Movie Review: Terminator Genisys (2015)

In the future, John Connor (Jason Clarke) finds Kyle Reese (Jai Courtney) and raises him.  In 2029, Connor takes down Skynet, but Skynet sends a Terminator back to 1984 to kill Sarah Connor. (Emilia Clarke) Connor sends Kyle back to 1984 to protect Sarah.  But things have changed in the 1984 Kyle has been sent back to.  Sarah Conner knows all about the future, and has a Guardian (Arnold Schwarzenegger) to protect her.  The Guardian and Sarah build a time machine, and Sarah wants to go to 1997, when the machines became self-aware.  But Kyle has visions of an alternate future and wants to go to 2017, to knock out Skynet before it gets up and running.  They go to 2017, and find John Conner, do they succeed in taking down Skynet once and for all.

If the studio that released Terminator Genysis wanted to kill the Terminator series once and for all, mission accomplished.  This is not so much a reboot, but a rehash of Terminator 1 and  2, with details from the first 2, but most of the story is the same, except worse.  The question is why, why go back and re-remake a great movie like Terminator, if it’s not better?  Terminator Genisys is not better in any way. The reason for The Guardian aging is stupid as is most of the movie. The writers (not James Cameron) try to throw a few twists in but those twists don’t justify a whole movie. This movie is just a series of special effects, car chases, and explosions.  This movie contains all of Hollywood’s worst excesses, and no plot. They should have called it Terminator Gen-Excess.

The most scathing critique I can make of Hollywood is that Arnold Schwarzenegger‘s career is still going strong after 30 years.  The most scathing critique I can make of this movie is that Arnold Schwarzenegger is the best actor in this film.  Jai Courtney is a big zero as Kyle Reese, as is Jason Clarke as John Connor, there is no depth, emotion or anything redeeming in either of these performances.  Emilia Clarke is way too young to play Sarah Connor, Linda Hamilton was really the epitome of the female action hero, and she was convincing as a mother. Emilia Clarke looks like someone’s younger sister, and acts as immature.  She is not anyone’s mother for sure.  She seems like more of a petulant child in some scenes.

There is nothing notable about the direction, the director seems interested in getting out of the way and letting the special effects dominate.  Alan Taylor has directed Thor: The Dark World, which as also heavy on special effects and light on story.  What can a director do to make Arnold’s performances any better?  Is that possible?

Terminator Genesys:  Led to an Exodus in the theaters.

Movie Review: True Lies (1994)

Harry Tasker (Arnold Schwarzenegger) is a secret agent who works for an organization called the Omega Sector, and he is tracker a terrorist named Salim (Art Malik) leader of a group called Crimson Jihad.  Crimson Jihad is trying to acquire nuclear weapons, using an antiquities dealer named Juno Skinner (Tia Carrere) as a go-between.  While investigating the terrorist plot, Harry is convinced that his wife Helen (Jamie Lee Curtis) is having an affair with a used car salesman named Simon (Bill Paxton).  Harry is so distracted by his wife’s supposed affair that he follows Helen around and gives her the third degree about the affair.  While Harry is distracted, Salim acquires the nukes, takes Harry’s daughter Dana (Eliza Dushku hostage and threatens to blow up a major U.S. city.  Can Harry save America from a nuclear catastrophe?  Can he save his marriage?

This is not a good movie.  It would be fine if it was a run of the mill action flick, but it tries to be much more than that, there’s the subplot of the affair.  This so-called affair, goes nowhere, adds nothing to the plot and makes an overly long movie even longer.  When the action sequences arrive, they are overblown and unrealistic.  James Cameron, who wrote, directed, and produced this bloated waste of time, tries his hardest to repackage Arnold.  He dresses Arnold in a tuxedo, makes him fluent in Arabic and French, and makes him ride a horse.  (Poor horse) But try as he might, Arnold is not James Bond.  You can’t take a steroid addled gorilla like Arnold, put him into a monkey suit, and turn him into a spy.  The supporting cast is also badly used.  Cameron clearly does not know how to use Jamie Lee Curtis.  First, she is a bored housewife, then a sexpot, then a damsel in distress, and finally a woman who kicks butt.  She could have been the kick butt female, without having to go through all those iterations.  Tom Arnold is a whiny, noisy sidekick, and not that funny. Charlton Heston annunciates every world so slowly as Arnold’s boss at the agency, I thought his lines would take 2 ½ hours by themselves. Only Tia Carrere seems to have fun as a psycho antiquities dealer.  Elisha Dushku has a small role as Arnold’s spoiled brat daughter. This movie is much longer and more complex than it has to be and Arnold is not  a deft enough actor to pull off this role.

True Lies:  Truly boring.

Movie Review: Total Recall (1990)

Douglas Quaid (Arnold Schwarzenegger) is a construction worker on Earth, who dreams he lived on Mars.  It is the year 2084, and humans have set up a colony on Mars, under the control of Vilos Cohagen (Ronny Cox) Cohagen is battling a rebellion of human mutants, led by Kuato. (Marshall Bell)  Cohagen wants to control a valuable mineral called terbidium,  on Mars, and put down the rebellion once and for all.  Despite having a beautiful wife named Lori, (Sharon Stone) he can’t shake the feeling that he’s been on Mars, with another woman named Melina. (Rachel Ticotin)  Quaid then books a virtual vacation to Mars with a company called Rekall, who promises to implant memories of a vacation to Mars in Quaid’s head.  Something goes wrong at Rekall, it seems someone has actually erased Quaid’s memory.  Quaid learns he used to be an agent named Hauser, who worked with Cohagen, but wanted to turn on Cohagen because he had some harmful information on him.  Now a thug named Richter (Michael Ironside) is chasing Quaid.  Quaid goes to Mars to try to find Melina, and meet with Kuato  who has psychic powers.  Does Kuato unlock Quaid’s secret information on Cohagen?  Does Quaid/Hauser really turn on Cohagen?  Does Melina help Quaid recall his true identity?

This is a very good sci-fi movie.  The premise of a man having his memory erased and then struggling to find out who he is, while being chased by bad guys, is the perfect premise. The violence is a bit over the top, apparently there’s not gun control on Mars or Earth for that matter in 2084.  The violence is cartoonish, but some people might find it disturbing. Arnold’s ham handed delivery notwithstanding, this movie works on many levels, sci-fi action, and comedy.  It has more than enough chase sequences to keep any action craving viewer satisfied.  This movie has one of my favorite Arnold catchphrases, after shooting “wife” Sharon Stone, he  says, “Consider this a divorce.”   Sharon Stone is actually hot in this movie, and actually handles a pretty complex role pretty well.  Rachel Ticotin is part sidekick, part love interest, and comes off as tough as nails, and alternately sweet.  My only quibble with Ticotan’s character is she is a prostitute, Hollywood’s fascination with prostitute characters befuddles me, but it continues. There’s also more product placement than I cared for, but this is another trend that continues unabated in Hollywood.

Total Recall:  A movie that’s hard to forget