Nerds That Geek Movie Review - 'Terminator: Genisys'

​Written by Scott Edwards

Thinking about time travel, I am still on the fence if this is something that should actually take place. With all of the paradoxes that can happen that could wipe out a species by taking a wrong step frightens me greatly. I still think it would be fantastic to be able to go back in time and witness some of the greatest events that have taken place on the planet, but the fear of changing something, even a little bit that could alter the future sends shivers down my spine. I don’t know what kind of safeguards could be put into place, but I am sure after the first adventure back into time will come all kinds of regulations, especially when the time travelers get back and find out what they have changed.

The day has come for the humans to finally take down Skynet and everyone is ready for the full on offensive being led by John Connor. Even John’s best friend and right-hand man Kyle Reese is ready, even though he is not being allowed to take on the main part of the mission. But their mission is equally as important as Skynet has hidden its final weapon in a depot, John knows that the war will stop once the weapon has been secured. Watching as all of the Terminators fall when Skynet has been shut down off site, the weapon has been activated and now one trustworthy human will have to take the war back to the streets in Los Angeles in 1984.

Kyle believes he is the best choice for this assignment, as he knows everything there is to know about Sarah Connor and will give his life to save her from the Terminator that has been sent back to kill her. But while being sent back in time, Kyle sees a machine take hold of John and now he is remembering a different time stream and remembers telling himself that Skynet does not go active until 2017 instead of the 1999 date that he has always known. Arriving in the city and stealing a homeless man’s pants, Kyle is confronted by a T-1000 Terminator that knew exactly when he would arrive. Not knowing what has happened and why he has been marked, he is surprised to see that Sarah Connor may actually be his savior. 

Being able to escape his first run-in with a Terminator in the past, Kyle sees that Sarah has teamed up with another one that she calls Pops. Not being the woman he expected her to be, Kyle has come to terms with the past being changed and the alternate timeline that he has witnessed is the reality that Sarah and Pops should follow. With a new time machine being built, Kyle convinces Sarah and Pops that they will need to travel to 2017 to stop Genisys from being released to the masses. Arriving in the future and being picked up by the police, Kyle and Sarah are visited by a familiar face as John has been able to find them. Thinking that now the group will be okay, Pops knows that John has been infected by Skynet and is not there to help Sarah and Kyle, but rather kill them to secure Skynet’s future. Needing to find a way to stop Skynet from being released, along with keeping the infected John Connor from moving forward with his plans, Sarah, Kyle and Pops will need to find a weakness that can be exploited before time runs out.

Thus far, this is the final Terminator movie and it is a pretty good note to go out on. With time travel being thrown into the mix, all bets are off when it comes to what can happen and it was utilized very well. With several different types of Terminators being unleashed in the past, I must admit that John Connor’s new version, the T-3000 is pretty darn bad ass, but it still has its weaknesses. I was a little disappointed that the T-X did not make an appearance since that has been the only model I have seen that can morph weapons on its own, but the T-1000 seemed to do pretty darn well with using firearms, along with its pokers. The story might not have played out the way I would have liked, leaving a couple of holes, but the action was fantastic and you finally see an easier way to kill a T-1000 that should have been thought of in Terminator 2: Judgement Day. Oh well, I would not be surprised to see another Terminator film come out in the future, since now the time line has shifted and that allows for all kinds of madness to take place.  

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