
70%
33%
26%
Terminator: Dark Fate
Thefirst twoTerminatormovieswere quite simple and easy to follow. Even if you were not a fan of science fiction or didn’t care about time travel and paradoxes, you would still have a lot of fun with bothTheTerminatorandTerminator 2. I cannot say the same forTerminator Genisys, whose story is entirely structured around alternate universes, changes to the timeline, and time loops.There is nothing special about the actionTerminator Genisys, especially compared to all the other superhero blockbusters that were taking over Hollywood in the mid-2010s.
4The John Connor Twist In Terminator Genisys Was A Huge Mistake
John Was Captured By Skynet And Turned Into A Terminator
Turning John Connor into a Terminator working for Skynet could have worked in a better version of this movie, butTerminator Genisys’ biggest twist was a disaster throughout. Firstly,the evil John Connor reveal was spoiled by the trailers, which pretty much killed the chances of it working in the actual movie. Without at least some element of surprise, there was absolutely nothing interesting about John being secretly evil.Terminator Genisysalso makes no effort to justify the twist – we are simply told that John was captured by Skynet and turned into a human-terminator hybrid.
InTerminator: Dark Fate, which ignores all of theTerminatorprojects not directed by James Cameron, John Connor is killed shortly after the events ofT2.
I don’t mindTerminatortrying new things with John Connor. After three movies that were all about him,we didn’t need yet another story about John Connorand his family being humanity’s only hope. Still, when a character that important is brought into a film, the story needs to treat them with enough respect. IfTerminator Genisysreally wanted to commit to John Connor turning evil, that should have been the sole focus of the story and not a third-act twist that seemed to be there simply for shock value.
3Terminator Genisys Didn’t Have A Clear Villain
The Reboot Lacked Focus
TheTerminatormovies are as good as their villains. Before he was everyone’s favorite good-guy killing robot, Arnold Schwarzenegger’s T-800 was the antagonist ofTheTerminator– a genius casting choice that led to something really special. Likewise,Robert Patrick’s T-1000 fromTerminator2 is one of the greatest movie villains of all time.Even ifTerminator Genisyscouldn’t possibly top those two originalTerminators, the film needed better villains.
Terminator Genisyslacked focus, especially when it came to the villains.Lee Byung-hun’s T-1000, who could have been a great main villain for the entire film, is reduced to a generic antagonist who is only there so that the heroes have something to run away from.The T-3000 joins the action way too late into the movie, and despite being described as a much more powerful Terminator than the others, is easily defeated. That is not to mention Alex, Matt Smith’s character inTerminator Genisys, whose purpose neither the actor nor the audience was able to understand.
2Terminator Genisys’ Recast Strategy Didn’t Work
Genisys Failed To Justify Its New Versions Of The Characters
Emilia Clarke could have made for a great Sarah Connor in a different movie. However,recasting all the iconic characters while keeping Arnold Schwarzenegger’s T-800 did not work.Seeing the classic albeit older version of the original Terminator interacting with different actors who were supposed to be slightly different versions of Sarah and Kyle felt strange, even more so since they were often recreating moments from the original films.
The ultimate result of all ofTerminator Genisys’ problems is that the film often feels like aTerminatorparody.
Terminator Genisysshould have put more effort into showing how different these new versions of the characters were supposed to be.Emilia Clarke’s Sarah Connor was raised by a Terminatorand trained her entire life for the eventual fight against the machines. However, she ended up being not that different fromTerminator2Sarah Connor, the only difference being how much earlier in the chronology of the story things were happening.
1Terminator Genisys Often Felt Like A Terminator Parody
Terminator Genisys Was A Lesser Version Of The Original Films
The ultimate result of all ofTerminator Genisys’ problems is that the film often feels like aTerminatorparody. By redoing so many iconic scenes and lines from the franchise,Terminator Genisysmade it easy for us to compare the reboot to the original installments and constantly reminded us of how superior the latter are. Seeing Schwarzenegger as a Terminator is always fun, but unfortunately,Genisyshad the worst version of the character by a large margin.
Terminator 7: Script Announcement & Everything We Know
James Cameron has announced he’s currently penning a script for Terminator 7, and here’s everything we know about the new Terminator movie.
Although the movie also keeps reminding us that Genisys – the new version of Skynet – will go online soon, there is no real sense of urgency because everything feels recycled. The humor does not land either, with moments like the Terminator trying to smile like he did inT2being particularly unfunny. Paying homage to theTerminatorfranchise is one thing, butTerminator Genisysmissed the mark when it came to referencing the previous films.
