Cinemazlowski 'Terminator: Genisys' showcases an underwhelming, convoluted plot

There are some actors who just can't break out of typecasting. The Three Stooges never got to do Shakespeare, Michael Richards never stopped being Cosmo Kramer, and Arnold Schwarzenegger will always be The Terminator.

 

Yet while those first two examples were metaphorical, Schwarzenegger really is trapped in the role of the humanoid killing machine who eventually developed a heart of gold. He starred in three "Terminator" films before he switched over to being The Governator, and now that he's left government behind and suffered a string of embarrassing box-office flops, he is back in his signature role in the series' fifth film, "Terminator: Genisys."

 

"Genisys" is a confusing mess, because it spends half the time rehashing the plot points of the original "Terminator" from 1984 in an obvious attempt to explain the original films to a new generation of sci-fi fans who haven't bothered to see them.  The key idea is that a worldwide missile-defense system called Skynet developed enough artificial intelligence to form its own opinions about mankind, opting to destroy humanity with nuclear missiles around the world on what became known as Judgment Day in 1997.

 

The only person who can eventually lead humanity in a massive revolt against Skynet and its evil robot enforcers is a man named John Connor. Therefore, the Terminator robot played by Schwarzenegger was sent back to 1984 to kill John's mother, an average Los Angeles waitress named Sarah Connor, before she could conceive John – and another human hero also traveled back in time to save her from the Terminator and impregnate her with John.

 

That convoluted plotline worked wonders in the hands of the series' creator, writer-director James Cameron. But after the film's initial sequel "Terminator 2: Judgment Day" in 1991, he moved on to create other classics like "Titanic" and "Avatar." Two other half-hearted sequels were released by other filmmakers since then, with the latest – 2009's "Terminator: Salvation" - not even starring Schwarzenegger at all.

 

"Genisys" spends the other half of its running time trying to reinvent the wheel by creating a plot in which our heroes don't know whether to time-travel to 1997 or 2017 in order to save the world. A hole in time was cracked open during a key fight sequence that can't be revealed without being a major spoiler, leading to greater – yet more confusing – consequences than anyone ever imagined.

 

This latest attempt at adventure is directed by a guy named Alan Taylor, a veteran TV director of everything from "Sex and the City" to "Game of Thrones," whose only major feature film before this was "Thor: The Dark World." In other words, this journeyman is no James Cameron.

 

The movie really stars hot young "Game of Thrones" actress Emilia Clarke, who follows in the footsteps of all-time female badass Linda Hamilton in taking on the role of Sarah Connor. Hamilton played her with a toughness and grit that called to mind a female Rocky Balboa.

 

Clarke, on the other hand, may be a 29-year-old actress, but she seems so young and high-strung that she comes off like she's starring in a sequel to "Juno" rather than saving the planet from rampaging killer robots.  As the adult John Connor, supervising events from 2029 Los Angeles, Jason Clarke's odd looks and nasty facial scar undermine the badass nature that his character needs to have because he looks like Randy Quaid.

 

And Jai Courtney as Kyle Reese – Connor's right-hand man, who goes back in time to save Sarah Connor and impregnate her with John – is just a plain, generic, good-looking action hero. As Bruce Willis' son in the last awful "Die Hard" movie, he nearly drove a nail into the coffin of that franchise, and he may just do the same with the "Terminator" films.

 

This latest entry in the series is the second, after "Salvation," to be rated PG-13. While normally I'm happier to spotlight a G, PG or PG-13 film rather than an R since I'm a Catholic critic partially concerned with the moral content of films, the first three "Terminator" films were dependent on pushing their action violence to inventive and gritty limits.

 

Toned down enough to be deemed OK for teens by the ratings board, the result makes all of the action sequences feel like the filmmakers pulled their punches and limited their weaponry damage throughout. This  not only detracts from the escapist fun of a world-class action series, but just feels bland throughout.  At least there is almost no profanity, and we never see Connor and Reese have sex, as their inevitable "mating" (Arnold's word for it in the movie) is thankfully switched into a budding romance that never goes beyond a sweet kiss. Be forewarned, however, that the time-travel machine that's key to the movie requires that anyone who uses it remove their clothes, so there is briefly seen rear male nudity, mostly in shadow, and implied nudity from Sarah Connor - though none of this is in a prurient, sexual context.

 

Of course, one can never underestimate the stupidity of the masses, and "Terminator: Genisys" is likely to clean up overseas, where blowing things up real good is more important than having well-motivated characters and a sensible plotline.  But here, audiences are as likely to be underwhelmed as the one I saw it with opening night.