Terminator Genisys - Discussion and Grading Thread (Spoilers)

[nx1701g]

The T-1000's mimetic polyalloy was intended to be similar to nanobots.

Even a liquid metal terminator can only go so far. It may be able to mimic things and other people, but it's not invulnerable. It has weaknesses and can be destroyed.

And, perhaps most importantly, it can't infect others and turn them into fellow terminators!

True. Again, they did explain that away in the movie though in a sense. The nanobots made most people just go insane and weren't effective in converting them into machines. Which would work to destroy humanity.

I was thinking about the film though and the Cameron comment on his view of why Skynet developed time travel in the first place. Since it was growing to regret its actions maybe the nano resin was developed to try to save humanity in a sense? That way the entirety of the human race wouldn't die off. Converting the hero of the future into one of the machines could've gone a long way to convince people to undergo the transformation.

Theoretically.

 

[Flying Spaghetti Monster]

I'm a huge fan of Terminator, but this movie they literally threw everything at the wall hoping that something would stick but nothing did

Touch of irony in this.

Don't be shy. Make your point

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

The nanobots made most people just go insane and weren't effective in converting them into machines.

The basic thrust of the gist is the same, though: a terminator that is a cloud of nanobots would be almost unstoppable - it could become essentially invisible by dispersing itself widely enough (and could probably still attack while in that mode). Not even the T-1000 could do that - it has to disguise itself as something.

To put forth a Trek analogy: What would the Borg have been like if they could spread assimilation through the air, like a virus?

 

[ManOnTheWave]

Saw it tonight. Considering all of the bad buzz, I expected a terrible mess, but it's an above average affair. Enjoyable. I'm surprised how much I liked it, especially considering I loathe Jai Courtney and Jason Clarke both.

 

[Sgt. Pepper]

I just got back and as many, I had pretty low expectations. I found it to be a nice addition to the franchise. It's most definitely a good follow up to T2, but the first two movies are by far the best. This one is better than the last two by far though. I didn't really have a problem following the time travel stuff, I feel it was explained well and I felt like it had a really good plot. The theater I was in was pretty packed and the audience seemed to like it very much. I think people who are giving it negative reviews aren't really sure what they are going into. These movies, like Jaws, Jurassic Park or others are the same thing over and over, but with elements changed. With Terminator you pretty much know what you are going to get, two robots fighting, time travel and some human elements. What makes the movies different is how it all comes together. This movie managed to package it all together well. I did expect the after credits scene and I wish they would have left the John Connor twist a secret, but that's only a minor gripe. One thing I don't think was ever revealed was who sent Pop's back to protect Sarah Connor? Maybe they are saving that for a sequel.

 

[nx1701g]

^ That was one thing that I liked about this film: who sent Pops back? I thought it was interesting that they went with those files were deleted from his memory. It gave a little bit of mystery.

To put forth a Trek analogy: What would the Borg have been like if they could spread assimilation through the air, like a virus?

Off topic: The Borg can do that. In Dark Frontier the Queen says to 7 of 9 that they're going to use a nanoprobe virus on Earth.

 

[Kemaiku]

They also manage to assimilate the population of that planet in hours using pretty much the same technique, probably a demonstration to Seven of how more effecient they're becoming.

 

[Turd Ferguson]

Maybe that's what Skynet's going with. Instead of nuclear annihilation, it's just going to convert everybody on Earth into T-3000s (well, the ones that don't go insane ) Maybe that's what was up with the Genisys countdown and everybody being connected.

Could be Skynet's decided it needs humanity to survive, like the Borg. To quote John Connor: "I'm not man. I'm not machine. I'm more."

 

[Sgt. Pepper]

So, I want to add to my previous post. After thinking about it more, I really do like this one a lot. It's like Jurassic World in that it feels like a sequel to the first two. I don't feel like they straight up ignored T3 and T/S, but they didn't quite acknowledge those films either. I do feel that Arnold played his part very well this time and without him, it wouldn't have been as good. Also, who cast Kyle Rese? He looks nothing like the original.

 

[Evil Twin]

So, I'd rank this in the middle of the films. Better than 3&4, obviously not as good as 1&2 (I'd even rank TSCC above it). The story was serviceable, but the biggest thing holding the movie back is the cast. Emilia Clarke is too petite to be a convincing Sarah, Jason Clarke basically looks like a thinner Colm Meaney and isn't very menacing, and Jai Courtney just plain sucks. Putting some better actors in the roles would've gone a long way.

 

[Base_Delta_Zero]

I loved watching this and I still feel great about it a day later. I like all of the terminator movies and the TV series, some parts more than others, but they're all enjoyable to me. I was very leery of Jai, but other than being a bit too buff he was ok as Reese. He wasn't the complete charisma black hole he usually is. Emilia was great as Sarah but damn is she super tiny. Not that Hamilton was a giant or anything. She was very small too. Arnold was actually good rather than looking like a confused grandpa. There was some humor. The action was awesome. Future War, finally! The Arnold versus old Arnold was great. The T-1000 kicked ass and got pwned satisfactorily. They hit beats from the first two movies in new ways that were fun and the John turned Herald of Skynet was a good decision.

I don't know where they get the people for test audiences but my theatre thought the film was great fun and there was no reason to spoil the John turn. They need to not let producers panic and meddle so much or farm out trailers to people unrelated to the production. If I were the director, I'd make sure the trailer was made by MY people, the people actually involved with the film. Hollywood needs to go back to trailers that didn't try to spoil everything by giving a blow by blow cliffs notes of the plot.

Anyway, I really hope they get to make the sequels because I want to see where the altered timelines end up. The temporal shenanigans weren't hard to follow and it was cool that they actually tried to think through the impact of multiple competing timeline incursions.

All around a very fun movie.

I'd probably rank them as follows


The Terminator
Terminator 2: Judgement Day
Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles
Terminator: Genisys
Terminator: Salvation
Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines

Oh, and the complaints about the 'Genisys' spelling are pretty lame now since it turns out that's the in universe marketing name for the killer app hiding Skynet in the new 2017 Judgement Day plot, not Skynet trying to be kool.

I will say I would have loved to see Joe Morton reprise the Dyson role, especially since when the character appears he'd be Morton's age now, anyway. Somehow including Lance Henriksen in the 2017 scenes as like a deputy chief would also have been great, as Lance makes everything better. Both characters survived in the altered timeline, btw. Also, they should have CGIed young Bill Paxton into the Observatory scene. The young Arnold CGI was amazing. I thought for sure some of those shots had to be animatronic they looked so tactile.

 

[Frontier]

The films writers have revealed a significant fact left out of the film concerning Matt Smith's character. Said fact will surely play into the films planned sequels.

Spoiler: SPOILER

Matt Smiths Skynet is not from that timeline; it's from an alternate timeline. It can and has jumped multiverses and seen Skynet lose over and over again. When it attacks John, that isn't that timelines Skynet. This could also help explain who sent Pops back to 1973 and who sent a T-1000 back then to kill Sarah.

As for my ranking of things...


Terminator 2: Judgement Day
The Terminator
Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles
Terminator: Genisys
Terminator: Salvation
Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines

 

[nx1701g]

The films writers have revealed a significant fact left out of the film concerning Matt Smith's character. Said fact will surely play into the films planned sequels.

Spoiler: SPOILER

Matt Smiths Skynet is not from that timeline; it's from an alternate timeline. It can and has jumped multiverses and seen Skynet lose over and over again. When it attacks John, that isn't that timelines Skynet.

That was something that I didn't expect, but makes sense.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

^ And it changes everything.

 

[Kelso]

I thought it was really great up until they jumped forward in time for no real reason.

 

[Guy Gardener]

A day wasn't enough time to destroy an industry, but if they junk continuity for the next 33 years (Sarah gets cancer and doesn't live that long.), the game pieces might be in impossibly the wrong places when they get there to there future and have no ability to deliver their killing blow.

2014, would have been a much better point to arrive.

Did you notice the actor MATTHEW Smith?

 

[kitik]

So who invented time travel?

Did John Connor use a time machine to travel back in time and invent a time travel machine?

 

[DarKush]

I loved watching this and I still feel great about it a day later. I like all of the terminator movies and the TV series, some parts more than others, but they're all enjoyable to me. I was very leery of Jai, but other than being a bit too buff he was ok as Reese. He wasn't the complete charisma black hole he usually is. Emilia was great as Sarah but damn is she super tiny. Not that Hamilton was a giant or anything. She was very small too. Arnold was actually good rather than looking like a confused grandpa. There was some humor. The action was awesome. Future War, finally! The Arnold versus old Arnold was great. The T-1000 kicked ass and got pwned satisfactorily. They hit beats from the first two movies in new ways that were fun and the John turned Herald of Skynet was a good decision.

I don't know where they get the people for test audiences but my theatre thought the film was great fun and there was no reason to spoil the John turn. They need to not let producers panic and meddle so much or farm out trailers to people unrelated to the production. If I were the director, I'd make sure the trailer was made by MY people, the people actually involved with the film. Hollywood needs to go back to trailers that didn't try to spoil everything by giving a blow by blow cliffs notes of the plot.

Anyway, I really hope they get to make the sequels because I want to see where the altered timelines end up. The temporal shenanigans weren't hard to follow and it was cool that they actually tried to think through the impact of multiple competing timeline incursions.

All around a very fun movie.

I'd probably rank them as follows


The Terminator
Terminator 2: Judgement Day
Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles
Terminator: Genisys
Terminator: Salvation
Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines

Oh, and the complaints about the 'Genisys' spelling are pretty lame now since it turns out that's the in universe marketing name for the killer app hiding Skynet in the new 2017 Judgement Day plot, not Skynet trying to be kool.

I will say I would have loved to see Joe Morton reprise the Dyson role, especially since when the character appears he'd be Morton's age now, anyway. Somehow including Lance Henriksen in the 2017 scenes as like a deputy chief would also have been great, as Lance makes everything better. Both characters survived in the altered timeline, btw. Also, they should have CGIed young Bill Paxton into the Observatory scene. The young Arnold CGI was amazing. I thought for sure some of those shots had to be animatronic they looked so tactile.

I definitely agree with you on Joe Morton. Just felt odd for him not to be in the film as Dyson. It would've been a sweet cameo. Also I wish Dr. Silberman had came back. It would've been fun to see Henriksen and Bill Paxton as well.

I also wished a bone could've been thrown at Sarah Connor Chronicles, like Reese having a brother named Derek. That's the only acknowledgement I would've needed, but I think it would've made me smile.

My rankings:
The Terminator
Judgment Day
Sarah Connor Chronicles (especially season one)
Genisys
Rise of the Machines (mainly for the ending)
Salvation (though I'm putting it last I actually didn't hate the film; I thought it was a largely missed opportunity)

 

[Sgt. Pepper]

So who invented time travel?

Did John Connor use a time machine to travel back in time and invent a time travel machine?

I can't confirm, but it seemed implied that the machines created the time machine.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

How is the movie compared to the originals? I'm really skeptical about the idea of the robots having some kind of virus that makes you a robot. I think the original Terminators had the right amount of magic and don't need further magic tacked onto them.

And I haven't really been into Terminator since the third movie reversed the perfect ending in the second. Should I bother with this one? Metacritic gives it a 39.