Actors: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jason
Clarke, Emilia Clarke, Jai Courtney,
Rating: 8 out of 10, I know this movie
is being skewered by critics and geekdom in general (of which I count myself a
proud member) but I kind of liked it. I’ve always considered the series
finished after the first two movies which remain near the top of my list of
best sci fi movies ever. The third and fourth entries were gallant but abysmal
when compared with the original two; lacking the Cameron touch certainly didn’t
help. This movie picks up and re-tells the story from the first two movies with
a new cast, except for the governator and a completely new premise. There’s
more of the Kyle Reese life in the future with John Conner and of course an
insidious Skynet upgrade of terminator technology. The story moves along
smartly with the requisite non-stop battles, updated with 21st century CGI. The
original plot is turned on its head but what I really liked was the almost
continual odes to scenes from the first two movies. Some were more subtle than
others but they permeate the film from beginning to end. In this re-boot Kyle returns
to the past to find Sarah already up to film 2 levels of deadliness thanks to
yet another “friendly” terminator’s arrival even earlier in her life. This
leads to an interesting dynamic in the central love story between the two. The
Khaleesi holds her own as Sarah but Jai Courtney is certainly no Michael Biehn.
Ahhnuld figured out a way to age his character to explain away the ravages of
the past thirty years and he remains the best thing about this latest movie. My
only beef with the film is the toning down to reach a PG-13 rating. The first
two movies rocked because of the unrestrained violence which provided the
needed edge to outline the desperate struggle of Kyle and Sarah to save
humankind. Missing that edge may have generated a few more adolescent ticket
sales but hurts the movie. It certainly prevents it from joining the first two
movies as epics. Of course I’m prejudiced when it comes to the “myth”.
MVP: Arnold in his signature role