Terminator: Genisys Trailer - No Fate but What the Fans Make

The latest trailer for Terminator: Genisys debuted a few days ago to a plethora of reactions from fans (like myself) and casual trailer watchers.  This debut concluded a streak that began in October of anticipated major summer blockbuster trailer premieres.  First we got Avengers: Age of Ultron, then Jurassic World, followed by Star Wars: The Force Awakens, and now finally, the latest Terminator installment.

Paramount Pictures and Skydance Productions have taken over the cyborg reigns this time.  The franchise has had its foot dipped in seemingly every studio's pocketbook for worldwide distribution in theaters and on video.  From Orion Pictures, to Carolco, to Tristar, MGM, 20th Century Fox, Warner Bros, Lionsgate, Sony Pictures, and now Paramount.  Whatever the case, this franchise continues to rise again.  The last time out - with Terminator Salvation - was something between a financial disappointment and an all-out bomb, grossing $125 million domestically and a total of $372 million worldwide on a production budget of over $200 million.  The film was directed by McG (who directed the two Cameron Diaz-starring Charlie's Angels films), starred Christian Bale as John Connor, and took place in a post-Judgment Day future world battling the machines.  On paper, the movie had a lot going for it.  Bale was at the peak of his popularity after The Dark Knight.  McG, while a very controversial choice for the director's seat, manufactured his own approval by exclaiming how spectacular his vision was and that he had received an informal blessing from Terminator-creator James Cameron.

Salvation was ultimately a major disappointment on all fronts.  It attempted to take the series in the direction fans had been hoping for, but the execution was a bust.  The film watered down the violence to a PG-13 rating, nixed the live presence of franchise star Arnold Schwarzenegger (and instead replaced him with a very shoddy-looking CGI clone), and attempted to staple together two very different scripts into a cohesive movie once Bale signed on to star.  Add in Bale's notorious f-bomb-laden meltdown on set (an audio clip that went viral), and Terminator Salvation's chances were nearly sealed before it opened.  Critics tore the film apart.  Fans lamented the death of the franchise or stayed away altogether.

Salvation was meant to jumpstart at least a new trilogy of films, but Warner Bros. quickly tossed those ideas out the window.  The rights floated around for a few years until Megan Ellison picked them up and sought out to get a new film made with Arnold Schwarzenegger back in the lead and restore the franchise to its R-rated roots.  Ultimately, Ellison gave the film over to Skydance with Paramount Pictures having footed the $170 million price tag.

Under the direction of Alan Taylor, director of six Game of Thrones episodes, and the mega-Marvel sequel Thor: The Dark World, this new chapter of cybernetic organisms looks to shake up the saga to the point where the term 'risk' would be an understatement.  We've heard rumors of Back to the Future II-esque storytelling, but now we have a taste with the first trailer for Genisys.  So what do we have here?  To be completely honest, I'm worried my worst fears may be coming true.  The trailer sets the story up once again in the future war against the machines.  John Connor, played by Jason Clarke this time, gives a speech to his comrades and tells them that the enemy is sending a T-800 back in time to kill his mother.  His trusted soldier, Kyle Reese (Jai Courtney), volunteers for the mission and is blasted into 1984 Los Angeles.  The scenery is familiar from the original Terminator film, right down to the clothing store that Reese sneaks around in to hide from the police.  Only this time the police officer in pursuit appears to be a T-1000 model terminator played by Byung-hun Lee, replacing T2's Robert Patrick with .  In a scene very reminiscent of T2, a police caravan barrels into the scene, but the driver is Sarah Connor (Emilia Clarke), and she orders Reese while firing rounds at the terminator, "Come with me if you want to live! ... Now Soldier!"

The trailer doesn't communicate too much about the plot, except that Reese arrives in 1984 Los Angeles to a different past than the one from the original Terminator.  Sarah is no longer an unknowing victim waitress.  She has been under the protection of an older T-800 cyborg she calls 'Pops,' played by the 67-year-old Arnold Schwarzenegger.  Apparently terminators do not age, but the outer flesh does.  Sarah has been trained as a soldier-survivor by said terminator, so by the time Reese finds her, she already sports the character evolution she achieved in Terminator 2.  Also, the villainous cyborg sent to kill her in 1984 that Reese was dispatched to help her combat has already been taken care of.  The audience gets to see the arrival of the original T-800 from The Terminator, appearing to be the actual scene ripped right out of the film, and Pops approaches to take him down.  "I've been waiting for you," he says.

The trailer continues with Sarah telling Reese that the world is different and that they can... wait for it... stop Judgment Day from ever happening.  After three attempts to do so, it has never worked out.  Although to be fair to James Cameron, the future was supposedly saved at the end of Terminator 2, but Terminator 3 was made without his involvement and the filmmakers behind that second sequel championed the idea that "Judgment Day is inevitable. It can only be postponed."

Back to Genisys, the trailer continues with a generous helping of action sequences.  A school bus flips end over end midair.   The T-1000 morphs and liquifies and chases the protagonists.  A white-haired Arnold Schwarzenegger delivers his infamous one-liner "I'll be back" and dives out of a helicopter head-first into another chopper.  That's about all we get for the first trailer.  We don't know why 'Genisys' is spelled so silly.  I've heard a prediction of it meaning: "Generation 1 Systems."  Also surprisingly with this trailer, we see very little of Arnold Schwarzenegger's character, though he claims to have the starring role of the entire film.  Perhaps the studio is leaving more to be desired, or perhaps they are scared to death that he is box office poison after headlining three domestic failures in a row over the last two years.  Hopefully it is the former and not the latter.

My main gripes with the film from the first trailer stem from very plasticized-looking special effects and a tone that suggests this film won't be, yet again, in the same league as the first two Terminator films.  While some of the lens filtering sports Terminator 2's dark blue hues, I'm sensing the studio is gunning for a PG-13 rating, which Jai Courtney recently admitted will be the likely outcome.  If Lee has in fact replaced Robert Patrick in the role of the actual T-1000, then I find his casting a bit questionable too.  I feel the same way about Jason Clarke as John Connor.  He's a talented actor, but I'm not gathering that he's the right choice for the tough and rugged leader of the future human resistance.  Jai Courtney as Reese is also completely wrong.  He's too beefy of an actor to capture original-star Michael Biehn's slender, starving physicality and delivery.  Courtney would have been better suited as a cyborg.

I think the great divide here is Emilia Clarke as Sarah Connor.  Fans have praised her casting, especially those who have enjoyed her role in Game of Thrones.  She does have share some facial similarities with Linda Hamilton, but she also appears a little bit too young.  Fanboys around the internet have been nicknaming her 'Baby Face.'  Maybe this choice will work, but I am in the camp that questions whether or not she can match the two perfect performances from Hamilton in Cameron's films.  She probably won't simply because that would be a suicide mission to begin with.  Hamilton had two films to transform from mild-mannered teenager in The Terminator to the warrior-woman in Terminator 2.

What ultimately has me confused about this new installment is what exactly is going on with the timeline.  It appears that the characters spend their time in 1984 where the original film began, but it also appears that events from both T1 and T2 are being revisited.  That would mean that the story would take place in both 1984 and 1995.  Will the characters be time-traveling throughout the film?  Will the T-1000 actually be visiting 1984 in addition to or in place of his arrival in 1995?  Then I question how convoluted the story will become.  Beyond that, will Schwarzenegger at his age really be able to carry the movie, or will his presence devolve into self-parody?  I'm optimistic and hopeful, but let's be honest.  Do we really want an old-man terminator?

I hope this film turns out to be the sequel that T3 and T4 were not.  From the two minutes of footage I've seen, I'm disappointed with the casting and initially confused by this massive plot jumble.  But for now I will swallow my reservations and just be grateful that we are getting another Schwarzenegger-starring Terminator installment.  While I firmly believe it won't live up to Cameron's films even remotely, I am hopeful it's a worthy piece of popcorn entertainment that leaves me wanting more, especially with an additional two sequels already being prepped following this film's release.  Just for fun, I predict a successful box office run.  I'm guessing it will earn just under $150 million in the United States, and with international growth over the last ten years, the film should do over $500 million worldwide even if the film disappoints creatively.  Time will tell.  See you on July 1st, 2015.