There’s a scene in the latest Terminator adventure, the 5th entry called Genisys, where Arnold Schwarzenegger’s original T-800 tells Kyle Reese, “I am old, yet not obsolete.” I wish the same could be said for the latest sequel/reboot/reimagining. I grew up on these films and I still think the entire thing could have ended with James Cameron’s Terminator 2: Judgement Day. While the third Terminator film wasn’t bad and featured an unexpected ending, Terminator Salvation was weak and didn’t feature Arnold at all and this summer blockbuster pretender is all flash and has zero originality.

I’m sorry, but reshaping the entire storyline to fit the requirements for making a 5th film doesn’t count as being original. Sure, Arnold is back in full bad to the bone mode as the ultimate protector. Game of Thrones darling Emilia Clarke is Sarah Connor and the blank slate Jai Courtney tries his best to not mess up Kyle Reese, but it’s not enough to make this reboot required. Jason Clarke is a skilled actor, but has little to do here as John Connor, the man who sent Reese back to save his mom, or something like that. Around an hour into the film, the plot gets very complicated and grows more tedious by the moment. What was simple turns into a constant changing of the timeline. Summer action films shouldn’t be this complicated, heavy and recycled. (more…)