Simply Sci-fi
Jedi Knight
- Joined
- Jan 30, 2014
- Messages
- 428
Terminator Genisys – The best mind F*** yet? Only if you think about the movie. Unfortunately, I watched the film with my brain switched on.
First of all I thought that the first part of the film set in the future and in 1985 was a joy to watch. I only wish they could have spent much longer in both time periods. Playing around with more of the events of T1 in the style of Back to the Future 2 would have been fantastic. That had could have been the focus of the film and Sarah and Kyle could have simply been transported to 2015 for the finale. Some of the original cast could have appeared in the 2015 section, especially because the carnage of T1 and T2 was prevented by the events of Genisys.
I doubt if the logic of the film would have survived any script conference that sought to challenge the events. I can forgive the fact that Sarah Connor and the old T101 were aware of where, when and why Kyle Reece was going to emerge in 1984 and that a T1000 had the same information. And that the pair knew that the T1000 would be there and had time to prepare a trap for it. Who can say what the events were that led to this scenario? Considering the amount of techno babble and exposition in the film already, I'm pleased that the writers did not attempt to explain it.
Anyone actually challenging the plot during scripting may have pointed out that Sarah Connor and the old T101 were aware that the 1985 T1000 was a policeman, driving a fast patrol car but they risked being caught by using a truck to escape in (okay, okay I know the drama has to be ramped up). Worse still the John Connor Terminator and the old T101 could not have infiltrated the company that became Skynet without any kind of ID. If the old T100 had been posing as a worker in the complex why hadn't he done anything to destroy the place, or hidden weapons and bombs inside, etc? The John Connor Terminator could easily have morphed himself into one of the current employees to become one of the staff but he was walking around with his old face on. If he had a fake ID, it could have been rumbled at any time. Later the JC Terminator jumps into a helicopter to chase the one flown by Kyle and risks killing his own parents before they have conceived him. He knew they were going to the company to blow it up and could have waited for them there. Kyle Reece could not have appeared in 2015 because the younger version of himself is living in a normal suburban home and would probably become a bank manager or something. He would not grow up to be a hardened warrior who knew John Connor and be sent back in time. Sarah may have emerged alone in 2015 and Arnie would have had to provide the exposition as to why.
In the scenario set up in the film, the mission to jump forward to 2015 was dangerous and Kyle could have easily been killed. There was no rush for Sarah and Kyle to jump forward in time and they could have spent months getting to know one another and had time to conceive John Connor. A "touching " romantic interlude might have been apt where Sarah and Kyle can be seen to fall in love and "get it together." The dead pan Arnie could have interrupted at intervals saying "Have you mated yet?" Oh the irony in that the son they took so much care to conceive would be the one to pose the biggest threat to humanity!
Hold on. The biggest, mind f****ing mis-step of all was that out of all of the people the new advanced Terminator could have merged with and jump back in time, he chose John Connor. JC was the one person more than anyone else who risked his own existence by killing Sarah and Kyle and it cancelled out the danger that the pair were in as a result. Skynet's new plan seemed to be, to send a man/terminator back in time and hand over all of the information required to make the rise of the machines possible. So why chose John Connor?
This is a whole level of complexity that the movie just did not need. Going back to dumb logic, if the Terminator or whatever it was that infected JC was present as Reece was preparing to go back in time, why did it not just kill him there and then? Too simple? Kill John Connor's father. Machine logic. Oh, instead the advanced Terminator thinks: I'll merge with the very man that all of the Terminators in time are attempting to eradicate by killing his mother. If they succeed, its curtains for me. I won't be able to infiltrate Cyberdine. I'll keep in mind not kill JC's mother and father who are attempting to stop me while I attempt to stop them because I'll eradicate myself. The risk of the entire space-time continuum folding in on itself to a point where none of the Terminator events will ever happen was a huge risk at this stage.
In future Terminator films, if the JC Terminator makes a return, it would be an incentive for Kyle and Sarah not to get it together because they cannot be pursued by a son that they have not conceived. By the way I can't remove from my mind the terrible performance of Jason Clarke as Kyle Reece. He's a completely different character to the original that didn't appeal to me at all.
As I'm typing this I can imagine the reaction I would get from an average 14-year old in bringing these points up. "Well, what about the cool chases, the robots fighting and stuff? What's a plot hole?" A large part of me is telling me to forget about all of the dumb elements of the film and just focus on the fun parts. There were a lot fun parts. The first fifteen minutes are worth the price of admission alone. I thought the fifty feet tall, IMAX 3D Emilia Clarke looked terrific with her slightly pumped up Sarah Connor physique. Sorry but isn't that one of James Cameron's great innovations? A foxy lady in the middle of the action, kicking butt with the boys?
Terminator is important to me and I'm attempting to convince myself that I did not waste my time and money in seeing Genisys. The terminator has a reputation for being smart sci-fi but to me this reboot is dumb sci-fi.
First of all I thought that the first part of the film set in the future and in 1985 was a joy to watch. I only wish they could have spent much longer in both time periods. Playing around with more of the events of T1 in the style of Back to the Future 2 would have been fantastic. That had could have been the focus of the film and Sarah and Kyle could have simply been transported to 2015 for the finale. Some of the original cast could have appeared in the 2015 section, especially because the carnage of T1 and T2 was prevented by the events of Genisys.
I doubt if the logic of the film would have survived any script conference that sought to challenge the events. I can forgive the fact that Sarah Connor and the old T101 were aware of where, when and why Kyle Reece was going to emerge in 1984 and that a T1000 had the same information. And that the pair knew that the T1000 would be there and had time to prepare a trap for it. Who can say what the events were that led to this scenario? Considering the amount of techno babble and exposition in the film already, I'm pleased that the writers did not attempt to explain it.
Anyone actually challenging the plot during scripting may have pointed out that Sarah Connor and the old T101 were aware that the 1985 T1000 was a policeman, driving a fast patrol car but they risked being caught by using a truck to escape in (okay, okay I know the drama has to be ramped up). Worse still the John Connor Terminator and the old T101 could not have infiltrated the company that became Skynet without any kind of ID. If the old T100 had been posing as a worker in the complex why hadn't he done anything to destroy the place, or hidden weapons and bombs inside, etc? The John Connor Terminator could easily have morphed himself into one of the current employees to become one of the staff but he was walking around with his old face on. If he had a fake ID, it could have been rumbled at any time. Later the JC Terminator jumps into a helicopter to chase the one flown by Kyle and risks killing his own parents before they have conceived him. He knew they were going to the company to blow it up and could have waited for them there. Kyle Reece could not have appeared in 2015 because the younger version of himself is living in a normal suburban home and would probably become a bank manager or something. He would not grow up to be a hardened warrior who knew John Connor and be sent back in time. Sarah may have emerged alone in 2015 and Arnie would have had to provide the exposition as to why.
In the scenario set up in the film, the mission to jump forward to 2015 was dangerous and Kyle could have easily been killed. There was no rush for Sarah and Kyle to jump forward in time and they could have spent months getting to know one another and had time to conceive John Connor. A "touching " romantic interlude might have been apt where Sarah and Kyle can be seen to fall in love and "get it together." The dead pan Arnie could have interrupted at intervals saying "Have you mated yet?" Oh the irony in that the son they took so much care to conceive would be the one to pose the biggest threat to humanity!
Hold on. The biggest, mind f****ing mis-step of all was that out of all of the people the new advanced Terminator could have merged with and jump back in time, he chose John Connor. JC was the one person more than anyone else who risked his own existence by killing Sarah and Kyle and it cancelled out the danger that the pair were in as a result. Skynet's new plan seemed to be, to send a man/terminator back in time and hand over all of the information required to make the rise of the machines possible. So why chose John Connor?
This is a whole level of complexity that the movie just did not need. Going back to dumb logic, if the Terminator or whatever it was that infected JC was present as Reece was preparing to go back in time, why did it not just kill him there and then? Too simple? Kill John Connor's father. Machine logic. Oh, instead the advanced Terminator thinks: I'll merge with the very man that all of the Terminators in time are attempting to eradicate by killing his mother. If they succeed, its curtains for me. I won't be able to infiltrate Cyberdine. I'll keep in mind not kill JC's mother and father who are attempting to stop me while I attempt to stop them because I'll eradicate myself. The risk of the entire space-time continuum folding in on itself to a point where none of the Terminator events will ever happen was a huge risk at this stage.
In future Terminator films, if the JC Terminator makes a return, it would be an incentive for Kyle and Sarah not to get it together because they cannot be pursued by a son that they have not conceived. By the way I can't remove from my mind the terrible performance of Jason Clarke as Kyle Reece. He's a completely different character to the original that didn't appeal to me at all.
As I'm typing this I can imagine the reaction I would get from an average 14-year old in bringing these points up. "Well, what about the cool chases, the robots fighting and stuff? What's a plot hole?" A large part of me is telling me to forget about all of the dumb elements of the film and just focus on the fun parts. There were a lot fun parts. The first fifteen minutes are worth the price of admission alone. I thought the fifty feet tall, IMAX 3D Emilia Clarke looked terrific with her slightly pumped up Sarah Connor physique. Sorry but isn't that one of James Cameron's great innovations? A foxy lady in the middle of the action, kicking butt with the boys?
Terminator is important to me and I'm attempting to convince myself that I did not waste my time and money in seeing Genisys. The terminator has a reputation for being smart sci-fi but to me this reboot is dumb sci-fi.
