TERMINATOR: GENISYS Review

I don't think I've ever met someone who wasn't a fan of the Terminator series. There have been many films having humans war with robots, but few as refined as this franchise. Interestingly, Terminator is much like Alien. The first two installments are universally acclaimed (with the second one in particular being hailed as two of the greatest action movies of all time.) Alien 3 and Terminator 3 aren't as renowned. I would consider them both underrated, but those are reviews for another day. Resurrection is known as the worst Alien, and Salvation is known as the worst Terminator. (Is T4 really that bad? I don't think so, but again a review for another day.) Years passed and many thought we wouldn't be seeing another film. Enter GENISYS. Marketed as a sort of reboot, it appeared this film was looking to emulate the first two. In some ways it succeeds in that. But, it goes about this in perhaps the most bizarre way possible. Genisys has one of the most convoluted storylines I've ever seen. It is however also one of the most fast-paced and fun movies I've ever seen, so at least there's that.

The official description:

 When John Connor (Jason Clarke), leader of the human resistance against Skynet, sends Kyle Reese (Jai Courtney) back to 1984 to protect his mother, Sarah (Emilia Clarke), from a Terminator assassin, an unexpected turn of events creates an altered timeline. Instead of a scared waitress, Sarah is a skilled fighter and has a Terminator guardian (Arnold Schwarzenegger) by her side. Faced with unlikely allies and dangerous new enemies, Reese sets out on an unexpected new mission: reset the future.

What I find most peculiar is the audience this film is attempting to cater to. It tries to be a reboot, thus bringing in new fans while also attempting to continue the ongoing storyline. Let's try to put this bluntly: the story basically erases all the previous movies from existence. It then decides to transform John Connor into a Terminator for the film's antagonist. Sound insane? That's because it is. The writing just doesn't do a good job explaining any of it. There's a brief scene with Sara Connor telling Kyle Reece about this timeline mishap. It's meant to inform the viewer, but instead of the viewer going "Oh wow!" it's "Wait what?" It doesn't get any less confusing as the story goes along. Interestingly, the film's first act even attempts to retell the events of the first two installments. New fans will be almost completely lost, and longtime watchers will be alienated by the poorly written time travel aspect.

What the film does succeed in is action. This was one of the most fast paced films of 2015. Much like Judgement Day, the film never lets go of its fast pace. The fight scenes are all excellent and contain a large amount of tension. One of the best scenes for example is when T tells Sarah Connor "I'll be back" before skydiving into the helicopter. The final fight with John Connor is great because the viewer knows T is severely outclassed, so it's fun seeing how the heroes will get out of it since it's impossible to think of a logical reason. As for the cast, they aren't bad...but are they good? Kyle Reece wasn't a terrible focus throughout. Generic for sure, but not horribly so. Sarah Connor has always been more on the crazy side, and Emilia Clark does a solid job recapturing that from the older films. (Though, can someone please tell me why "bite me" is even a saying?) The romance between the two was pretty bad and poorly developed. The obvious highlight is Arnold Schwarzenegger, whom after all these years can still play an excellent T-800. (I will also give the story credit for at least trying to present a reason why a robot would age.)

It's always impressive when a film can keep at least one immensely surprising plot twist free from its marketing and trailers. (I just found out that they had released a TV spot and poster spoiling the twist, terrible move Paramount!) Based on everything we had seen, it appeared the new T-1000 would be the antagonist. While lacking the engaging cool factor of the original one from T2, this guy was pretty solid. But, he was only a villain for about 20 minutes. The story takes a 180 and introduces John Connor as the antagonist. It was a bizarre move, but definitely an interesting twist. Though, perhaps a little too much. Connor's role in the franchise has always been the resistance fighter, the person who leads humanity. To transform him into a Terminator, even if Skynet forcibly does it, destroys a fundamental part of the franchise. I can applaud them for taking a risk. Whether or not that risk was worth it is another story.

Later in the story Reece and Sarah travel to 2017. At this point the story takes a jab at how much we're invested in the internet. If computers become so advanced and we're willing to accept basically anything when it comes to being "plugged in," can we unknowingly let them take over? It's fascinating how the story manages to squeeze in this allegory amidst the chaos. The soundtrack is very strong, as expected from a Terminator film. The tension is given even greater depth in each of the fight scenes thanks to the themes.

Overall, Terminator: Genisys is definitely one of the more interesting films I've seen in awhile. It contains one of the most poorly written time travel plots out there in relation to previous events. The action is some of the best however, so at the very least one wouldn't be bored while watching. (Which is the biggest crime a film can commit.) While very poorly explained, Director Alan Taylor knows how to deliver a story that doesn't lose its momentum. Plus, Arnold delievers another stellar performance as T-800.

3.5/5

MAGGIE Review

Generally speaking, most zombie stories follow a certain path with one word: survival. Dawn of the Dead, Quarantine, and World War Z for example all follow this idea of surviving in an unnatural event, or a resistance to take back the world. That's why when a film like MAGGIE comes along, it's easy to write it off as another un-dead flick. That would be one of the biggest mistakes a person could make.

Maggie follows the story of Maggie Vogel, whom has been infected with an un-curable disease. Her father does not want to put her in quarantine, yet knows that she is going to die, and he has the choice to finish her himself. As you can see, the film itself simply with that premise separates itself from all other stories. I love a good action film like WORLD WAR Z, but there's something really engaging about watching a drama set in this type of world.

Of course, dramas can become incredibly boring, even with a cool concept/franchise behind it. (Superman Returns is the perfect example.) The actors involved here really nail the great script. Abigail Breslin as the title character portrays a believable girl as she goes through this unfathomable ordeal. Teenagers in film are rarely portrayed well, so it was refreshing to see a likable character. The slow transformation from human girl to monster was brilliantly done. The viewer can feel the emotion as she breaks down not being able to control the virus from kicking in.

Arnold Schwarzenegger's character's relationship with his daughter was nicely established. The viewer can feel his inner sadness as a father as he's given the option to kill Maggie himself, or bring her to quarantine where they'll do it. No matter what she's going to die, so it's rather bleak. How does a father, or anyone deal with that? How does anyone deal with the knowledge there's no cure for a fatal disease? The film poses some intriguing questions.

That's not to say there's absolutely nothing negative. With its rather short run time, it feels like there could have been a bit more. Maggie's step mom's arc ends abruptly for example. The ending is effective and powerful, plus it gives a frightening perspective I've never seen established before in a movie. But it ends rather too suddenly, with no real end to Wade's, the father, arc. It feels like there should have been something additional. But, this stuff doesn't take away from the quality of the story. While this is not action, there's still one great action scene where Arnold unveils his Terminator skills on a zombie.

Overall, Maggie is a must-see for longtime fans of the zombie sub-genre, and general drama watchers in general. It tells a powerful story of a girl whom is infected with an un-curable virus, and her relationship to her father. The choreography, acting, and writing are all excellent. I've avoided spoilers because I truly want you to go check this out. The fact it's PG-13 and not R is a nice change of pace too. A story with zombies doesn't have to be overly gory to be effective. Maggie makes the viewer contemplate about life, sickness, and reminds "to make the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil" and that "now is the day of salvation" (Ephesians 5:16, 2 Corinthians 6:2) because one never really knows when their last day will be.

4.5/5

TERMINATOR 2: Judgment Day Review

Action movies are one of the most popular types of film. They in concept serve a movie's purpose: to entertain. Its always fun to see action combined with another genre, such as fantasy, or in this case science fiction. Terminator 2 since its release has been critically acclaimed and regarded as the summer blockbuster. This film and Aliens (which interestingly enough was also directed by James Cameron) are often looked at by longtime movie watchers as the ideal action films. With Genisys just seeing release, I thought it was time to head back and see why Judgment Day is held to such a high regard. After watching it, it is unfortunate to see why so many action blockbusters fail so miserably. If they took a peak at how this film did it, they could see some success.

The plot is pretty well known by now, so we'll keep it brief. In the future, John Connor sends a reprogrammed T-800 back in time to protect his younger self from Skynet's robot, the T-1000. Sarah Connor, John's mother, has been thrown in a mental hospital, but she's quickly thrown into the conflict. The film opens up to the near future, with a destroyed Los Angeles. It's a fantastic setup, and 24 years later the Terminators with their laser guns still appear very frightening on the TV screen. The main story is of course in the present, so the future scene serves as a backdrop to it and a tease of what a plot completely set in the future would be like. (We finally got that in the immensely underrated Terminator Salvation 18 years later.)

The reason why I believe this film is above most modern action movies is the emphasis on the conflict. When T-1000 arrives, the story becomes essentially about him chasing John and T-800 protecting him. The conflict is always at the front without much emphasis on the personal lives of the characters. This isn't a bad thing because in a sci fi action film, the conflict is the most important aspect. This is not to say there's no character development here, but the writing doesn't try to make it about them. It's about saving the future.

Films like Transformers, Battleship, and Edge of Tomorrow add in unneeded comedy, exposition, and attempt to make the characters quirky or something rather than focusing on the plot at hand. "Judgement Day" never once feels like it lets up on the conflict. Just about every scene is important in forwarding the story. The viewer is engaged not because mainly of who the human characters are, but because of the conflict driving them. This is of course greatly helped by Arnold Schwarzenegger's portrayal of the Terminator. T-800 is a fantastic focus as we see his emotionless demeanor and how he slowly learns to be a little more human. It never becomes cheesy to the point of a Predator mimicking human words in Predator 2.

John Connor in this particular film has got to be one of the most unlikable kids in film history. According to the film's universe, he would be 10...yet has enough juvenile accounts to fill a person at age 17. Not only that, but he curses in almost every scene he's in. Realistically, I just don't think someone at that age would be utilizing this kind of language. In fact, he doesn't act like a 10 year old at all throughout. If everything else wasn't so great, he could have truly dragged down the story. (The problem with Jurassic World was its reliance on mediocre characters over the story.)

Linda Halmilton as Sarah Connor does the deranged act pretty solid. It kind of reminds me of the rather crazed Ellen Ripley in Alien: Resurrection, which isn't a bad thing. Besides Arnold however, the true star was T-1000, portrayed by Robert Patrick. This guy is known as the best antagonist of the series, and for good reason. Every scene he's in he commands a presence. The interesting concept of him being able to liquefy himself into basically any object is a pretty cool effect that doesn't look dated at all.

There's nothing worst than an action movie being boring. (We're looking at you, Wrath of the Titans.) The action in "Judgement Day" is some of the best you'll find. The first battle scene between the Terminators set the tone for what was to come. The chase scenes are arguably the greatest in film history. The best part is of course the final showdown. It's fantastic, epic, and no quirky gimmicks stopping the fight. (Such as with Thor: The Dark World, which had one of the most mediocre climaxes in comic book film history.) What a lot of modern films like to do is add gimmicks to the fights, but what most of the time really works is just simple punches and throwing around. The climax here is ideally what all finishers should strive to be like.

Overall, I believe that Terminator 2 is the archetype of action films. It's basically a blueprint a lot of movies have looked at and failed to emulate. The characters here aside from John Connor are engaging. The conflict is the driving force, with them basically along for the ride. If they were bad characters, we'd have a problem. This is one hole a lot of modern films have. The plot might be interesting, but most of the characters are written so poorly that they drag the story down. (All four "Transformers" movies.) On the flip side, if the characters are boring and one-dimensional, the action is going to feel shallow with no point. (Once again, "Wrath of the Titans.") "Judgement Day" manages to find a perfect balance of solid characters and emphasis on the plot, which is accompanied by a great soundtrack. I would definitely defend the sequels, but there's no denying that T2 stands the test of time of being perhaps the greatest action film and one of the best movies overall.

5/5