Cast: The film is populated by a mix of journeymen actors, up-and-comers, and veterans with the likes of Arnold Schwarzenegger (THE Terminator), Emilia Clarke (Game of Thrones), Jason Clarke (Dawn of the Planet of the Apes and no relation to Emilia, that I know of), Jai Courtney (I've seen far too much of his filmography - this, this, this, this, & this - to not have an opinion yet), J.K. Simmons (Whiplash, commercials, and everything else), and Matt Smith (Dr. Who).
Plot: Ok, let's give this a try. We start in the future, in the moment when John Connor (Jason Clarke) sends Kyle Reese (Jai Courtney) back to 1984 to protect his mother, Sarah Connor (Emilia Clarke). For a while back in 1984, we see some familiar scenes from the original movie recreated. Then, things change. For a variety of reasons, I won't get into how things change, but here are the things you should know: Sarah is a badass already, Arnold is old but not obsolete, we haven't seen the last of John Connor, and the timeline is very different.
Thoughts:
Mileage will vary. The biggest determining factor for if you like this movie is how much you care about the mythology of the Terminator series. This is heavy on that. It leans into every Science Fiction element it can: time travel, alternate timelines, advanced technology. It's all there and historically, that's more niche than general audiences are ready to follow. What pulled me into these movies historically is the chase. The first two movies are great chase movies. This is not about the chase for very long. It's more of a ticking-clock, which interests me far less. In this case, the clock is a literal countdown and it's an arbitrary one.
This is clearly a summer action movie though. And it's a messy one. A little too messy for me. One of my major pet peeves is when chance becomes the star of a fight scene. When a character is hiding on one side of a wall and a blade comes through that wall, missing him by inches, that means the whole movie came down to dumb luck. The more times this happens without an explanation, the less interested I am. It wouldn't even take make to draw me back in. Add a beat to the scene where the character acknowledges the dumb luck and maybe I can forgive it. Don't play it straight though. Perhaps most people won't even notice this, but it's a major distraction for me.
All that said, there's a lot to like. I think Clarke does a wonderful job with Sarah Connor. It's both a great Linda Hamilton impression yet very much her own take on the character. I had concerns about if I'd be able to see her as anyone but Daenerys. She puts that to rest immediately. Arnold is still able to have a lot of fun with this role even if he's physically not there anymore. J.K. Simmons gets a refreshingly lighter role than he's normally given. I don't know the last time he played a genuinely nice and not imposing guy. He does it well. Jason Clarke has a thanklessly broad role that I forgive him for not pulling off. Jai Courtney I still haven't made up my mind about either in this or in general. I'll go ahead and say that he and Emilia Clarke have no chemistry. That isn't debatable.
Elephant in the Room: Can you explain how the new timeline works? No. I am not smart enough to understand the changes in the timeline. It's absolutely reached the point where any casual fan will be bewildered by tracking what's going on. I gets the broad strokes, enough to follow the movie, but that's about it. They've moved from one paradoxical timeline to infinite non-dependent timelines which can be interpreted one of two ways: 1) Complete narrative freedom or 2) Now no movie has any real stakes.
To Sum Things Up (in 57 words or less):
This is an easy movie to watch. There's action. There's humor. If you have no investment in the series, then it's a fine movie (think Jurassic World). For fans of the series it’s a mixed to empty bag. It touches on too many things that irritate me specifically to embrace it.
Verdict (?): Weakly Don't Recommend
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