The Terminator movies (sans TS - I am not even sure if it's part of the cannon) are basically chase films with the element of time travel thrown in to create unique Sci-fi protagonists and antagonists.
The first two films were smart enough to understand the limitations of time travel as a viable "science" and hence kept the focus on it's characters, surroundings and action (note : I do not say special effects). T3 tried to explain away the canonical inconsistencies (eg. it's existence) with some quantum mumbo-jumbo, but again it was kept at a bare minimum (almost hinted), showing a self awareness from the writers that even if you need to write stupid stuff for exposition, it's not necessary to go full blown Shyamalan on things. Of course, T3 is nowhere clinical in it's nightmarish quality of T1 or matured enough for the majesty of T2, but at least it looked like the people behind the movie were trying sincerely.
TG jumps into the bandwagon of using time travel as a rebooting device, which currently is the go-to template for many franchises (XMEN, Star Trek). But it makes the cardinal sin of driving ALL plot elements through this device multiple times. Hence, you are left with bizarre recitation of quantum fields, alternate time-lines, nexuses in time points associated with important events, all wrapped in "delivery under 60 seconds" by Arnold's "Pops" (Dear me, Arnold and Quantum Theory in the same sentence). Mix into this Internet/Cloud/AI, phase matter, time displacement with a dash of 12 Monkeys - all stamped with Hollywood's grasp of "science", and you start wondering why was the Kitchen Sink left out.
The movie really doesn't have a plot line as such. It's feels more like a re-edited version of separate episodes stitched into a movie, to throw a glimpse into the life of these characters over a period of 2?3?4? days. Each day/episode starts with a shocking (read : spoiled by trailer) reveal, followed by "scientific" explanations, followed by CGI explosions and chase. The less said about the ending the better - the "emotional moment" where the survivors think they will "live happily ever after" has concrete foundations in "Marvel Studio Science" - the current rage of Hollywood. The feeling of clunky and disjointed adventures for our saviors of humankind is more akin to Stargate tag line ("Saving the universe one day at a time") rather than a complete coherent movie, even if it be a summer popcorn/potboiler/studio crash grab event.
Now Arnold can play a terminator without getting out of bed in the morning, and sometimes it feels exactly like that - there are many instances where he was just disinterested in the proceedings. He also has the onerous task of providing dumb plot expositions every time the "plot" takes a hard right/left. One is left to wonder that with this much encyclopedic knowledge on the universe and decades of readiness, why he never leaned how to fist fight against his fellow 800s.
The movie might also be called "The death of Kyle Reese as we came to love him", as Jai Courtney is probably the biggest miscast for the role (bigger than Matthew Goode as Ozymandius in Watchmen) . Gone are Michael Bhein's nuance portrayal of a psychologically scarred and physically fatigued soldier doomed to a tragic fate as he tries to fight impossible odds to save the women he loves. Instead, we have a clean shaved and chiseled smart-ass who spends the entire movie being a HUGE ass**** to Arnold (with multiple stare contests between him and Arnold ALA Twilight) , and who is looking to "score" with Emilia Clarke's Sarah (not bad in the role). Even though he says he will die for her more than once, the delivery is just not reliable. A big element of Reese's character in T1 was his virginity, something the audiences gulped down because of Bhein's performance. Courtney's Reese comes across someone who LOVES his soldier job way too much and has tamed many members of the opposite sex. There is ZERO chemistry between the two, and the inherent romance (which in my opinion was quite smart in Terminator) becomes another obligatory check box for the movie to tick. I wont even go into the "humor" between Arnold and Emilia on this topic (borrowed from T3) that the movie tries to choke it audiences with multiple times.
Mostly everything in the action scenes are CGI, but in majority they are not distracting, except when they CGI-ed Arnold all over. There are multiple chase sequences of varied length and complexities - not bad, but nothing we haven't seen before in other movies.
Twice we hear Fidel's epic Drumbeats from the Terminator theme, but that's it. Rest of the soundtrack is so off, that these two instances come more like a reminder of the good times we had decades ago, while TG gleefully murders everything that was great about T1 and T2 (come to think of it, T3 is a masterpiece compared to this). The final nail in the coffin - "Bad Boys" playing in the background as characters get their mugshots (don't ask).
The first two films were smart enough to understand the limitations of time travel as a viable "science" and hence kept the focus on it's characters, surroundings and action (note : I do not say special effects). T3 tried to explain away the canonical inconsistencies (eg. it's existence) with some quantum mumbo-jumbo, but again it was kept at a bare minimum (almost hinted), showing a self awareness from the writers that even if you need to write stupid stuff for exposition, it's not necessary to go full blown Shyamalan on things. Of course, T3 is nowhere clinical in it's nightmarish quality of T1 or matured enough for the majesty of T2, but at least it looked like the people behind the movie were trying sincerely.
TG jumps into the bandwagon of using time travel as a rebooting device, which currently is the go-to template for many franchises (XMEN, Star Trek). But it makes the cardinal sin of driving ALL plot elements through this device multiple times. Hence, you are left with bizarre recitation of quantum fields, alternate time-lines, nexuses in time points associated with important events, all wrapped in "delivery under 60 seconds" by Arnold's "Pops" (Dear me, Arnold and Quantum Theory in the same sentence). Mix into this Internet/Cloud/AI, phase matter, time displacement with a dash of 12 Monkeys - all stamped with Hollywood's grasp of "science", and you start wondering why was the Kitchen Sink left out.
The movie really doesn't have a plot line as such. It's feels more like a re-edited version of separate episodes stitched into a movie, to throw a glimpse into the life of these characters over a period of 2?3?4? days. Each day/episode starts with a shocking (read : spoiled by trailer) reveal, followed by "scientific" explanations, followed by CGI explosions and chase. The less said about the ending the better - the "emotional moment" where the survivors think they will "live happily ever after" has concrete foundations in "Marvel Studio Science" - the current rage of Hollywood. The feeling of clunky and disjointed adventures for our saviors of humankind is more akin to Stargate tag line ("Saving the universe one day at a time") rather than a complete coherent movie, even if it be a summer popcorn/potboiler/studio crash grab event.
Now Arnold can play a terminator without getting out of bed in the morning, and sometimes it feels exactly like that - there are many instances where he was just disinterested in the proceedings. He also has the onerous task of providing dumb plot expositions every time the "plot" takes a hard right/left. One is left to wonder that with this much encyclopedic knowledge on the universe and decades of readiness, why he never leaned how to fist fight against his fellow 800s.
The movie might also be called "The death of Kyle Reese as we came to love him", as Jai Courtney is probably the biggest miscast for the role (bigger than Matthew Goode as Ozymandius in Watchmen) . Gone are Michael Bhein's nuance portrayal of a psychologically scarred and physically fatigued soldier doomed to a tragic fate as he tries to fight impossible odds to save the women he loves. Instead, we have a clean shaved and chiseled smart-ass who spends the entire movie being a HUGE ass**** to Arnold (with multiple stare contests between him and Arnold ALA Twilight) , and who is looking to "score" with Emilia Clarke's Sarah (not bad in the role). Even though he says he will die for her more than once, the delivery is just not reliable. A big element of Reese's character in T1 was his virginity, something the audiences gulped down because of Bhein's performance. Courtney's Reese comes across someone who LOVES his soldier job way too much and has tamed many members of the opposite sex. There is ZERO chemistry between the two, and the inherent romance (which in my opinion was quite smart in Terminator) becomes another obligatory check box for the movie to tick. I wont even go into the "humor" between Arnold and Emilia on this topic (borrowed from T3) that the movie tries to choke it audiences with multiple times.
Mostly everything in the action scenes are CGI, but in majority they are not distracting, except when they CGI-ed Arnold all over. There are multiple chase sequences of varied length and complexities - not bad, but nothing we haven't seen before in other movies.
Twice we hear Fidel's epic Drumbeats from the Terminator theme, but that's it. Rest of the soundtrack is so off, that these two instances come more like a reminder of the good times we had decades ago, while TG gleefully murders everything that was great about T1 and T2 (come to think of it, T3 is a masterpiece compared to this). The final nail in the coffin - "Bad Boys" playing in the background as characters get their mugshots (don't ask).