ANALYSIS/OPINION:
“Old — but not obsolete” is the knowing mantra that Arnold Schwarzenegger repeats throughout “Terminator: Genisys.” Wrinkled and gray-haired, with a drooping face that seems designed for a spryer, thinner metal endoskeleton, Mr. Schwarzenegger, the no-longer-quite-so-muscle-bound action star, certainly looks the former. He plays the role with knowing, elderly charm; his gears may grind a little more, and his thinning flesh may expose his metallic insides more often, but robotic age becomes him.
Indeed, he seems to be enjoying his robo-dotage. Yet he also seems slightly out of place in this lackluster sequel, like an old man taking the grandkids to the video arcade. Yes, this hulking robotic brute is still the role he was born to play, but, more than ever, it seems like the role he was born too long ago to play.
The movie means to emphasize his senior stature while insisting that this ever-longer-in-the-tooth killer robot still hasn’t lost its mettle; Mr. Schwarzenegger’s unnamed android warrior is introduced in a scene that pits him against a buck-naked version of his younger self. Tellingly, though, he loses, saved at the last minute by one of the movie’s younger stars.
Just as tellingly, Mr. Schwarzenegger’s digitally recreated younger self is the movie’s best and freshest special effect. The rest of this disappointing movie clearly yearns to recall the thrills of the franchise’s groundbreaking first two films — and just as clearly fails. Contrary to Mr. Schwarzenegger’s repeated mantra, what this bland and lifeless attempt at a franchise reboot really proves is that the series is long past the end of its useful life.
Like Mr. Schwarzenegger, this venerable 1980s franchise is now well past its prime, replaced by newer and flashier enterprises. Killer robots are old news now; if you have an iPhone, you know that Skynet has already taken over.
Fittingly, the movie reimagines the murderous sentient software — now called Genisys — as a kind of mobile OS-meets-social network. As one character explains, it ensures that “everything in my life is uploaded and online, 24-7.” Welcome to the apocalypse, as brought to you by Facebook.
The screenplay is long on convoluted, unnecessary exposition but short on actual story. Mr. Schwarzenegger is saddled with most of the expository mumbo-jumbo; he’s the movie’s very own walking, talking, gun-toting Wikipedia.
Instead of building sympathy for the characters, the film assumes a connection based on its predecessors. But this is a movie that deals in diverging timelines, which means that the characters aren’t the ones we already know. You’ll engage with them accordingly.
Yes, Kyle Reese is back, this time played by Jai Courtney, a buff but personality-free young man Hollywood keeps assuming must be a star; “Genisys” once again serves to question that assumption. Emilia Clarke is fine as Sarah Connor but lacks the working-class grit and hustle that made Linda Hamilton so memorable in the same role.
The often-compelling Jason Clarke becomes the latest actor to play John Connor, the human leader of the futuristic fight against the machines, and the ultimate target of the robot assassins in the first two films. Before “Terminator: Genisys” is over, you’ll wish they’d succeeded at keeping the character from being born, which at least would have prevented this movie from being made.
Alan Taylor stages the CGI-heavy action scenes in what has become Hollywood’s generic summer blockbuster house style: quick cuts, haphazardly chosen shots, an emphasis on sensation over sense. None of his big action set pieces remotely approximates the relentless intensity of writer-director James Cameron’s “Terminator 2,” nor the blistering low-budget genius of his 1984 original.
The second film, in particular, helped set the standard for today’s computer effects-driven blockbusters, but most of its big action scenes made heavy use of real-life stunts and explosions too. When Mr. Cameron wanted to blow up a building at the end of the movie’s second act, he built a building and then blew it up — no pixels or processors necessary.
The recurrence of “Terminator” sequels intended to relaunch the franchise — this is the third attempt in a dozen years — suggests a lingering nostalgia for Mr. Cameron’s foundational work on the series. The best way to appreciate those films, though, is not through a generic retread like “Genisys,” but by going back to the originals, a pair of fiercely innovative and surprisingly personal films that have only grown better with time. True, they may now be old, but they are far from obsolete.
TITLE: “Terminator: Genisys”
CREDITS: Directed by Alan Taylor; screenplay by Laeta Kalogridis and Patrick Lussier
RATING: PG-13 for violence, language
RUNNING TIME: 125 minutes
MAXIMUM RATING: FOUR STARS
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