Like I’ve said before, I don’t like ending a year of film on
a bad note. That’s why I do my Top 10 ‘Worst Films of the Year’ list first; so
that I can get that out of the way. The internet may like talking about the bad
stuff more, but not me. After all, as I’ve also mentioned before, I’m actually
getting really sick of the internet’s constant cynicism, especially towards
film (e.g. CinemaSins, Honest Trailers). Hence why I officially dub 2015 as
‘The Year that the Internet Overhyped Everything’. Because if you ask me, 2015
was actually a really great year for film. The main reason why was due to a
better variety of films compared to last year, specifically what came out that
summer. Sure we got films like ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ and ‘Dawn of the
Planet of the Apes’ but there was actually quite a severe lack of films that
were, at the very least, family-friendly. Seriously aside from ‘How to Train
Your Dragon 2’ and ‘Maleficent’, name me one major film geared towards families
that came out that summer that wasn’t rated PG-13 or higher? There wasn’t even
a Pixar film that year. This year on the other hand had much more to offer if
you ask me. However, this year’s lineup of films also had to endure a lot of
hype built up by the internet given all of the major films that were coming.
And as evident from the responses towards some of these films, clearly film
fans haven’t learned their lesson that overhyping anything is always going to
end up backfiring on them. So yes, a lot of the films on this list were
controversial amongst film fans in their own unique way. So expect to see me
make a lot of arguments against the general internet consensus in favor of
these films. I won’t lie… this was a really frustrating year for me in regards
to dealing with cynical BS towards a lot of the films that I liked this year so
this is pretty much my way of venting against all of that.
For those who are new to this blog, I had originally done a Top
12 list instead of the traditional ‘Top 10’ simply as a joke because I had
started this blog in May 2012 and decided to do a 12-film list for 2012.
However, that ended up becoming my trademark so that I could talk about as many
of the films that I loved each year as possible. Before I begin, I need to lay
down my three primary ground rules for this list. First of all, I have to warn
you that this will be a SPOILER POST. I will be discussing the key elements of
all of these films in heavy detail so if you haven’t seen any of these films,
read on at your own risk. Second, like every year, I haven’t seen every single
film that has come out in 2015. So you won’t be seeing films like ‘Spotlight’,
‘Ex Machina’, or ‘It Follows’ on this list. With that said, and boy do I hate
having to now establish this disclaimer every year, yes my list predominantly
consists of blockbusters. So if you’re a hardcore cinefile that immediately
disregards this list because I don’t have many indie or award-winning films on
this list, as well as the fact that some of these films weren’t very well liked
by most people, I’m sorry but that’s just how I roll. I promise that I will try
and make a better effort to see more indie fare in the future but for now I
have to go with the films that I’ve seen which are, yes, primarily blockbusters.
And finally, and most importantly (seriously I cannot stress this enough),
please be respectful in regards to both my opinion and the opinions of others.
These 12 films are just my personal favorites so don’t go giving me crap just
because I liked a film that you didn’t like. Believe me, as I’ve been writing
these posts I’ve had to deal with some particularly stingy trolls who have mocked
me for liking a certain film and quite frankly it’s annoying as hell. Remember
folks, film… is… subjective!! As a way to test whether or not some of you are
willing to accept different opinions, I am going to make the following
statement;
‘Mad Max: Fury Road’
is not in my Top 12 nor is it one of my Honorable Mentions.
If you’re still here, then let’s start this 4-part
retrospective of my Top 12 Favorite Films of 2015. But first, as always, let’s
get the Honorable Mentions out of the Way. This year I have six to name.
KINGSMAN: THE SECRET SERVICE
The first major ‘Grade-A’ release of the year (at least from
the films that I saw), Matthew Vaughn gave us another kinetic and highly
entertaining action blockbuster with ‘Kingsman: The Secret Service’, based off
of the comic book series of the same name (minus the ‘Kingsman’ part) by Mark
Millar, who Vaughn of course also worked with on ‘Kick-Ass’. Paying homage to
the campier days of the spy genre, this film is full of crazy but awesome
moments, like when Harry Hart (Colin Firth) kills a whole hate group in a
church to the tune of Lynyrd Skynyrd’s ‘Free Bird’ or when the heads of almost
all of the henchmen of main bad guy Richmond Valentine (Samuel L. Jackson) explode
in firework-like fashion. Colin Firth shines in an against-type action role as
does newcomer Taron Egerton as young Kingsman recruit Eggsy, with Egerton very
much holding his own against acting heavyweights like Firth, Jackson, and
Michael Caine. With one great film out of the way, it’ll be interesting to see
where this film’s sequel is going to go. There’s even talk that Colin Firth may
return for the sequel even though his character was killed by Valentine after
the whole church sequence. Did Hart fake his death? Did he become a ghost?
We’ll just have to wait and see…
MISSION IMPOSSIBLE: ROGUE NATION
Now under the care of producer AKA ‘franchise savior’ J.J.
Abrams, the ‘Mission Impossible’ series has really been able to stand out as
one of the premier action franchises in the industry. One of Tom Cruise’s
frequent collaborators, Christopher McQuarrie, took on directing duties for the
fifth film, ‘Rogue Nation’, which is another highly entertaining action
thrill-ride full of awesome/practically-done stunts by action superstar Cruise
and featuring a particularly standout performance by Rebecca Ferguson as
‘female Ethan Hunt’ Ilsa Faust. My only gripe with the film, hence why I
actually still prefer Brad Bird’s ‘Ghost Protocol’, is that this film sort of
ignores one of the best elements of ‘Ghost Protocol’; the team dynamic that had
been generally missing from earlier installments. While Benji (Simon Pegg) is
involved just as much as Ethan Hunt is in regards to the main plot, both Brandt
(Jeremy Renner) and Luther (Ving Rhames) are mostly ignored up until the third
act. While it may have the advantage of a better villain in Sean Harris’
Solomon Lane, I still prefer ‘Ghost Protocol’ for its stronger balance of the
roles of Ethan Hunt’s teammates. However, ‘Rogue Nation’ is easily the series’
second best installment to date and McQuarrie more than proved himself worthy
enough to be chosen to helm the sixth film, a first for the series in that no
other director has ever directed 2 ‘Mission Impossible’ films.
BLACK MASS
I’ve never really been in the camp who feel that Johnny Depp
has been in a slump acting-wise these past few years. To me, it’s just been a
case of him picking a few weak projects, some of which unfortunately ended up
being major commercial bombs at the box-office like ‘The Lone Ranger’ and this
year’s ‘Mortdecai’. However, with ‘Black Mass’, Depp gives one hell of a career-high
performance as the legendary Boston gangster Whitey Bulger. Equally terrific,
however, is Joel Edgerton as Whitey’s primary ally in the FBI, John Connolly,
who orchestrated the FBI’s alliance with Whitey’s gang, the Winter Hill Gang. Admittedly
the story may be a bit standard as far as the gangster genre is concerned but
Depp more than commands the screen as Bulger to the point where he can be quite
terrifying at times. He may or may not get an Oscar nom for his work here, but
he’s definitely the highlight of this fascinating true story about one of the
most notorious gangsters in U.S. history.
THE MARTIAN
Easily the best film that Ridley Scott has done in years,
‘The Martian’ is a light-hearted but epic space survival story highlighted by
Matt Damon’s outstanding performance as stranded astronaut Mark Watney. His
journey to get off Mars is a highly compelling one that is very smart from a
scientific perspective but smartly executed to the point where it can appeal to
those who aren’t familiar with the science that’s explored in this film. In
other words, Watney makes science fun. I mentioned earlier that the film is
‘light-hearted’, which to some may sound a bit weird given that it’s supposed
to be a survival story. Well that’s because throughout the film, Watney
maintains an optimistic and occasionally witty attitude that provides us with
quite a lot of funny moments, like when he accidentally causes an explosion
while trying to produce water or when he expresses his displeasure with fellow
crewmate Melissa Lewis’ (Jessica Chastain) collection of disco music, the only
music that he can listen to while trapped on Mars. Though in the case of the
latter, it means that the film has a really nice soundtrack as well as one
hilariously awesome and very much fitting piece of end-credits music in the
form of ‘I Will Survive’. In short, ‘The Martian’ was a really fun entry in the
sci-fi genre that, if it ends up getting an Oscar nomination for Best Picture,
will definitely be the fan favorite of general audiences against all of the
other nominees.
STRAIGHT OUTTA COMPTON
Director F. Gary Gray took on the grand story of ‘the world’s
most dangerous group’, N.W.A., in the biopic ‘Straight Outta Compton’. While
the film is produced by band members Ice Cube and Dr. Dre and stars Cube’s son
O’Shea Jackson Jr. in the role of his father, the film actually never feels
very egocentric. Obviously some will view the casting of Jackson Jr. as his
father as a case of nepotism but he does do a genuinely outstanding job in the
role as do Corey Hawkins and Jason Mitchell in the roles of Dr. Dre and Eazy-E,
respectively. It admittedly should be noted that these three are the main focus
of the film, meaning that fellow N.W.A. members MC Ren and DJ Yella are
basically reduced to being side characters here. And as for the film itself, it
showcases both the highs and lows of N.W.A. in a solid matter without ever
feeling like it’s trying way too hard to over-glorify them. The story of N.W.A.
may have been a bit too large for a two-and-a-half-hour film but aside from
some slow points here and there, it’s a powerful and emotionally charged biopic
highlighting how a bunch of guys from one of the most dangerous cities in
America rose up against the oppression they faced in their hometown to become
music superstars.
STEVE JOBS
After the Ashton Kutcher-starring ‘Jobs’ turned out to be a
critical disappointment, Danny Boyle and Aaron Sorkin found much more success
with their take on Apple’s founder Steve Jobs. Their film is a three-act series
of events that all take place before Jobs unveils major products like the
Macintosh and iMac. The pairing of Boyle’s direction, even if his artistic
style is downplayed in this case (which many felt was actually a good thing),
and Sorkin’s electric screenplay come together to produce a fascinating look at
the legendary Apple founder/personal computer pioneer. Like Mark Zuckerberg in
‘The Social Network’, Jobs is shown to be a person who is impossible to fully
love or fully hate due to his tendency to piss off his associates but is
clearly a technological pioneer ahead of his time. It’s also very much an
actors showcase, with Michael Fassbender shining as Steve Jobs, even if he
doesn’t 100% look like him, while being backed up by a terrific supporting cast
that also includes Kate Winslet, Seth Rogen, and Jeff Daniels. You can
definitely expect to see ‘Steve Jobs’ get some attention come awards season.
And now it’s time to
begin listing off my Top 12 favorite films of 2015. Kicking off the list at #12
is the unexpected continuation of one of cinema’s most beloved franchises. But
under new direction and taking a unique new path that still respects what came
before it, this film ends up being another knockout effort from the ‘Rocky’
franchise.
12. CREED
When ‘Rocky Balboa’ was released back in 2006, everyone
thought that this would be the end of the ‘Rocky’ franchise, including Sylvester
Stallone. One of the reasons why he had done the film in the first place was to
give the series a more proper sense of closure after the fifth film turned out
to be a disappointment for many. And quite frankly it very much was a fitting
conclusion to Rocky Balboa’s time in the ring. But then to the surprise of
many, the series made a comeback this year in an arguably unexpected way.
Director Ryan Coogler, fresh off of 2013’s indie darling ‘Fruitvale Station’
reteamed with his lead Michael B. Jordan for a new spin on the ‘Rocky’ franchise
with ‘Creed’. This time around, the focus shifted to a new character; Adonis
Johnson Creed, the illegitimate son of Apollo Creed, who takes up a boxing
career just like his father. But while Rocky may no longer be the main
character, he still plays a vital role in this film as Donnie ends up seeking
him out so that he can be his trainer. Like the previous films in the series,
‘Creed’ really delivers on the franchise’s definitive underdog spirit, though Donnie
is an underdog in a much different way compared to Rocky in the first film. In
the first ‘Rocky’ film, Rocky was a nobody from Philadelphia who got the chance
of a lifetime to fight Apollo Creed, the heavyweight champion of the world. In
this film, Donnie also starts out as a no-name boxer but soon enough the world
comes to know that he’s the son of Apollo Creed, forcing Donnie to have to live
up to his father’s legacy, something that he most certainly didn’t want to have
to do at first.
Ultimately Donnie’s rise to fame shares many similarities to
what Rocky went through in the first film, right down to how the final fight
plays out. Even though Donnie is very much the underdog against the current
light heavyweight champion of the world, ‘Pretty’ Ricky Conlan, and he
ultimately does end up losing the fight by a split decision, he manages to go
the distance and become ‘the people’s champion’ just like Rocky did when he
first fought Apollo. So while the film may not add too much to the genre,
Coogler’s excellent direction, especially during the fight scenes (particularly
the fight between Donnie and Leo ‘The Lion’ Sporino which was legitimately all
done in one take), and the terrific performances from its leads are what truly
make the film so great. Michael B. Jordan carries quite a bit of the personality
that Carl Weathers brought to the role of Apollo and he has terrific
camaraderie with Stallone. And as for Sly… well this might arguably be his best
performance in what has been the most iconic role of his career. First of all,
he once again conveys all of the great personality traits that made Rocky such
a lovable character in the first place, like his great comedic timing. This is
best exemplified in a scene where Rocky gives Donnie a list of training
exercises that he just takes a picture of with his phone and then gives it back
to Rocky, telling him that he saved it to the Cloud, to which Rocky, who
clearly doesn’t know what he’s talking about, confusedly looks up at the sky
and asks “What cloud?”
But then Rocky has to deal with a fight of his own in this
film, outside of the ring, when he’s diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma,
which forces him to confront his own mortality more than he’s even done before.
It gets to the point where he decides not to do chemotherapy and is completely
willing to let life take its toll on him, figuring that there’s not much left
for him in the world, especially now that both his wife Adrian and
brother-in-law Paulie have passed away (in her case before the events of ‘Rocky
Balboa’ and in his case before the events of this film). It’s only through
encouragement from Donnie that he ‘keeps fighting’ and does go through chemo
and by the end of the film when Donnie and Rocky climb the iconic ‘Rocky
steps’, Rocky is shown to be slowly but surely getting better. Sly is so great
in this film that hopefully he’ll get nominated for Best Supporting Actor at
this year’s Oscars. After all he’s already gotten quite a few wins from other
award circuits so it would be a genuine surprise if he doesn’t get any
recognition from the Academy. And who knows? Maybe ‘Creed’ will get even
further attention during awards season. Well, no matter what happens, ‘Creed’
is another excellent addition to the legendary franchise that is the ‘Rocky’
series. It’s a film that both respects what came before and does its own thing,
effectively giving the series new life. So with that said, could we end up
seeing more of Donnie’s boxing career in future films? Only time will tell…
I only have one thing
to say to lead into my #11 pick… ‘Just for Kids’ my ass!
11. THE GOOD DINOSAUR
I really don’t get the argument that ‘The Good Dinosaur’ is
the first Pixar film that’s solely intended ‘For Kids’. First off, I thought
that ‘Cars 2’ was the first based on the general consensus towards that film
though I guess those people have already forgotten about that film. And second,
this is a film about dinosaurs (that includes the carnivores) that features a
scene where one of the main characters bites the head off of a beetle and another
scene where both main characters, for lack of a better term, go on the
equivalent of an acid trip after eating some rotten berries. Yeah… totally
‘just for kids’. Clearly in regards to the two Pixar films that were released
this year (a first for the studio), this was the lesser positively-received of
the two. It may have something to do with the fact that A.) this was the second
Pixar film released this year and was following in the footsteps of a
particularly critically acclaimed film or B.) the film went through quite a few
production issues before it saw release, namely a switch in director that
resulted in the film being completely reworked. But despite that supposed
setback, which might I add was also a case with previous Pixar films like ‘Toy
Story 2’ and yet weren’t as scrutinized by the media, ‘The Good Dinosaur’ is
another excellent effort from Pixar that is both beautifully animated and
strong in the themes that it conveys. I’ll admit, the story is a fairly simple
one; it’s a straight-forward tale of the main character Arlo trying to get home
after he ends up falling into the river and gets washed far away from home. But
even if the plot is simpler than some of Pixar’s other films, that doesn’t mean
that it isn’t strong in terms of its overall messages.
Like ‘Wall-E’, the film doesn’t rely too much on dialogue
and instead places greater emphasis on visual storytelling. There’s a scene in
here where Arlo tells Spot about how he misses his family and that his dad
recently died, to which Spot responds by revealing to him, without saying
anything at all, that his family is gone too. While there have been some people
who felt that the more cartoony looking characters didn’t mix too well with the
film’s more realistic-looking backgrounds, I wasn’t too bothered by this
contrast at all. As far as the story and characters are concerned, Arlo
undergoes an admittedly simple but terrifically executed arc of overcoming his
fears as he tries to get back home, enduring everything from vicious
pterodactyls (“The Storm Provides!”) to a flash flood similar to the one that
killed his father. But at the same time, the film also shows that fear can also
be a good thing. As the ‘rancher’ T-Rex Butch says, “If you ain’t scared… you
ain’t alive”. The film is also highlighted by a great friendship that develops between
its main characters, the Apatosaurus Arlo and the cave-boy Spot (a reverse ‘boy
and his dog’ story where the dinosaur is the ‘boy’ and the boy is the ‘dog’).
At first, Arlo hates Spot for inadvertently being responsible for getting him
into his current situation. But as time goes on, the two do begin to grow
closer to each other… And I dare you not to cry at the end when they go their
separate ways, specifically when Arlo nudges Spot towards his new family and
when the two share one last hug goodbye. It’s a scene that I’d argue is just as
emotionally powerful as anything that came out of Pixar’s other 2015 release.
I made the following argument, which my friend Kyle over at
‘Kyle’s Animated World’ made as well, in my review of the film and I’ll
reiterate it here. What’s so wrong with Pixar making a film that’s not a 15/10
masterpiece? Nothing is ever perfect and yet Pixar’s track record prior to 2011
was so successful that a lot of people act like their ‘failures’ (or as I like
to put it, films that don’t have at least a 90% score on RT (that includes both
‘Cars’ films, ‘Brave’, and ‘Monsters University’)) are worse than they really
are. I’ve gone on record defending ‘Monsters University’ as the studio’s most
underrated film to date and will also admit that I warmed up a bit more to
‘Brave’ upon re-watch. ‘Cars 2’ I’ll admit I have not seen since I saw it in
theaters but I am willing to give it a second viewing. And as for ‘The Good
Dinosaur’, it's definitely another underrated Pixar effort that I fear may have
gotten overshadowed by its more critically acclaimed fellow 2015 brother. And
unfortunately, at the moment it’s been a bit of a dud at the box-office, having
only just recently gotten past its $200 million budget. Hopefully it’ll do
better when it gets released in other markets like China but until then it’s
currently the lowest-grossing Pixar film to date. And hey, all of you people
out there who complain about Pixar doing too many sequels nowadays? Well where
the hell were you when this original Pixar film needed it? Sigh… well, like my
friend Kyle, I will always defend this film as being yet another terrific outing
from one of the best animation companies in the industry, one that sadly hasn’t
gotten the attention that it truly deserves. In my book, Pixar went ‘2 for 2’
this year.
WARNING: Hardcore Cinefiles
are guaranteed to hate the film I put at #10. Seriously if you didn’t like this
film, you’re not going to like what I have to say about it. Because contrary to
popular opinion, I really enjoyed this film and am eager to see where the
series goes from here.
10. TERMINATOR GENISYS
Yeah… crucify me… I don’t care! I loved this film. I saw it
twice in theaters. I got it on Blu-Ray. In fact, it’s the first ‘Terminator’
film that I own on Blu-Ray. I liked it that much. And I recognize that a lot of
people didn’t. That’s been the case with the ‘Terminator’ franchise ever since
James Cameron’s first two films, after which Cameron was not involved with any
of the subsequent sequels. And for the record, yes I will admit that the
decision to continue the franchise after ‘Terminator 2: Judgment Day’ was an
unnecessary one because that film ended on a pretty damn conclusive note, with
the Connors destroying Cyberdyne and getting rid of all traces of Skynet and
the Terminators. But Hollywood forged on anyway and then produced two more
sequels that pulled one of the biggest retcons ever by saying that the Connors’
efforts to stop Judgment Day in the second film only postponed the inevitable
doomsday. But you know what? I actually really like ‘Terminator 3: Rise of the
Machines’. Was it unnecessary? Hell yea it was. But even with that in mind, the
return of Arnold Schwarzenegger and some really solid action sequences at least
made it a fairly entertaining sci-fi action blockbuster. ‘Terminator
Salvation’, the first of the films that was actually set in the post-Judgment
Day world, admittedly was quite a disappointment, primarily due to the
lackluster writing, but I didn’t ‘hate it’ that much either. And now we come to
‘Terminator: Genisys’. This was one of those films that just couldn’t catch a
break in the months leading up to its release.
First off, there was all the mockery directed towards the
title. Yes, that’s not how you spell the word ‘genesis’. Apparently the title
is a combination of that word and the computer term ‘sys’ (system). Yeah it
still confuses me a bit but you know what, why complain about a film title when
it has no impact on the quality of the film whatsoever? But probably the
biggest controversy surrounding the film came as a result of the second
trailer. Even director Alan Taylor himself was displeased with the trailer as
it revealed one of the big twists of the film; that John Connor had been
compromised by Skynet and turned into a Terminator. But as someone who doesn’t
really get too worked up over trailers ‘giving away’ too much, it didn’t bother
me too much. In fact, I was actually quite happy with the reveal because it
meant that one of my favorite underrated actors working today, Jason Clarke,
was going to have a much more substantial role in the film than what the first
trailer for the film had suggested. But obviously, I was clearly in the
minority when it came to actually liking that trailer and even though James
Cameron himself stated that he did like the film (which, unlike some people, I
didn’t view as a marketing ploy at all because he wasn’t involved with the
film’s production whatsoever), the film did pretty badly with critics. It even
has a worse RT score than ‘Salvation’. In that case, allow me to retort…
‘Genisys’ took the same route as the recent ‘Star Trek’
films, which is fitting seeing how both series are currently owned by
Paramount/Skydance, by setting up a new alternate dimension. As Kyle Reese is
sent back in time to the year 1984, a mysterious figure (later revealed to be
the physical embodiment of Skynet) attacks John Connor, setting off a chain of
events that lands Kyle in an alternate timeline. And in this timeline, the
scared and vulnerable Sarah Connor that he thought he was coming for has
instead changed into a badass warrior with the help of her guardian T-800. But
all of that change to the series’ canon has been one of the primary sore spots
for many people in regards to this film, with their argument being that the
creation of an alternate timeline does away with all of the awesome stuff that
happened in the previous films. I’ve even seen a few people refer to this
film’s plot as being nothing more than ‘Terminator fan-fiction’. Well here’s
where I debunk that myth saying that ‘alternate universe’ storylines are a bad
idea. Because I can still go to Best Buy and buy both of James Cameron’s
Terminator films on Blu-Ray without any trouble. For you see, folks, no matter
what happens next for this series, those original films are still there for you
to enjoy. It’s only in the series’ current ‘timeline’ that the events of those
previous films have been ‘erased’. And hey, at the very least this film made
the smart move of ignoring the retcon of the third and fourth films,
re-establishing the original Judgment Day date of 1997 and not 2004. Though seriously,
‘Star Trek’ did the same thing and you don’t see anyone complain about that… oh
wait, bad example, a lot of hardcore Trek fans complained about it.
Well regardless of what others say, I
personally really like this idea of taking a pre-existing storyline and
spinning it into a new timeline. That is because in doing so, it allows the
filmmakers to explore the series’ lore and characters from a different
perspective. And yes, sometimes that will result in some familiar
story/character motifs reoccurring from time to time but these instances can be
still be done in a different context and done really well, like in ‘Star Trek
Into Darkness’ with the whole Khan scenario (again, contrary to what some
people might claim). I am legitimately interested in seeing where the
‘Terminator’ series continues from this point on as Sarah, Kyle, and ‘Pops’
traverse through this new timeline together, especially now that the latter has
basically become a T-1000 after getting thrown into a vat of mimetic polyalloy.
Because while they believe that they’ve taken down Skynet, represented in this
film as the A.I. behind a new operating system in the alternate timeline
version of 2017, Genisys (hence the title of the film), the mid-credits
sequence shows that Skynet’s system core is still running even after the
Cyberdyne facility was destroyed so it’ll be interesting to see how Skynet will
reemerge as the threat that it is as the series continues. And I think it’s
safe to say that Matt Smith’s character, the aforementioned physical embodiment
of Skynet that is basically responsible for setting up this new timeline, will
be involved in some way.
If you ask me, Alan Taylor deserves a lot of
credit for being able to almost completely recreate the opening scenes of the
first ‘Terminator’ film in both look and feel, save for a few re-castings
(sorry folks, there ain’t no Bill Paxton in here to tell the Terminator ‘F***
you asshole!’) and the whole alternate timeline thing. And yeah, the fight
between old Arnold and young Arnold was easily one of the best moments of the
entire film. But to me one of the absolute best elements of the film that actually
did make it work so well was the strong camaraderie amongst the main trio of
Sarah, Kyle, and ‘Pops’. Emilia Clarke does a fantastic job stepping into the
shoes of one of cinema’s most iconic action heroines, Sarah Connor, and Jai
Courtney isn’t too far behind taking on the role of Kyle Reese. Yes, you just
read that right. I actually thought that Courtney, who’s quickly become one of
the most despised actors working today amongst film fans (up there with people
like Shia LaBeouf) primarily for being a part of a few famous franchises’ most
critically-bashed entries (e.g. ‘A Good Day to Die Hard’, this), actually did a
really nice job as Reese. I’m not saying that he was better than Michael Biehn
in the first film but he did his job serving as the audience avatar trying to
navigate through this strange new alternate dimension. And while he isn’t in
the film that much, J.K. Simmons is a major scene-stealer as O’Brien, a
detective who first comes across the group in LA in 1984, nearly gets killed by
the T-1000, and then comes across the trio again many years later in 2017 San
Francisco and helps them out there completely accepting of what they tell him
about them trying to save the world.
As for Jason Clarke as John Connor, I noted
before how I did like that he had a much more substantial role in the film than
I had initially thought. At first I thought that he was only going to be in the
scenes set in the Judgment Day timeline before Kyle goes back in time but nope,
he’s in the film more than that and yes, he plays the main villain. It’s
revealed that after he was attacked by Matt Smith’s character, he was
transformed into the T-3000 to ensure Skynet’s survival and sent into the
future to the year 2014 to help develop its ‘cover’, Genisys. Here’s the thing…
Ignoring the whole controversy regarding this reveal being shown in the second
trailer, I was totally fine with this twist. Not only that, but Clarke’s become
my new favorite John Connor after it had been Nick Stahl in ‘Terminator 3’ for
a few years now. Clarke does a really great job in making the Terminator John
Connor a pretty darn charismatic and badass villain, who’s like a more advanced
version of the T-1000. I have the feeling that some viewed this as a ‘betrayal’
of the character given the fact that he’s always been portrayed as one of the
series’ main protagonists. But really that’s far from the case here. See, if
the scenario was that Connor was revealed to have been a villain the whole
time, without having been turned into a Terminator, then I’d be more likely to
say that it ‘betrayed’ everything that the character was in the other films.
But instead it’s just a case where John was only turned into a villain by
Skynet, which obviously works much better.
But of course I can’t talk about this film
without mentioning the best part about it; ARNOLD! Whether you like the film or
not, you cannot deny that the return of Arnold Schwarzenegger to the most
iconic role of his career was very much welcome. This was the first time that
he’s been in the role since ‘Terminator 3’ 12 years ago. He wasn’t in
‘Terminator Salvation’ (not counting his CGI double in that film) and after
watching this film, I have come to the conclusion that this was arguably the
biggest flaw of ‘Salvation’, even more than the writing. Simply put, you can’t
have a ‘Terminator’ film without Arnold. Though with that said, I’ve heard
rumors that the next film is going to be the last ‘Terminator’ film that he’s
going to do which means that if that ends up being true, then the planned third
film of this new trilogy is going to have one hell of a chip on its shoulder in
regards to having to move on without the series’ biggest star. But anyway, back
to his role in ‘Genisys’. Even though he’s now 68 years old, he still manages
to kick major ass and is once again excellent in the role of the T-800,
especially when it comes to his great comedic timing. Just try and tell me that
you didn’t laugh at least once when he tries to smile, a nice little nod to a
deleted scene from ‘Terminator 2’. And despite the occasional bickering that
goes on between him and Sarah, specifically in regards to the fact that she is
destined to ‘mate’ with Kyle in order to give birth to John Connor, you can
actually sense that he’s developed a pretty solid father-daughter esque
relationship with her. I’ll admit that on repeat viewings of the film, the
scene at the end where he tells Kyle to ‘protect my Sarah’ right before he
nobly sacrifices himself to destroy the T-3000 was actually a really effective
emotional moment.
So yeah, that’s my whole spiel on ‘Terminator:
Genisys’. Clearly I’m in the minority when it comes to liking this film and the
general discontent towards it definitely showed from a commercial standpoint
when this film was released this past July. Domestically it only grossed about
$89.7 million, a total that was way below the film’s budget, which put
Skydance’s plan of producing two more sequels to the film in jeopardy. But then
in came the foreign box-office to save the day, specifically in China where it
grossed over $112 million. Overseas the film managed to gross over $350 million
which helped the film breakeven (I think… I’ll admit I don’t know much about
this whole ‘budget’ and ‘breaking even’ process) on its $155 million budget.
The planned trilogy is still up in the air but at the very least, this film was
saved from being a box-office bomb by the overseas market (Thank you China!).
And while obviously not too many people are keen on seeing the series continue
on at this point, I am very much eager to see where it decides to go next now
that it has established a new alternate reality a la ‘Star Trek’. In
conclusion, I had a lot of fun with ‘Terminator: Genisys’. Is it as good as the
two Cameron films? No, but obviously those two films are one hell of a tough
act to follow, though that doesn’t mean that I’m holding that against the
sequels that came after it. At the very least, this film does feel like a
proper sequel to those films without pulling a major retcon that goes against
everything that happened at the end of ‘Terminator 2’, effectively making it
the best of the sequels after that film. Many of you will argue that this isn’t
saying much but it is to me.
And
that’s the end of Part 1 of my ‘Top 12 Favorite Films of 2015’ list. Check back
tomorrow for Part 2 where I’ll be listing films #9-7.
