REVIEW: Terminator: Genisys (12A)

Terminator movies have been gradually churned out over the years since the first one back in 1984 when James Cameron took a risk with some unknown actor called Arnold Schwarzenegger and a lead character combo of Linda Hamilton and Michael Biehn. Fast forward a few decades later and we have the latest instalment of the popular franchise.

Many Terminator movies feature wars, Terminators and the ongoing travails of John Connor and his mum Sarah. Although iconic now, Terminator was a massive risk for the relatively unknown actors at the time – and even now, the memorable lines like “I’ll Be Back” and “Come with me if you want to live” resound in popular culture and make the original an instant classic. But where do you go from the following movies? Terminator 2: Judgement Day was a massive smash and was awesome (in my opinion) and made the Terminator a permanent fixture on a lot of peoples top ten movies of all time.

They tried to mix it up a bit with Terminator 3 with a stunningly beautiful girl as the cyborg killer. More recently, Christian Bale took up the standard bearing in Terminator: Salvation which was lacklustre at best – and had no Arnie (kind of). However that movie pretty much wrapped everything up. So where do you go from here?

Well, Genisys is the latest incarnation of Terminator and what do you do when the last movie pretty much completed the cycle? You – kind of remake the first one. Already on dodgy ground, Genisys starts in the future and sends Kyle Reese (Jai Courtney) back in time to protect Sarah Connor (Emilia Clarke) from The Terminator (Arnie). John Connor (Jason Clarke), leader of the resistance against Skynet is our only hope against the machines. Making a plan to protect his mother he sends volunteer Kyle Reese back to 1984 where Genysis attempts to reboot Terminator by making the same movie again. This time the amazing chemistry of Hamilton and Biehn is replaced by the awkwardness of Courtney and Clarke. Sarah Connor is no longer the petrified waitress but a hot, sassy kick-ass chick attitude with and Reese spends most of the movie being taken aback by her and trying to figure out what the hell’s going on. The movie also features “Pops” (the original Terminator character played again by Arnold Schwarzenegger) who apparently actually visited Sarah Connor when she was young and has become part of her family as a guardian and surrogate parent.

Seeing original 1984 The Terminator at the cinema only weeks before on a one off special showing, I had the original still fresh in my mind. It follows the original quite closely for a time, albeit with different actors and slightly different consequences – when old Arnie fights young Arnie for example, is on of the best parts of the movie and is inspired. As the movie goes on, it continues to develop the story and brings it in a different direction and rushes to a conclusion. Lots of homage’s to the original 1984 movie, some hat tips to T2 and 3, and none regarding Terminator: Salvation.

This film has tried to bring Terminator to the new audience, but although by no means bad, this movie, I felt, could have been a lot better. There is no taking away that Emilia Clarke is a stunning looking lady, but her sassy Sarah Connor never fit right with me at all and her chemistry with the rather lacklustre performance of Jai Courtney had me pining for Hamilton and Biehn.

The special effects are fantastic and the highlights include Arnie as the Terminator and the fact it’s a twist on the original movie. However, the movie, although enjoyable, was not as good as it could be, and this means that they will have another challenge if Terminator 6 is going to be made. Overall though, it’s not bad, but could be better. For those of you who heard that Dr Who’s Matt Smith was going to to be featured in this movie – well he is – but don’t expect much screen time. It did make me smile however that he is credited as Matthew Smith. Guess he gets his Sunday name on this one.

POPSCORE: 7/10

What am I talking about? Terminator: Genisys

Where can I find out more? http://www.terminatormovie.com/home#

If you like this try: Terminator (previous movies especially the first one), Robocop (especially the first one), Aliens

Anything else?

James Cameron officially endorsed this film and considers it the official third film in the franchise.

The body of young Arnold Schwarzenegger in the movie is not actually Arnie but actor and body-builder Brett Azar who was playing the original Terminator. Arnie's face was computer edited on him later.

EVENT: Newcastle Film & Comic Con 2015

The day is Saturday 28th March 2015

The time... is now!

 

A year ago, the first Newcastle Film and Comic Con ran by experienced Conventionites, Showmasters proved to be very popular indeed. Back then, my friend Mal and I waited nearly four hours to get into the venue and missed most of it. It was badly organised and felt the brunt of an unhappy public. In their defence it was the first one in Newcastle and they underestimated demand - especially those on the door purchases. On the other hand, sales for tickets stopped 2 weeks before so surely they would have had an idea of interest and capacity?

 

Fast forward later in the year when I attended the London & Film Comic Con in July 2015. This was much more organised and, in the main, I got to do what I set out to do - meet the Generalissimo himself, Stan Lee. An added bonus was meeting the legend Glenn Morshower but I was gutted I  missed my favourite cosplayer Ivy Doomkitty.  Such is the draw of these events.

 

The question was - had Showmasters learned their lesson and, more importantly, had we? This time we bought early bird tickets in advance (as opposed to last years buying on the door at the event). This proved beneficial as, when the door was opened, it only took about 20 mins to let us in from our queue position (which was a considerable way around the arena).

Busy day at Newcastle - and that was just the Early Bird tickets!

There were a lot of stars here today, but there were some cancelations - Red Dwarf's Robert Lewellyn and Craig Charles didn't appear as promised and Claudia Christian from Babylon 5 cancelled too. I was sad to find that there was only the sepia Back To The Future pic available at Newcastle (see my effort, right) and no DeLorean as anticipated. I couldn't complain though as KITT from Knightrider was there to waffle on at you.  

 

Eve Myles signs a photo for me

When you go to a convention such as this everyone has their favourite person to see or go for. Each person charges a significant amount for a photo or a signed autograph so even to get a couple of items signed by a few celebrities would cost nearly £100. So unfortunately you have to prioritise (unless you have a lot of money and/or amazing time skills). The most popular person by far today was James Marsters who was charming and lovely apparently. Sadly I didn't get to meet him myself but he was very popular with the public. James Cosmo and Jeremey Bulloch (two people I've met over the last month or so) were also there.

 

My celebrity priorities were two lovely and very beautiful women I got to meet and to see on their relevant panels. The first was Terminator 3's Kristanna Loken. In her panel she discussed the training regime of becoming the Terminator and what it was like working with Arnold Schwarzenegger. She said the role of being in such a successful franchise had changed her life. She also said she was working on some new projects and mentioned some of her recent works. These included a movie called Fighting for Freedom which was a movie made from a screenplay written by her father and the upcoming erotic thriller Maid For You. Later I got a photo with her and got to meet her and she was lovely.

 

 

The second panel I sat in on was absolutely mental and I enjoyed every minute of it! Eve Myles, Gwen from Torchwood (among other shows), came onto the stage and had everyone spellbound from the start. She was taking questions and her familiar, laid back, giggly persona shone through and was both endearing and enchanting at the same time. She spoke of her best friend John Barrowman and the fun they had on set in Torchwood, about how she "didn't" take any props from the set of Torchwood, working with David Tennant and how gorgeous she thought James Marsters is. She spoke of motherhood, of her child and her love of the Geordie accent and had one lad repeating the word "theatre" over again as she loved the pronunciation of the word in that accent. Later, after the rapturous applause, I got to meet her and got a signed photo.

 

While I was there, I mentioned to her the first ever convention I went to. Back in 2012, she was at the SFX Weeekender 3 in Wales. I've been going to conventions ever since then. "It's all your fault I come to these!" I said to her jokingly after explaining about my Wales adventure in 2012. "I get that a lot..." she said, and added, "They kinda addictive aren't they?" And do you know what? She's right.

 

I'm getting quite fond of visiting these conventions and this was much the same of what I'd expect from a Showmasters con. There were a few minor disappointments - the lack of a DeLorean (especially since they are making a fuss of the 30th Anniversary of Back to the Future) and some of the guests pulled out. But these things happen. However there were some great guests today, entertaining panels, excellent cosplay and... we didn't have to wait half a day to get started.

A great comic con going from strength to strength - can't wait for next year.

You can also get your picture taken with some of the stars - here's me with the
very beautiful Kristanna Loken - and you get to take a picture home too.