TERMINATOR: THE BEGINNING OF A NEW/OLD FRANCHISE

So let’s talk Terminator! The franchise has had its share of issues.  The first two are iconic. The third one is forgettable at best and the fourth got more press for Christian Bale’s rant than quality of film. Here we go again, a much older Arnold and younger recast of the first films iconic characters. Is there still gas in the tank or are we better off just watching the original.

  The future is controlled by machines. Humans are on the verge of extinction, but one man teaches them to fight back. John Connor leads the resistance to wipe out the evil machines led by the super computer Skynet. The war is ending and the machines are losing, but Skynet creates time travel and sends back a terminator to kill the mother of its enemy.  John Connor sends back the lone soldier Kyle Reese to protect her. Stop me if you’ve seen this before. Things get interesting when we deal with time travel. This film gives a new take on the original story. 

What works is Arnold! He plays an old, but not obsolete cyborg. He delivers and they use his age well in the story. The special effects are on par and the robot fights are great. Emilia Clarke from Game of Thrones is a good Sarah Connor, but it’s tough to knock what Linda Hamilton did. Jai Courtney is a star, but I don’t think he’s found that role yet. He is ok as Kyle Reese, but Michael Bien still owns the role. That being said, I still really liked both of them. Good chemistry with Arnold and they seemed to handle the pressure of their characters pretty well.

What didn’t work? John Connor as he villain! It’s not a spoiler. If you have seen the trailers, you already know this. I like his crazy version of a terminator, but I don’t like the savior of the human race as the bad guy. I am not knocking Jason Clark, but I would have liked seeing this version of the terminator be something other than John Connor.

 The time line thing is still a little convoluted, but it is fun to watch. The nods to the original and its first sequel are fantastic. It is by far a better take than we have been given recently. It was fun to watch and fits nicely into the summer movie season. I hope it gets a sequel because I would like to see where they take things next.  One thing is for sure, if a sequel is green-lit, I’ll be back!