Critic’s Rating : 2.5 Stars.
 
Cast: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Emilia Clarke, Jai Courtney, Jason Clarke
 
Direction: Alan Taylor
 
Producer: David Ellison, Dana Goldberg
 
Written: Laeta Kalogridis, Patrick Lussier
 
Genre: Action.
 
Duration: 126 Mins

Way to reboot a franchise. If the timeline in the Terminator series is not enough to mess with your head, the fifth in the mythos is a retcon on the entire plot.

The year is 2029, 32 years after Skynet became self-aware and 3 billion people ended up dead. Los Angeles is a hotbed of the resistance, with the rebels closing in on the artificial intelligence system. John Connor (Jason Clarke), the leader, gives his mandatory inspirational speech though even as they storm the headquarters, they realise that a Terminator has been sent into the past to kill his mother, Sarah Connor (Emilia Clarke). No Sarah, hence no John. Kyle Reese, his right-hand man (Jai Courtney) volunteers to go save her.

It is all familiar ground until Kyle steps into the machine. Strange flashbacks, an encounter with a T-1000 and a hands-on Sarah make the soldier realise that the timeline has changed completely. She is aware of the outcomes of alternate timelines, the Terminator (Arnold Schwarzenegger) serves as her Guardian (she addresses him as ‘Pops’) and this time, the characters have to travel to the future to stop Skynet from unleashing its tentacled havoc across the world.

Also, this is the perfect situation to cue complicated alternate (and subsequent) timelines, plot exposition and some forced chemistry between Kyle and Sarah, which is unnecessary since the actors were doing fine without silly lines to shatter the mood (their romance was fleeting in the very first film).

Genisys may be the beginning of a new trilogy but is peppered with nostalgic throwbacks despite the obvious edginess. These references will slip right past the newer audience. The punchlines have introduced a newer refrain spouted by the Guardian – “Old, but not obsolete” as if justifying the reboot of the beloved franchise.

There is no Terminator film without the futility of battling vicious killing machines with weapons that will not marr the liquid metal quality of the attackers, without Arnie getting his skin peeled off and some climactic showdown in smoky factories. And that is where the problem lies – it has been done before. The setting is all too familiar yet the key characterisations have taken a turn. Hardcore fans may perceive it as being an intrusion akin to having a popular sitcom overrun with new faces and tone.

For all the fumbling time-travelling explanations and unconventional plot twists, Terminator Genisys is not boring. It has its moments, an ominous post-credit scene and a good cast backing the show (though why JK Simmons is wasted as a drunk cop in this movie  remains a mystery).

Go with little expectations. Go for the love for the series if you have plenty of it. Go also with a synopsis page open when things get difficult to comprehend. As two boys sitting behind this reviewer said, during the screening, “Chod, Wikipedia pe padh lenge.”