Let me preface by saying I’m undeniably biased when it comes to the Terminator franchise and Arnold’s filmography in general. I’m a child of the 80’s and he was one of the titans of the bodybuilder action genre (alongside Sylvester Stallone). In other words, I’m amenable but not a complete diehard for Terminator. Having said that, I can justifiably say Terminator: Genisys is a serpentine guilty pleasure that retcons the series without utterly blemishing it.

First, we’ll denote the flaws. I despise anytime something ethereal and incorporeal like Skynet is given a tangible personification where it’s a hologram or not. The bickering between Kyle Reese and Sarah Connor recalls egregious memories of Indiana Jones and Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Some of Arnold’s colloquial one-liners like “bite me” will not be stratified into the lexicon of memorably witty quotes anytime soon. Lastly, the edgy PTSD mania of Kyle Reese and Sarah Connor (ex. Linda Hamilton’s gumption was to assassinate congenial family man Miles Dyson with extreme prejudice in Terminator 2) has been softened and altogether expunged for this PG-13 overhaul.

Now onto the aspects that were noteworthy for full measure. The explanation for Arnold’s aging visage and greying hair is a clever method for integrating him back into the fold. As the unfortunately nicknamed “Pops”, Arnold has valiantly returned to his signature role with thousand-yard-stare aplomb (I thoroughly enjoyed his clip-loading competition with Kyle Reese) and his duel with the 1984 T-101 is an orgiastic pleasure to behold with extraordinary, non-waxy CGI.

The spoiler that caused fans to be apoplectic is an ingenious role reversal for Skynet’s Final Solution. Like Terminator 3, the action scenes encapsulate the burly girth and mass devastaion of what two juggernauts would cause if they collided with one another. J.K. Simmons is a glorious addition as the conspiracy theorist but he is thanklessly excised from the latter half. The deferential prequel of the assaultive 2017 warfare with the Terminators is conceptualized with practical puppetry for the android goosesteppers.

Although his direction is occasionally pedestrian, Alan Taylor does beguile us with a few nifty brawls including a T-100’s demise via an acid bath. In terms of the time-travel tech talk, the “nexus points” and dissertations about Sarah Connor’s predestination are intriguingly cerebral. It might be damning praise but Terminator Genisys is a hermetic, solidly whizz-bang sequel that is leaps and bounds over Salvation.

Rating: 3 out of 5

Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines

“There is no fate but what we make for ourselves” was the mantra for the two original films but Terminator 3 teaches us that, despite the delay, the war between mankind and machines will still be waged. I’ve been a staunch advocate of Terminator 3 since its release in 2003 and I still see many merits in its admittedly inferior but nonetheless invigorating framework.

Cynics can easily perforate holes in the notion of a female T-X but I found it to be refreshing change-of-pace for a femme fatale angle despite its parboiled potential. She enhances her breast size momentarily but she never woos with her assets afterwards. For his signature role, Schwarzenegger hasn’t lost any of his considerable bulk or his self-deprecating humor (the Elton John sunglasses are still a funny sight gag).

In lieu of Edward Furlong and Linda Hamilton, the saviors-of-the-human-race are supplanted with Nick Stahl and Claire Danes. Stahl is a more adroit, sober actor than Furlong who would’ve been a petulant pest again. Moreover Danes is not a precious pin-up or a banshee like Willie Scott from Temple of Doom. She outfoxes John and his paintball gun with her ingenuity.

Fulfilling the prophecy in the 1984 of a fully autonomous defense network system in the guise of Skynet, Terminator 3 is the aggregation of the first two films without lampooning their legacy. I adore the concept that the T-X’s main objective is not John Connor; it’s his safety net of lieutenants in the future battlefield of the 2020’s.

Of course, the film bevels into a carbon copy of Terminator 2’s cat-and-mouse chase between John’s protector and his nemesis but it is not a sluggish retread. The Maximum Overdrive element of the T-X’s oligarchy over other electronic machinery (like cell phones and other vehicles) truly contributes to the dazzling centerpiece of a crane pursuit through downtown Los Angeles. The practical stuntwork of Arnold’s dangling body careening through a building is advisably fortified by virtuoso special effects and whirring sound F/X when the crane overturns forward. Mostow earns his stripes with this sequence. The tussle in the Air Force base’s bathroom sells the conceit that these are megaton machines with heft to them as Arnold and Loken blithely shove each other through stalls.

Rise of the Machines doesn’t get enough credit for corrugating provocative wrinkles into James Cameron’s fait-accompli chronology. Without the backbone of Katherine Brewster (Danes), John Connor would just be a lone wolf; a symbol with no rational reason for perseverance on the nuclear horizon. Lastly, the film is an appropriately downbeat capper to the trifecta with a cliffhanger ending where humanity is basically wiped out as John and Kate are safely encased in an underground VIP fallout shelter. Even with the 12-year interim, Terminator 3 is still a gonzo, dopamine-drenched rollercoaster with its roots deeply engrained in Cameron’s handiwork.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHhZK-g7wHo

Rating: 3.5 out of 5