Terminator:Genisys (2015)

The fifth movie in the long running film franchise that began in 1984, Directed by Alan Taylor, marks the return of The Terminator himself Arnold Schwarzenegger.

This film when first announced made me very happy as I’m a fan of the franchise save for Terminator 3:Rise of the machines and yes I do like Salvation. the return of Arnold was good thing but at the same time not a good thing since he’s old now.

The first trailer for this film hyped me up for the film even more since we would see somewhat of a return too 1984 but a few thing switched around, Think Back to the Future 2 when the go from 2015 back to 1985 which has changed because of certain events.

I had no problem with this, but the second trailer for me ruined what I thought was going to be a really good Terminator movie by making a main character through out the franchise be something that we have come to know not to be, this is where I lose all hope for the film.

But after its release and listening too some mixed word of mouth I decided to check Terminator: Genisys out after all.

The film begins in 2029 with John Connor(Jason Clarke) leading the fight against Skynet like he always is in all of the previous films, his right hand Kyle Reese(Jai Courtney) is his most trusted soldier for obvious reasons, John seems to always be one step ahead since he seems to be somewhat of a prophet too his people as they make their last charge on a Skynet stronghold where the time machine that Conner says “Skynet uses too rig the game” is located.

Right before their able to get inside a T-800 is sent back too 1984 too kill Sarah Conner to which would stop John Connor from being born and ending the world’s hope for survival against the evil skynet.

John decides that he must send someone back to protect his mother to ensure his birth and the fate of the human race, everyone volunteers for this mission, but John chooses Reese too go back to 1984.

Back in 84' the arrival of both T-800 and Reese play out virtually the same as the first film except with a few changes, as the T-800 is about to kill the 3 punks, another T-800 emerges from the shadows and with the help of Sarah kills it.

When Reese arrives he’s chased by the cops into the same store gets his long coat and Nike shoes, but some how a T-1000 (Byung-hun Lee) is there and tries too kill Reese, but before he is able too an armored truck crashes threw the building, driven by Sarah Connor(Emilia Clark) and she delivers the line “Come with me if you want too live” which Reese quickly does.

The 1984 from the original film no longer exist because the older T-800 or “Pops” as Sarah calls him was sent back too 1973 to protect Sarah since she so now Sarah knows more then what Reese does and has already become the mother of the resistance similar to how she was in T2 

Emilia Clarke does a fine job here as Sarah Connor who was play great by Linda Hamilton in the first two movies, and Clarke in some ways replicates Hamilton’s Sarah, the relationship between here and Pops is nice and even touching in some scenes and is played for a few laughs.

Jai Courtney’s Reese isn’t Michael Biehn here but he is good with his spin on Reese and for the first time in the franchise we get a look at his backstory and learn why he was so eagered to be the one to go back to save Sarah and his relationship with John is expanded on as well.

Jason Clarke is the ideal John Connor but he gives a good performance here but it made since why he was cast when the movie hits the midway point, i do believe another actor would’ve made Connor a little more interesting then Clarke though.

J.K. Simmons basically steals the film with his character since for the first time this character through out the franchise exist and it makes perfect sense for there to be a character like him when Time Travel is being dealt with, would’ve like to seen more of him but what we do see works, and works perfectly.

Arnold for me is the best actor of the cast here(yes I know) but he is, he seems to have built this T-800 off of the performance that he gives in T2 and instead of the relationship with John this time it’s with Sarah and the little subtle things that he does through out in regards to him being Pops is very well done on his part, I did like how they explained his more aged look and the running joke about him being old but not obsolete was good also.

The special effects here are good,including the CGI which in recent years has become the main draw over actual good story, but here it doesn’t take away from the movie like it does in other films.

There are a few things in this movie that are throw away and never fully explained because it seemed they just know a sequel will be made too this film and with those looming questions mainly who seen Pops back too 1973 and who sent the T-1000 back to 1984 surely need to be explained

All in All Terminator Genisys isn’t as terrible as some have made it out too be if you can keep up with what this film is doing with this being an alternate time line then you should be able to enjoy it, if you are some one who is still on the fence of weather or not see it, i recommend going to see it and judging for yourself.

MY RATING 7/10

CAST

Arnold Schwarzenegger-Guadian

Jason Clarke-John Connor

Emilia Clarke- Sarah Connor

Jai Courtney- Kyle Reese

J.K. Simmons-O'Brien

Dayo Okeniyi-Danny Dyson

Matthew Smith- Alex

Courtney B. Vance- Miles Dyson

Byung-hun Lee-T-1000

Jack Reacher (2012)

"The Law Has Limits, He Does Not"

PLOT
A Homicide Investigator digs deeper into a case involving a trained military sniper who shot five random victims.


MY THOUGHTS:

The opening of Jack Reacher grabs you from the beginning where a sniper kills five random people which sets in motion a lot of twist and turns to follow. the man suspected of the random killings James Barr(Joseph Sikora) is quickly picked up by the police led by Detective Emerson (David Oyelowo) while Barr is in custody and being talked into confessing to the killings, he does say anything expect he writes on a piece of paper "GET JACK REACHER"

Emerson and the District Attorney (Richard Jenkings) does some digging around to find Jack Reacher(Tom Cruise), who isn't all that easy to find at all and only wants to be found if he wants to be, Reacher who is ex miltary himself has been living a off the radar life since living the army altogether, Reacher shows up out of no where to meet Emerson and District Attorney Roden after Barr has been put into a coma thanks to some underhanded police put him in a police transit with some other convicts who beat him up really bad.

Reacher quickly lets every know that he isn't a friend of Barr's and in fact he tried to have him lock up for a crime he did well he was still in the army, Barr's attorney Helen(Rosamund Pike) who is also D.A's Roden daughter wants to know why Barr asked for Reacher, the two in somewhat quick fashion decide to team up to find out what's really going on.

Reacher who does everything his own way goes to the crime scene and find clues that Emerson and the other police never noticed before because of his miltary background and he knew what to look for found a few things that didn't make sense to him, while he is doing his investigating, he is also being tailed by a man name Linsky (Michael Raymond-James) who seems to be involved in some way with the crime as well.

Reacher meets with Helen at his place and they talk about different things, mainly Reacher not believing that Barr is insane since that is Helen's defense for Barr and also Helen's relationship with her dad and why she is really defending Barr, which Helen doesn't like talking about because Reacher is doing a very good job of getting under her skin.

Jack Reacher goes to a bar and meets Sandy (Alexia Fast) who Reacher insults which provokes Jeb (Josh Helman) and some of his friends who all claim to be Sandy's brothers, they go outside to fight Reacher who tells Jeb "Remember you wanted this" before he quickly takes care of Jeb and his friends, a scared Sandy runs off as the police show up and arrest Reacher, who knew that the whole thing was a set up.

The next day Helen and Emerson goes to get Reacher out of lock up, Reacher believing more that something bigger is going on and somebody is behind the whole random killings that aren't really random at all because with some more digging Reacher and Helen find out that 4 of the people were killed to cover up their main target which was a woman Oline Archer who took over her husband's business after he died and she didn't want to sale.

Linsky goes to meet Charlie(Jai Courtney) who we find out was behind hiring Jeb and his friends to get rid of Reacher, Linsky wants to get a second chance to get rid of Reacher but an older man known only as The Zec (Werner Herzog) is the one really in charge and Charlie works for him, The Zec will give Linsky a second chance only if he bites off one of his own fingers, which he can't do and Charlie kills him.

I must say I was really impressed with Jack Reacher, its probably one of Tom Cruise best movies in recent years, he really shows another side of him here as the tough as nails, no nonsense Reacher, I thought him and Rosamund Pike had some good chemistry with the back and forth between them and the sexual tension is really played will between them.

This isn't your typical action movie, its very smart, self aware, doesn't try to play on the audiences intelligence either the movie plays like a modern film noir just minus the main character's voice over narrations.

Director Christopher McQuarrie(The Way Of The Gun ) directs Jack Reacher like a movie that could've easily been made in the late 70s or early 80s with the look and feel of it, by letting the story slowly unfold and come together instead of having everything explained and told to us like most movie have done in recent years.

I think my two favorite things about Jack Reacher are during the action scenes which are done very good, because for anyone who has seen The Way of The Gun knows McQuarrie can do action scenes very smart and here he is a master at it, with a car chase sequence that reminds us that real cars scenes can still be fun when done right and the decision to not have music in any of the sequences like the car chase and also a few of the fight scenes makes them even that more enjoyable for me(I'm very old school when it comes to these things) I don't have a problem with music in movies by any means but when its not needs and what's happening on the screen is enjoy to thrill me then I'm all for no music which sometimes can be very distracting especially nowadays.

Jai Courtney who plays Charlie plays a good bad guy in this I haven't seen him on Spartacus tv series or A Good Day To Die Hard yet but if done right he could have a bright career ahead of him with being in more roles like this and starring along side top talents like Cruise and Willis.

Everyone is good in this movie no weak link actings here from the stars down to the supporting cast which is a good blend of up and comers (Jai Courtney, David Oyelowo, Alexia Fast) and knowns (Richard Jenkins,  Rosamund Pike, Werner Herzog) even Robert Duvall re teams with Cruise who co starred with him in Days of Thunder, here Duvall plays a gunsmith named Cash who even gets in on some of the action.

All in all you don't have to be a fan of Tom Cruise, never read the books that the movie is inspired and based off of, because this is just a really good movie that I was surprised wasn't well received when it was released on the big screen last December, hopefully now that its coming to Blu Ray and DVD people will check it out and it will be nice to get maybe a sequel or two but only time will tell with that.

For fans of the books and weren't happen that Tom Cruise was cast as Jack Reacher who in the books is 6'5 and weight some where around 225 pounds, I don't really think two many actors out there with the exception of maybe Dwayne Johnson could've played this role, but I believe Cruise is good in the movie and the movie should be judged solely as the movie and not from what the character was in a book.


CAST

Tom Crusie- Jack Reacher


Rosamund Pike- Helen Roden


Richard Jenkings- District Attorney Roden


David Oyelowo- Detective Emerson


Jai Courtney- Charlie


Alexia Fast-Sandy


Werner Herzog- The Zec



Robert Duvall- Cash





MY RATING: 9/10