Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018) review

Well… this film has had quite a history. Practically ever since it was first announced, the second installment of Disney’s line of Star Wars spin-off films separate from the new trilogy of The Force Awakens, The Last Jedi, and next year’s Episode IX has been subjected to some of the worst luck to ever befall a film production in recent years. Right out the gate, several Star Wars fans were hesitant over the idea of there being a dreaded ‘prequel/origin story’ film centered on one of the most beloved characters in the entire saga, Han Solo. It certainly didn’t help matters when it was made clear that, given the context of the story, Han wouldn’t be played by Harrison Ford this time around, effectively putting tons of pressure on whoever ended up taking on the role to live up to what Ford had done with it. Thankfully, some of these fears were alleviated when the duo of Phil Lord and Christopher Miller were brought in to direct. Over the course of the past decade, Lord and Miller have become well-known for helming highly successful projects that, at first glance, seemed like they wouldn’t amount to anything special. They turned a very simple children’s book, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, into one of the most visually vibrant and hilarious animated films in recent memory. They turned the obscure television show 21 Jump Street, known only at the time for being the show that launched Johnny Depp’s career, into one of the funniest comedies of its year. This was then followed by a sequel, 22 Jump Street, which went on to become one of the rare comedy sequels that was not only ‘as good’ as its predecessor, but arguably better. And they turned what could’ve been a massively blatant cash grab, The LEGO Movie, into a charming and fantastically animated adventure that paid loving tribute to the product that it was based on. Thus, with the two of them behind the camera, it seemed as if things would go quite smoothly for this new Star Wars film…

…that is, until June 20^th, 2017, when all hell broke loose. In a stunning development, Lord and Miller announced that they were stepping down from the film’s production despite there being a few weeks left of filming due to creative differences with Lucasfilm. Not long afterward, it was then revealed that the two were basically ‘fired’ from the film due to the overtly comedic direction that they were taking with it, with producer Kathleen Kennedy reportedly being at odds with them since the start of filming. And while Lucasfilm quickly rebounded from this dilemma by hiring the legendary Ron Howard to step in and finish the film, the damage was already done at that point. Despite being an industry mainstay, as well as being no stranger to the studio having starred in George Lucas’ 1973 classic American Graffiti, many deemed Howard as being ‘too safe’ of a choice to take over for the likes of Phil Lord and Chris Miller. Simply put, Solo: A Star Wars Story basically became the equivalent of Marvel Studios’ Ant-Man, which also went through an infamous directorial shakeup when Peyton Reed took over for Edgar Wright, who backed out of the project due to, you guessed it, ‘creative conflicts with the studio’. And while the Star Wars franchise’s run under the Disney banner has led to three critical/commercial hits so far, the equally scandalous production of the previous spin-off film, Rogue One, and the borderline hostile polarizing reaction to The Last Jedi did not put the studio in as high of a regard amongst those on the internet compared to Marvel Studios. But let’s just ignore all that noise for now and just look at the film itself now that it’s finally hitting theaters, because despite such a notorious production behind it, Solo is a highly entertaining foray into the Star Wars universe.

Like Rogue One, Solo: A Star Wars Story takes place in-between the events of Episode III: Revenge of the Sith and Episode IV: A New Hope at a time where the Imperial Empire is in complete control of the galaxy. It is in this war-torn world where we meet Han Solo (Alden Ehrenreich), a brash, young wannabe pilot who manages to escape his rough living conditions on the planet Corellia. After a brief, disastrous stint in the Imperial Navy, Han crosses paths with a band of criminals led by Tobias Beckett (Woody Harrelson), who ends up recruiting Han for a heist on a shipment of valuable hyper fuel. During the process, Han also meets and befriends a Wookiee named Chewbacca (Joonas Suotamo), who ends up tagging along with him on the mission. However, when the heist ends up being a bust, Han, Chewie, and Beckett find themselves in hot water with their ‘superiors’, a criminal syndicate known as Crimson Dawn led by Dryden Vos (Paul Bettany). To appease Vos, Han boldly suggests an alternate plan to acquire the hyper fuel, which involves them acquiring it in an ‘unprocessed’ form from the planet Kessel. Given the seemingly impossible nature of the mission, Vos has his top subordinate Qi’ra (Emilia Clarke), who happens to be Han’s former lover who he was forced to leave behind on Corellia, accompany them on the operation to help ensure that it goes smoothly. As a means of procuring a ship for the mission, the group also recruits the notorious smuggler Lando Calrissian (Donald Glover), owner of the Millennium Falcon, the fastest ship in the galaxy.

Since the whole directorial shakeup, much speculation has been made over how much of the film was reworked under Howard’s direction. By most accounts, it appears as if he re-shot about 70% of the film, meaning that it’s likely that there are still some parts in the final film that were done by Lord and Miller. Thankfully, there’s no real indication of inconsistency between their directorial visions in the final product. For all intents and purposes, it seems as if Howard did his best to match what Lord and Miller were going for in a manner that would make the production run a lot smoother (e.g. not relying heavily on improvisation). And as for the film itself, it’s a fun ride from beginning to end. If there’s one major advantage that it has over Rogue One, it’s better pacing. As I noted a few years back in my review of that film, Rogue One started off on a bit of a slow note but eventually found its groove by the end, highlighted by its big action-packed finale on the planet Scarif. By comparison, Solo gets things rolling right out of the gate and doesn’t relent for the rest of its near two-and-a-half-hour run-time. Sure, it maybe loses just a bit of steam at the end, but that doesn’t prevent this film from having some of the best pacing in the entire franchise. But as for how the film handles the origin story of one of the saga’s most iconic characters, one’s mileage may vary over how effectively it’s handled. As for me, though, I personally enjoyed all the ways in which the film set up Han’s character. The scene where he first meets Lando Calrissian? Awesome. The scene where he first meets Chewbacca? Heartwarming. The scene where him and Chewie co-pilot the Millennium Falcon for the first time and make the Kessel Run in under 12 parsecs? So. Damn. Satisfying! Sure, this is easily one of the simplest plotted outings to come out of the franchise, but what is there is handled nicely.

Alden Ehrenreich obviously went into this film having to deal with some of the most intense pressure that an actor has ever experienced due to him having to take on a role that Harrison Ford had turned into an iconic part of cinema thanks to Episodes IV through VII. Thankfully, Ehrenreich slips into the role with ease, conveying all of Han’s notable quirks, including his tendency to make things up as he goes along, with charisma that almost nearly equals that of Ford’s. At the same time, Ehrenreich also has terrific chemistry/camaraderie with each of his main co-stars. It all begins, of course, with Chewie, as Joonas Suotamo continues to be a worthy successor to Peter Mayhew in the role of Han’s trusted sidekick. Then, there’s Donald Glover as arguably the film’s biggest standout, the younger Lando Calrissian. Granted, Lando surprisingly doesn’t factor into the film as much as one might expect going in (he’s honestly only in about a third of it), but Glover is practically pitch-perfect in terms of replicating the same swagger that Billy Dee Williams brought to the role back in the original trilogy. Ehrenreich also has great chemistry with Emilia Clarke as the film’s main female lead, Qi’ra. Obviously, most Star Wars fans know how this relationship is going to turn out given Han’s relationship with Leia in the other films, but the ways in which they develop Qi’ra for a potential follow-up or two are quite fascinating. Closing out the main core group is Woody Harrelson, perfectly sly as Han’s mentor figure in this film, and Phoebe Waller-Bridge as the franchise’s newest memorable droid character, L3-37, who’s a fun mix of the energy of BB-8 and the sarcastic wit of Alan Tudyk’s K-2SO from Rogue One as Lando’s primary co-pilot on the Millennium Falcon.  

Now with all this said, I know damn well that this film is shaping up to be one of the most polarizing installments of the Star Wars saga. Hell, most people have clearly already made up their minds about this film before they even saw it because they’re still upset about the whole Lord and Miller fiasco. And that’s a damn shame because the film is ultimately not the disaster that a lot of its critics thought it was going to be. Sure, the fact that Phil Lord and Chris Miller were kicked off the production in the middle of filming instead of during pre-production may have seemed problematic, but Ron Howard does a damn fine job of taking over for them and keeping the final product from being a disheveled mess. And as for the film itself, it’s a fun little sci-fi adventure through the Star Wars universe. Is it the franchise’s best outing? No, not at all, but that’s by no means a criticism given the quality of the Star Wars films that have been made since Disney took over. Simply put, Solo: A Star Wars Story succeeds at being a neat little foray into the past exploits of the franchise’s iconic protagonist. Granted, not everyone will like the ways in which it handles Solo’s backstory, but casual Star Wars fans like myself will no doubt get a kick out of seeing how Han met Chewbacca for the first time and the first time that the two stepped foot in the Millennium Falcon, amongst other things. And to his credit, Alden Ehrenreich manages to live up to a lot of the expectations that were thrust upon him by being a wonderful successor to Harrison Ford as everyone’s favorite ‘stuck up, half-witted, scruffy-looking nerf herder’ (“Who’s scruffy-looking?”). Now, would I’ve loved to have seen what Lord and Miller might have done with this story? Yes, but as was also the case with Edgar Wright and Ant-Man, that’s all in the past now. I’m not going to debate about this film being a case of a studio limiting their filmmakers’ creative vision. Instead, I’m just going to sit back and enjoy the ride because, contrary to what some on the internet may claim, the Star Wars franchise is doing totally fine now despite some of its most scandalous behind-the-scenes dilemmas.

Rating: 5/5!

Terminator Genisys: SPOILER POST

WARNING!!!

The following post contains spoilers for the film ‘Terminator: Genisys’. If you have not seen the film yet, please instead refer to my spoiler-free review of the film, of which a link will be provided below, as I will be discussing key plot points and elements of the film in spoiler-y detail.

(http://rimoviecorner.blogspot.com/2015/07/terminator-genisys-2015-review.html)

Whenever I do a spoiler post for a film on this site, it is usually for a superhero film, having started with ‘Iron Man 3’ and most recently for ‘The Avengers: Age of Ultron’. I’ve only done one Spoiler Post for a non-superhero film and that was for ‘Star Trek Into Darkness’ in regards to the big ‘Khan’ reveal of that film. But today, I’m finally doing another non-superhero Spoiler Post and today’s subject is ‘Terminator: Genisys’, the fifth installment of a film franchise that many people feel should have ended after the series’ second entry, ‘Terminator 2: Judgment Day’. You can definitely tell that just by the reviews for ‘Genisys’, the under-performance of the film here in the U.S. box-office wise (thankfully it has fared much better overseas), and the overall uneasiness amongst film fans leading up to the film’s release due to the aforementioned feelings towards the franchise post-‘Terminator 2’. But, as you will recall from my original review for ‘Genisys’, I actually quite enjoyed it. Was it the absolute best entry in the franchise? No, not by a long shot. But of course what do you expect when James Cameron’s original two masterpieces were such hard acts to follow? Ultimately though I do feel that ‘Terminator: Genisys’ was a pretty darn entertaining sci-fi flick that perfectly balanced action and humor while also staying faithful to the legacy of the franchise’s first two installments. And it did this while also setting out on a unique new path brought on by none other than…

AN ALTERNATE TIMELINE

As I’ve no doubt stated in the past, one of my favorite films of the past few years has been the 2009 ‘Star Trek’ reboot, which made the bold move of creating a brand new alternate timeline. While this clearly was a controversial move in the minds of long-time ‘Star Trek’ fans, I for one was 100% supportive of this decision as I feel that the franchise can now move on in new directions without having to strictly adhere to series canon… and yes, I say that even after the last ‘Trek’ film, ‘Into Darkness’, proved to be even more polarizing amongst ‘Trek’ fans for its callbacks, though seriously not as many as ‘Trek’ fans claim, to ‘The Wrath of Khan’. Clearly the success of the ‘Trek’ films inspired Paramount when they developed ‘Terminator: Genisys’ as it too goes with the ‘alternate timeline’ storyline. The film opens up basically re-telling the original plot of the first ‘Terminator’ film but from the perspective of the future war. In the midst of the war against Skynet, resistance leader John Connor (Jason Clarke) learns of a plot by Skynet to send one of their Terminator robots back in time to the year 1984 to kill his mother Sarah, thereby erasing him from existence. John’s top lieutenant, Kyle Reese (Jai Courtney), volunteers to go back in time to save her. But once he gets into Skynet’s time machine, that’s when things start to change. Before leaving, he sees John being attacked by another ‘soldier’ (more on this character later) and before he arrives in 1984, he starts to have new memories of his childhood that are much different than what he previously remembered.

It is established at the beginning, through narration by Reese, that he was born in 2004 after Judgment Day, which for the record has been reverted back to the original August 1997 date from ‘Terminator 2’. In other words, this film straight up ignores ‘Terminator 3’ and ‘Salvation’, which had Judgment Day occur in July 2004. But now his childhood is different as the world, for some reason, hasn’t ended yet and his younger self repeatedly tells himself about how ‘he can shut down Skynet before it is born’ and that ‘Genisys is Skynet’. He arrives in 1984 and basically goes through the same beats that we saw in the first film. He steals a pair of pants from a bum (“That son of a bitch stole my pants”) and rushes into a store to avoid the cops. But this time the cop (Lee Byung-hun) happens to be a T-1000, the liquid metal shape-shifting Terminator who can take the form of anything it comes into contact with. Before the T-1000 can kill him, however, he is saved by Sarah, who is not the scared and vulnerable young woman who Kyle was expecting to find based on what he was told by John in the future. Instead, she is already a badass warrior who just so happens to be protected by a T-800 Terminator. Slowly realizing that he is now in a new alternate reality, Kyle learns that in 1973, Skynet had sent a T-1000 (presumably the same one that the trio deal with in 1984) back in time to kill Sarah when she was a child. However, a as of yet unconfirmed party sent back a T-800 to protect her, who ever since has trained her in combat to prepare her for the impending apocalypse.

Now this new ‘alternate timeline’ storyline has been referred to by some of the film’s biggest critics as ‘lousy fan-fiction’. But you know what? ‘Star Trek’ basically did the same thing and you don’t see anyone complain about that (Oh wait…). The fact of the matter is that, as I noted earlier, I don’t mind this at all because I like the idea of re-writing the canon to allow for new storyline possibilities that may or may not go down the familiar paths that we had seen in the first two ‘Terminator 2’ films. If this new alternate reality wasn’t real then this would be nothing more than a remake of the first film. Maybe then it would be ‘lousy fan-fiction’ like those critics say but as is, it is by no means that at all. I for one am intrigued to see what happens now for this film franchise as it begins to uncover some of the mysteries that are established in ‘Genisys’, like who is responsible for sending Sarah’s T-800 back in time. I also like how this film challenges some of the pre-conceived notions of what we saw before, namely in regards to the relationship between Sarah and Kyle. As we know from the first ‘Terminator’, the two of them ended up falling in love, resulting in the birth of John Connor. But in this film, that future relationship is put into question. For one thing, Kyle learns about his fate from the other timeline; that he dies protecting Sarah, and also has difficulty coming to terms with the fact that he’s John’s father. Throughout the film, Kyle and Sarah have, to put it lightly, a rather strenuous relationship. I mean at the end of the day, they do get together but seeing how Kyle doesn’t die in this film, it’ll be interesting to see where their relationship will go from there, especially since they come across his younger self and even go as far as giving him the memories that the grown-up Kyle experienced while traveling through time.

ARNOLD!!

Whether or not you like this film, you cannot deny that one of the absolute best things in the entire film is Arnold Schwarzenegger’s heralded return to the franchise that made him a star. He may not be the absolute best actor in the world but that correlates perfectly to his role in these films as a robot that has difficulties trying to fit in with humans. Seriously just admit that you at least laughed once when the T-800 tried to smile. And you know what? For a 67-year old, Arnold still manages to not only kick major ass in what is easily his most iconic role to date but also continues to excel in delivering memorable one-liners (“Old but not obsolete!”). The fight sequence between him and the younger-looking T-800 from 1984 is easily one of the biggest highlights of the entire film. And hey, at the end of the film, he basically becomes a T-1000, having been thrown in a vat of liquid metal by the T-3000 AKA John Connor (again, more on him later) so it’ll cool to see how that will affect the character in future films. He also gets major kudos for the solid father-daughter relationship between him and Sarah, which ultimately is the heart of the film. This leads perfectly into my next point…

SARAH AND ‘POPS’

I’m just going to throw this out there… at the end of the day, ‘Terminator: Genisys’ doesn’t really carry the same emotional depth of the first two ‘Terminator’ films. I’m not saying this as a criticism of the film; it’s just that the first two films, especially ‘Terminator 2’ with the father-son relationship of John Connor and the T-800, were so successful in this regard. But ‘Terminator Genisys’ still manages to have some good emotional depth, primarily in the form of the father-daughter relationship between Sarah and, as she refers to him as, ‘Pops’. I loved the back-and-forth between the two in scenes where they have arguments, like when ‘Pops’ brings up the awkward point about how Kyle and Sarah, as he puts it, are expected to ‘mate’. And while of course he’s a robot that doesn’t 100% grasp the concept of feelings and emotion, there are times where he clearly shows how much he cares about Sarah. One notable example of this occurs when Sarah, Kyle, and ‘Pops’ hide out in the latter’s secret base and Sarah notices that he still keeps photos of her as a child and drawings that she made of them. And while I’ll admit that going in I already knew that this T-800 wasn’t going to die like in ‘Terminator 2’ (or ‘Terminator 3’), the scene where he appears ready to sacrifice himself was handled great from an emotional standpoint, especially when he tells Kyle to ‘take care of my Sarah’.

Sarah Connor is, without a doubt, one of the best female action heroines of all-time and that legacy is done justice once again in this film thanks to Emilia Clarke’s excellent turn in the role. Like Linda Hamilton before her, she does a great job in giving Sarah both her confidence and fearlessness in combat while also doing a perfect job in capturing the character’s vulnerability. In ‘Terminator 2’, Sarah’s vulnerability came from her past experiences in the first ‘Terminator’ film and her distrust of John’s guardian T-800. In ‘Terminator: Genisys’, this is shown primarily through her relationships with both ‘Pops’ and Kyle. Relating to what I talked about in my Spoiler Post for ‘Avengers: Age of Ultron’ in regards to the controversy surrounding the character of Black Widow, I feel that, contrary to popular belief, it’s perfectly fine for female action heroes to show signs of vulnerability because it shows that they’re human. Nothing’s perfect and a character that is meant to be ‘perfect’ isn’t always the best-written character. I know that right now a lot of people on the internet are raving about the character of Furiosa from ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’ but at the end of the day, that character has nothing on Sarah Connor and this film is 100% proof of that.

KYLE REESE

In terms of respect/credibility, Jai Courtney has about as much respect from film fans as Shia LaBeouf or Sam Worthington… in other words, not very much. In fact, this makes ‘Terminator: Genisys’ the second instance in which Courtney has starred in a major film franchise in which the installment that he starred in was one of the worst-rated entries in the entire series, the other being ‘A Good Day to Die Hard’ and I’m pretty sure all of this makes some DC fans hesitant about his involvement in ‘Suicide Squad’. But I stand firm when I say that Courtney is not at all to blame for the shortcomings of ‘A Good Day to Die Hard’ and in response to some people who say that he ‘ruined’ Terminator too, let me be the first to say that this is not true. Contrary to popular opinion, I think Courtney did a fine job in this film. Was he the absolute best Kyle Reese ever? No, not at all, but I do feel that Courtney did a good job in the role as it was written in this film. In this film, Kyle Reese is basically the avatar for the audience as he traverses through this new alternate timeline trying to come to terms with what he’s dealing with. And ultimately Courtney was at his best when he was with Clarke and Schwarzenegger so at the end of the day, he serves his purpose in taking on this iconic role for the revival of the ‘Terminator’ franchise.

EVIL JOHN CONNOR?

It’s time to delve into what is arguably the most controversial element of the entire film, which first attracted controversy when many people (even director Alan Taylor) felt that it was spoiled in the film’s second trailer. And that is the reveal that in this film, John Connor, who is arguably the main protagonist of the entire series, has been turned into a Terminator by Skynet, effectively making him the main antagonist of this new film. Of course, as noted earlier, Kyle notices a mysterious figure grab John before he travels back to 1984 which then results in him ending up in a new timeline. After helping Sarah and ‘Pops’ defeat the T-1000 that’s after them, Kyle and Sarah travel forward in time to the year 2017 while Pops stays behind; in other words, he ‘takes the long way’ to reunite with them in the future. The two end up getting caught by the police but are then approached by John while they are in the hospital. All seems well, despite Kyle and Sarah questioning why he is there, until ‘Pops’ returns and shoots John, who then reveals his new Terminator form. Now he is the T-3000, having been turned into a Terminator by the mysterious figure who attacked him in the future through the use of Nano machines. He is also the only T-3000 in existence as any other attempts at creating this particular Terminator have failed as a result of the human subjects driven mad.

Now I’m not here to talk about the second trailer for the film and how many people feel it spoiled the big twist. Instead, I’m going to say this… as controversial as it is, I’m totally fine with this twist. I mean it’s not like the character of John Connor was ruined by having him be the villain in this film. It’s just an interesting new plotline that, to quote James Cameron, is “a riff against expectations” and also makes the threat a much more personal one for Kyle and Sarah to deal with given their connections to John Connor. As I stated in my original review, I’m also glad that this meant that Jason Clarke, one of the most underrated actors working today, had a much more substantial role than what the very first trailer for the film implied. At first I thought that John Connor would only appear in the scenes that took place in 2029 but thankfully that’s not the case. In fact I’m just going to say it… Jason Clarke has been the best John Connor to date, and yes that is even when taking the whole villain characterization into account. In early scenes before Connor’s transformation, Clarke does a great job in capturing John’s leadership qualities, which are most evident from his speech to his troops before they go off to fight Skynet. And after the big twist, Clarke ends up being a pretty darn entertaining and intimidating baddie, basically being like a much more advanced version of the T-1000 with the ability to regenerate and break apart into particles during combat, the latter of which produces a pretty cool visual for the action sequences.

Most badass 'walking away from an explosion' scene EVER!!!

MATT SMITH’S ROLE

And now to close off this Spoiler Post, let’s end by talking about the most notable secret of the entire film and that is Matt Smith’s (fresh off of his work as the Eleventh Doctor in ‘Doctor Who’) role in the film. Whereas the big ‘evil John Connor’ twist was revealed in the film’s second trailer, Smith’s role was kept secret up until the film’s release, which of course led to speculation over who he was playing in the film. The most common theory that I saw online was that he was John’s best friend Tim from ‘Terminator 2: Judgment Day’ which given the film’s decision to revert Judgment Day back to 1997 could’ve made sense. But in the end, he played a much different role in the film, one that will no doubt play a bigger role in the grand scheme of things because… he plays Skynet. Taking on the form of a super-advanced Terminator, the T-5000, he is the one responsible for turning John into a Terminator and it is implied that he has traveled through various timelines to get to this point. So obviously he’s the one who is primary responsible for the new alternate timeline and I think it’s safe to say that he will also be the primary villain for the rest of the series. Because while Kyle, Sarah, and ‘Pops’ destroy Cyberdyne and stop ‘Genisys’ AKA Skynet from going online, a mid-credits scene shows that Skynet’s primary core survived the events of the finale, meaning that Skynet isn’t defeated yet.

IN CONCLUSION

I know that I’m in the minority when it comes to liking this film. But having now seen the film twice in theaters, I am 100% serious when I say that this film is by no means as bad as critics, and the internet, are putting it out to be. Like I said before, it is by no means the best entry of the series but that’s just because the first two ‘Terminator’ films were so good that they set up insurmountable expectations for any subsequent entries in the franchise to have to live up to. But ultimately I concur with James Cameron in that this truly feels like the true ‘Terminator 3’. Ignoring the events of the original ‘Terminator 3’ and ‘Terminator Salvation’ and instead following off of the first two films, ‘Genisys’ does not go the same route of the former by pulling a shameless retcon that goes against what happened at the end of ‘Terminator 2’. Sure the ‘alternate timeline’ storyline is just as controversial but in my opinion that just made the story much interesting. Alan Taylor also deserves a lot of credit for almost perfectly recreating classic moments from the first ‘Terminator’ film save for a few cosmetic differences that are primarily due to that film being owned by another studio. So in conclusion, ‘Terminator Genisys’ may not be the absolute best film that has come out this summer but I still had loads of fun while watching it, which ultimately makes it one of the most underrated/underappreciated films of the year.

Terminator: Genisys (2015) Review

What started out as a $6.4 million sci-fi film directed by a then unknown James Cameron has gone on to become one of the most iconic film franchises in pop culture history; the ‘Terminator’ franchise. With 1984’s ‘The Terminator’ and its even greater follow-up, 1991’s ‘Terminator 2: Judgment Day’, James Cameron gave us two of the most beloved sci-fi films of all-time. The second film in particular ended on a perfect note, tying up all loose ends so that there wouldn’t be any need to continue the franchise… but of course, as we all know, that wasn’t the end of the ‘Terminator’ franchise. Hollywood decided that they could continue the franchise despite the fact that ‘Terminator 2’ made it pretty hard for there to be any way to move on from its ending. But Hollywood found a way, resulting in 2003’s ‘Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines’ and 2009’s ‘Terminator Salvation’, neither of which achieved the same critical/commercial acclaim as the first two films. And now the franchise is back again with ‘Terminator: Genisys’… and yes, the subtitle is intentionally spelled that way. Like its immediate two predecessors, this film has been getting slammed by critics… but as for me, this is one of those cases where I seriously disagree with the general critical reception. Now let me be clear; this is by no means the best film in the series. But that doesn’t mean that it’s the ‘disaster’ that most of the internet believed it was going to be. Instead, ‘Terminator: Genisys’ ends up being a pretty darn entertaining summer popcorn flick that respects the lineage of Cameron’s films while going down a bold new route which will shape the franchise for years to come.

In the year 2029, the human resistance, led by John Connor (Jason Clarke), is at war with the self-aware A.I system known as Skynet, which wiped out most of humanity on what become known as Judgment Day; August 29, 1997 (note: the ‘original’ Judgment Day date and not the pushed-back July 25, 2004 date as was portrayed in ‘Terminator 3’ and ‘Salvation’). During an all-out ‘final offensive’ on Skynet, Connor and his soldiers learn of a plot by Skynet to send one of their humanoid robots, known as ‘Terminators’, back in time to the year 1984 to kill John’s mother Sarah, thereby erasing John from existence. John’s right-hand man, Kyle Reese (Jai Courtney), volunteers to go back in time to protect Sarah. But once he arrives in the year 1984, he is surprised to find that things are much more different than he expected. Most notably, Sarah (Emilia Clarke) is not the scared and vulnerable woman that he thought she was going to be based on what he was told about her by John in the future. Instead, Sarah is a trained warrior who, ever since she was a child, has been looked after by a reprogrammed T-800 Model 101 Terminator (Arnold Schwarzenegger) who was sent back in time to protect her. Now in a new timeline, Sarah, Kyle, and the Terminator travel into the future, 2017, in which Judgment Day has not yet happened, in an attempt to prevent Skynet (which in this timeline is under the guise of an advanced global operating system called ‘Genisys’ (hence the title of the film)), from taking over.

‘Terminator: Genisys’ basically pulls a ‘2009 Star Trek’ by resetting the original franchise timeline resulting in a brand new alternate timeline. And just like with ‘Star Trek’, I’m perfectly fine with this new idea as I think that it’ll be interesting to see where the franchise goes now without being tied down by the original timeline canon, like whether or not Sarah Connor and Kyle Reese will get together as they did in the original timeline, which of course resulted in the birth of John Connor. As for the film itself, ‘Genisys’ is, to put it quite simply, a very entertaining sci-fi action flick with a solid balance of humor and action. The action sequences, especially the fight between the old T-800 and the young T-800 in a sequence mirroring the original opening of ‘The Terminator’, and the visuals are both superb and just like what Colin Trevorrow did with ‘Jurassic World’, director Alan Taylor does an excellent job when it comes to respecting the two ‘Terminator’ films by James Cameron (in other words, this film basically ignores the events of ‘Rise of the Machines’ and ‘Salvation’ which, given the general reception of those two films, is for the best) through the film’s various callbacks. Now in terms of plot, yes it does get quite a bit overcomplicated at times, especially when it comes to the development of the new alternate universe that the characters now find themselves in. But as we all know, that’s something that just happens whenever you do a story based around time-travel.

For the first time since ‘Terminator 3’, Arnold Schwarzenegger returns to the role that basically made him the action icon that he is known as today; the T-800. And quite frankly, his return couldn’t be more welcome as even at the age of 67, he still manages to kick major ass. Equally kicking major ass in this film is Emilia Clarke, who confidently steps into the role of Sarah Connor, who once again stands out as one of the best female action heroines of all-time. As for Jai Courtney as Kyle Reese, while I can’t say that he’s the absolute best to have ever been in the role, he does a pretty good job here, mainly due to his strong camaraderie with both Clarke and Schwarzenegger once the three of them get together. Now normally I try to keep my main reviews spoiler-free but as many of you know, the second trailer for this film already revealed one of the main plot-points of the film so I guess it’s not that big of a deal in this scenario. And this particular plot-line is the reveal that John Connor has been turned into a Terminator by Skynet. And as controversial and a bit of a stretch as it may be, I’m totally fine with it, which may primarily be because I’m glad to see that Jason Clarke, who is easily one of the most underrated actors currently working today, in a much more substantial role than I thought he was going to have based solely on the first trailer. And to top it all off, there’s also a few noteworthy supporting turns, primarily J.K. Simmons as a police detective who ends up crossing paths with the main group in both 1984 and 2017 (note: the character is not played by Simmons in 1984) and Matt Smith as a character that, unlike the previously noted John Connor reveal, I won’t spoil the identity of here but suffice it to say will definitely be playing a major role in future installments.

Contrary to the 27% and 39% ratings that the film currently has on Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic, respectively, I surprisingly really enjoyed ‘Terminator: Genisys’. It may be because I went into the film not knowing what to expect, especially given the polarizing reaction that the film had been getting from the internet in the months leading up to its release. But ultimately ‘Terminator: Genisys’ is by no means as bad as the internet is putting it out to be. Sure, the plot gets a little messy sometimes in regards to the establishing of the franchise’s new ‘alternate universe’. But it more than makes up for it with its great balance of action and humor, a solid group of leads, and for respectfully paying tribute to the first two films in the series while also managing to be different from those two films. Is it the best installment of the ‘Terminator’ franchise? Definitely not, but what do you expect when the first two films were such hard acts to follow? Ultimately though, ‘Genisys’ is easily the best ‘Terminator’ film since ‘Terminator 2’ and as controversial as it may be, I’m definitely interested to see where this franchise goes next now that it has gone the route of the ‘Star Trek’ franchise and can now go in new story directions without having to adhere to the original canon. But given the general reaction to ‘Genisys’ at the moment, hopefully the filmmakers do get that chance.

Rating: 4.5/5