*The views expressed in this article are the views of the writer, and not the website as a whole.
Recently I’ve been experiencing some serious nostalgia. Usually good movies seem the easiest way to satiate those feelings, especially when those movies are a window back to memories of times, places, people and even childhood – before things changed. Before we all grew up.
The problem at the moment is Hollywood’s never-ending need to revamp / reboot / rehash / retread / recharge / regurgitate and re-imagine stories which were already gold to the fans and legend to the industry,- I’m not new to the failings of the movie industry, and I wasn’t plucked from the cabbage patch yesterday, so I understand that money is a great motivator when it comes to remaking a classic and I accept that not every movie is perfect but it causes me distress when a movie I cherished as a child (and still cherish now, decades later) comes under passive aggression in the form of a “reboot” for one purpose only… Summer box-office, seat-filling, family-movie-fluff; which is here today and a homemade drinks coaster tomorrow. This, I find unacceptable.
Some of you may think I’m jumping the gun, some may think I’m bitter because we fans have been dealt some harsh blows in previous installments (Sarah Connor died? No, Fuck you) but my opinions on T5 are entirely based on the news and images from the movie so far. From casting to writers etc, and, to be quite honest with you, from the first piece of news onwards T5 has been rolling steadily down a steep slope of ignorance and complacency on behalf of the studios.
The Age Rating
I’m not really happy about the studios either; PG-13 looks likely, and we all know that for a Terminator movie that kind of age rating is the kiss of death to stalwart Terminator Fans all across the world.
Hollywood needs to understand that the very roots of Terminator are R,- this ain’t no fucking tea-cup ride bitches – it’s TERMINATOR! The clue is in the name.
“That terminator is out there. It can’t be bargained with. It can’t be reasoned with. It doesn’t feel pity, or remorse, or fear. And it absolutely will not stop, ever, until you are dead.”
Kyle Reese – The Terminator (1984)
So, to recap… NO remorse, NO pity, NO fear, you can’t talk your way out of it; if you’re targeted then you WILL die and not gently, no, EFFECTIVELY even if that means messily.
The studios claim to be making a film similar in vein to T2, and Arnold Schwarzenegger says the same, but if the movie is PG-13 then clearly the big-wigs don’t watch Terminator movies.
The franchise was born in blood – a killing machine wreaking visceral carnage when set on a mission in which everyone is expendable and no-one is untouchable. The problem is T5 looks set to be a gentle walk in the park interspersed with grandiose displays of cheap fireworks designed only to distract the audience from the inadequacies of the story and acting.
The Cast and Director
The whole idea of Terminator was always meant to have a very real framework, time travel was not the only facet of the story. T5 is already creating its own contradictions in regards to time travel, I mean how many iterations of Sarah Connor will Emilia Clarke play? The studios probably believe that with some “subtle” changes of make-up and costume, that we will happily accept her playing Sarah decades apart – although she does look fresh-faced (youthful) I find it highly dubious that the viewers should believe her to be any older than the actress actually is. Maybe they’ll put egg all over her face and flour in her hair to aid fans into thinking she’s older than her years… no, please don’t do that.
I don’t really have a problem with the writers, director, actors and actresses,- it’s just a simple fact that I think any of them should be attached to this movie…
The set pictures, which nobody is supposed to have seen (but we all have anyway) disturb me a great deal; not one person in those images looks convincing or committed: Emilia Clarke is staggeringly shorter than the rest of the cast and the severe height difference only adds to the confusion and crisis of direction which the movie – knowingly or unknowingly, seems to be experiencing right now. Arnold Schwarzenegger is wearing too much make-up, the studios clearly think that aging should look peachy-perfect instead of realistic (you’d think SkyNet would opt for realism… ?) and Jai Courtney looks like he just wandered in off the street. Jason Clarke has the appearance of someone who’s just realized he’s made a huge career blunder and is thinking a great deal about his next project, and Dayo Okeniyi seems unreasonably pleased with himself.
Alan Taylor doesn’t look like the most hands-on director. The set for T3 looked just as relaxed as T5 does and we all remember how that one went, eh?
What Does The Name ‘Genisys’ Even Mean?
The latest stomach-churning piece of news is the change to the title (once again), Terminator: Genesis has become Terminator: Genisys and I hate it.
The biblical tone gets to carry through almost as a double entendre – seemingly smug studios/writers thinking biblically whilst trying to stay down with the kids. Personally the name irritates me no end. It lacks impact, and as a statement of intent doesn’t really create hope or inspire belief.
Even if it’s a nod back to Cyberdyne and the portmanteau theme then… it’s still stupid. If it’s Genisys like the Genetic Identification System (another portmanteau) then it’s fine, but as the secondary title of a film it’s loaded to the hilt with an anti-climactic wheezing of hot stinky air. Yes, like the vacating of gas from bowels. Any way you say the name Genesis = jen-i-sis,- phonetically they are both the same- Genisys = jen-i-sis.
Let’s be honest; it’s forgettable and lacks impact all the while pointlessly sticking out its tongue like a self-satisfied small child.
I want Megan Ellison to come back and tell us all it was just a bad joke but she won’t, all she is now is a producer credit and it doesn’t take much to figure out that all that it is is a complimentary title – a little bit like a chocolate on a hotel pillow; nice but pointless.
Miss Ellison created distance between herself and the project and if that doesn’t ring alarm bells then I don’t know what does.
Maybe there’s nothing to worry about. Maybe the fears I might have for T5 are just that, unfounded fears, but what if Terminator: Genisys is the biggest bête noire a Terminator Fan can face?
Well…
If all this goes tits up then I’ll be waiting on a return of the king (James Cameron in this instance) in 2018.
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