Terminator:Genisys

This review may contain spoilers!

Forget that dinosaur movie; this is the film that is really bringing an amazing franchise back to life. I would give Terminator: Genisys a 7.5/10.

This film boasts an incredible story that really revitalises the Terminator franchise; it delves into some very heavy and long winded explanantions but ultimately it just makes for some fantastic viewing. This film is incredibly well paced, the story progressing quite naturally. Furthermore this film has some of the best special effects that I have seen all year. The cinematography goes hand in hand with this, moving the film along with incredible shots. The score for this film was brilliant, really harking back to the classic terminator films of old.

Arnold Schwarzenegger, who played Pops, is really the heart and soul of this film and franchise; his presence in fight scenes or his comedic ability really serve this film for the better. Matt Smith, who played Skynet, was a fantastic new progression of the Terminator films; he brings the A.I. antagonist to life in a way that is quite terrifying and unique. Byung-hun Lee, who played the T-1000, brought a classic antagonist back to life; it's not easy to make a character who has maybe two lines seem cool but Lee brings a lethal force to life in the T-1000 role.

However the best performance came from Jason Clarke, who played John Connor. In fact Clarke gave the best John Connor performance out of all the Terminator films (and yes that includes the kid from Terminator 2). Clarke really built up a character who was enigmatic but who had a strong presence as action hero and leader in the beginning of the film. This established his strong chemistry with Courtney and made the scenes in the future some of the best. Clarke then moulded Connor's transformation to antagonist; creating a role that was still likeable and unpredictable but who also was incredibly lethal. One of the most interesting characters and plot developments of the series Clarke has truly left his mark upon the franchise.

One of the let downs of this film was that there were too many unnecessary action sequences, it really did look cool but it took away from the engaging plot. The fact that we had two sequences where the heroes wound up in police custody as well as two fights with John Connor before the final act was ridiculous.

Emilia Clarke, who played Sarah Connor, was one of the more disappointing leads in this film; she felt artificial in the role as if she was forcing the break away from the damsel in distress role (which frankly Sarah Connor already did way back in Terminator 2). Jai Courtney, who played Kyle Reese, was another disappointing lead for the film; he had very little chemistry with Emilia Clarke and it almost felt like they forced Kyle Reese back into having a significant role in the films. J.K. Simmons, who played O'Brien, wasn't a bad actor in this film so much as he was a redundant presence; it was annoying to see an Academy Award winning actor in a role that had no impact at all to the plot of the film. Dayo Okeniyi, who played Danny Dyson, was a nice reference but had no screen presence; essentially he had a fun scene with jason Clarke and was little more than a plot point.