Terminator Genisys - Discussion and Grading Thread (Spoilers)

[Guy Gardener]

That doesn't make sense.

"Alex" waited till the temporally indigenous Skynet had been killed, humans were victorious, and had sent Kyle back to time-fuck Sarah, only to kill Kyle seconds after he arrived in 1984?

That's like koshing Oswald in the library, and then killing Kennedy yourself.

 

[Guy Gardener]

It was more than likely that Alex sent the T1000 back to try and kill Sarah in 1973.

Are you suggesting that the T-1000 that's actually in the film is this same one?

Just read this.

http://io9.com/your-burning-questions-about-the-plot-of-terminator-gen-1715234003

Apparently the director came to the same conclusion during the shoot, because the original script was unclear, so they rewrote the script until it was more clear that the T-1000 had been around since 1973.

The people behind this are really bad at pretending that they din't make this movie using mostly the seat of their pants.

 

[DWF]

It was more than likely that Alex sent the T1000 back to try and kill Sarah in 1973.

Are you suggesting that the T-1000 that's actually in the film is this same one?

That was the impression that I got from the dialogue.

 

[Guy Gardener]

It would have taken months to set up that acid trap, or years to find that acid trap already perfectly set up in place by happenstance. Catacombs under an acid factory?

The splintering theory is a bit shit for why Kyle arrived in the wrong past.

Alex/Timenet had access to the Time Machine in 2029.

Maybe Alex/Timenet wanted Kyle to show up in the wrong 1984, and had the expertise to make it so on purpose?

Was nanotech John following Alex/Timenet's orders like a slave, or was "he" timenet's baby, given a time line to play in as he saw fit?

Personally we are supposed to want to give our children the world, right?

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

If the T-1000 has been around from 1973 until the present day, why did it take so long to even try to accomplish its mission?

 

[nx1701g]

I keep going back to what Cameron said in his interview for the reference book Terminator Vault. In it he said that he felt Skynet developed time travel to eventually wipe out is own existence out of guilt for destroying humanity (paraphrasing).

Without the exact quote it's hard to say, but that doesn't sound like it makes much sense. If Skynet decided that wiping out humanity was a bad call after all, why would it's final act be to send a Terminator back to retroactively kill its greatest enemy?

I don't know, but at this point it's starting to get silly how often Skynet keeps getting destroyed only to come back in the next movie. Which for me just makes it hard to take any of this seriously at all anymore.

Skynet has basically become like a comic book villain by this point, instead of the grave and ominous threat it really seemed to be in the first two movies.

I can't repost the exact quote (my copy of Terminator Vault is about 500 miles away from me at the moment at my parents house) but Cameron had come to this conclusion as Skynet's motivating factor:

Skynet suffered from guilt for causing the near-extinction of the human race in its act of self-defense, and has manipulated the entire Future War, down to the creation of the Resistance and John Connor's rise, as a means to erase its own existence.

Going along with DaveJames' post now it kinda makes sense. If it's working back to eliminate itself from time itself that could explain why it keeps reappearing. We've never been definitively told Skynet was destroyed (Reese says it was, but how can you be sure?) only that its defense grid was smashed.

 

[nx1701g]

If the T-1000 has been around from 1973 until the present day, why did it take so long to even try to accomplish its mission?

Maybe Pops was that good at taking Sarah underground that it couldn't find them? I thought it was fairly evident in the film that the T-1000 was the one from 1973.

 

[Nightowl1701]

Overseas theaters to the Terminator's rescue: $74 million opening weekend internationally, getting it (plus the $44 million US box office so far) most of the way to breaking even. Still, at this point it's mainly about damage control rather than profit.

Maybe they'll turn their planned two sequels into comic books like that 12-issue miniseries from Dark Horse and J. Michael Straczynski a couple years ago (back when Salvation was believed to be the last film).

 

[Admiral2]

Just saw it. Voted Excellent.

Was it better than the first? No.

Does it beat T2? None of them do.

But it does beat the unholy snot out of T3 and salvation! It started bad ass from Old Arnie vs. New Arnie it didn't stop being bad ass till the end credits. The terminator on terminator throwdowns just rocked. Dragon Girl from Thrones did a decent Sarah Connor. It even had the Eleventh Doctor in it! (Okay, I hated Eleven, but still, there was a time lord in the robot time travel movie!)

 

[The Wormhole]

Spoiler: Matt Smith's character

OK, so the writers said that "Alex" is a Skynet nano-Terminator from another reality. What do people think about this? I'm not a fan of the concept. I always thought this franchise was relatively 'grounded' and 'realistic' in its use of time travel, and opening the can of worms of an infinite multiverse of different universes crossing over... I dunno... it kind of breaks that brutal 'realism'. I liked that the movies were about a horrible apocalyptic future that could never be averted, only survived. Now it can just go anywhere.

It's also just a massive reinterpretation of the previous movies. We open with the big final battle against Skynet... and in comes a multiversal jumping traveling dude who has nothing to do with the storyline of the previous four movies.

Honestly, the timeline was already being muddled with in Terminator 3, with Judgment Day being delayed from its original 1997 date to 2004 (yes, I know the movie came out in 2003, but computer graphics in movie state the year is 2004). And then this movie goes back to 1997. With the timeline being messed with so much, a dimension jumping Skynet isn't that much of a stretch. Hell, each movie is essentially either launched by or at least features the defeat of Skynet or John Connor anyway.

 

[DWF]

Spoiler: Matt Smith's character

OK, so the writers said that "Alex" is a Skynet nano-Terminator from another reality. What do people think about this? I'm not a fan of the concept. I always thought this franchise was relatively 'grounded' and 'realistic' in its use of time travel, and opening the can of worms of an infinite multiverse of different universes crossing over... I dunno... it kind of breaks that brutal 'realism'. I liked that the movies were about a horrible apocalyptic future that could never be averted, only survived. Now it can just go anywhere.

It's also just a massive reinterpretation of the previous movies. We open with the big final battle against Skynet... and in comes a multiversal jumping traveling dude who has nothing to do with the storyline of the previous four movies.

Honestly, the timeline was already being muddled with in Terminator 3, with Judgment Day being delayed from its original 1997 date to 2004 (yes, I know the movie came out in 2003, but computer graphics in movie state the year is 2004). And then this movie goes back to 1997. With the timeline being messed with so much, a dimension jumping Skynet isn't that much of a stretch. Hell, each movie is essentially either launched by or at least features the defeat of Skynet or John Connor anyway.

But in this movie we're still seeing the original Skynet from before the events in T2, so Judgment Day still happened in that timeline on Michael Jackson's birthday. But of course since the timeline was altered yet again Judgment Day was going to happen in 2017.

 

[fonzob1]

Why did Miles Dyson look younger in 2017 than he did in 1997?

He didn't. He was older. You are confusing Miles Dyson with his son Danny Dyson. I wish they had cast Joe Morton in this one.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1340138/

I enjoyed the film despite it's flaws. I rank it as being better than the last two but not as good as the first two.

 

[Flying Spaghetti Monster]

my review

 

[Tosk]

I don't know, but at this point it's starting to get silly how often Skynet keeps getting destroyed only to come back in the next movie.

Skynet has only been destroyed once though.

T1, we hear about the victory over Skynet.
T2, they do what they can to avert Skynet from ever happening, but it doesn't work.
T3, Skynet is launched and kicks off the war.
T4, Skynet suffers a loss of one facility.
T5, we see the destruction of Skynet that we heard about in T1.

If the T-1000 has been around from 1973 until the present day, why did it take so long to even try to accomplish its mission?

It couldn't find Sarah, so it waited until Kyle arrived.

 

[DWF]

I don't know, but at this point it's starting to get silly how often Skynet keeps getting destroyed only to come back in the next movie.

Skynet has only been destroyed once though.

T1, we hear about the victory over Skynet.
T2, they do what they can to avert Skynet from ever happening, but it doesn't work.
T3, Skynet is launched and kicks off the war.
T4, Skynet suffers a loss of one facility.
T5, we see the destruction of Skynet that we heard about in T1.

Well in T2 they averted the creation of Skynet and there's a different Skynet in T3, but in this movie it's a different timeline so the events of T2 doesn't happen.

 

[Tom]

If the T-1000 has been around from 1973 until the present day, why did it take so long to even try to accomplish its mission?

It couldn't find Sarah, so it waited until Kyle arrived.

It may have thought Sarah was dead, she was hiding under the dock and then is just casually carried away by Pops. You would think the T1000 would still be at the lake if it thought Sarah was alive , but it seemed like it was gone. Thinking Sarah is dead, it laid dormant until it's secondary mission goal of killing Kyle Reese came about in 1984. Pops knew this, and had time to set the acid trap knowing that they could lure the t1000 back to the factory when it came looking for Kyle.

 

[Campe]

Like many, I went in with really low expectations and I came out relatively pleased. It's not perfect. There are some plotholes. But it was an entertaining few hours. That's all that matters in my mind. So, my $5.75 was not wasted. (Hooray for Carmike's twilight prices!)

The one question I had that maybe I missed the answer to: Did T-5000 John give a reason why Kyle and Sarah would want to become like him? The movie seemed to gloss over that point.

 

[Base_Delta_Zero]

I thought the pro of joining skynet was that they could stop with the whole endless temporal changes and constant war across time. If they turned they could live forever with their son in the peaceful world of hybrids Genisys skynet planned.

Sarah of course points out the first obvious problem with that offer, besides having to join the bad guys, is T-5000 John never was her son. He was T-2's Sarah Connor's son. And he's insane. And he's just an extension of skynet now.

 

[Timby]

The people behind this are really bad at pretending that they din't make this movie using mostly the seat of their pants.

Which is kind of to be expected from a script written by Patrick "Dracula II: Ascension / Dracula III: Legacy" Lussier.

 

[KGator]

I found the movie typical summer fare for an action flick. Good but not great . . . a fun enjoyable movie that you will forget soon after.

Jai Courtney should have played a Terminator. He was bland, emotionless and had zero chemistry with Emilia Clarke (who was serviceable but didn't stand out). JK Simmons was the best character IMO but only in the movie briefly.

If I had to rank the movies it would be:
T2
T1
TG
TS
T3

TS was just too boring to rank higher though I admire its aspirations. T3 was the dumbest of all the movies Greenlit. I mean someone honestly sat in a room and said "Hey guys! Lets basically do a rehash of the of T2 story line only with worse actors as the human leads, less likeable human characters, a less badass evil terminator, less humor and emotional involvement and a more depressing ending!!! What do you say guys? Sounds like a win!!!"