Terminator: Genisys (spoilers)

Generally speaking, the emotional weather-system in my brain is ruled by a burning sun that casts cynicism wherever its rays fall.
It must have been cloudy today.

I really enjoyed this. My new system of watching the trailer once, 3-4 months before the release date, and then forgetting about it, is really working out for me.

It was fun. It was surprisingly well paced. The action scenes were handled well (the helicopter sequence was the only thing that bothered me, would have preferred models and less inorganic camera movements). The humour, I dunno why, but with some exceptions, it worked for me (and I laughed out loud a couple of times, too!).

It did take me awhile to get used to Emilia Clarke as Sarah Connor, until I reminded myself that this Sarah had a different life experience, so she doesn't need to be like Linda Hamilton. (Though I'd still like to see the alternate timeline [ha ha] version where they'd ended up casting Tatiana Maslany instead.)

Jai Courtney, I'm still not a fan. I'm sure he's got some skills, but between this and A Good Day to Die Hard (oh lord), not yet.

Obviously, time travel is a clusterfuck, but I'd have thought we'd given up taking that seriously from the 3rd film onwards anyway? I just didn't feel like nitpicking the 5th film in a franchise... that doesn't benefit anyone. It's like going to your bank and asking for a lower interest rate on your savings account. WHY?

Like I said, I saw one trailer and forgot about it. As I understand, they spoiled the shit out of it, but I ended up being pleasantly goddamn surprised a couple of times. Though walking out of the cinema, I came face to face with the poster, which has a twist, like, front and centre. That is some dumbass fuckery.

Anyhooooo: it moved along briskly, enjoyed the action, pleasantly surprised by the humour, and it put a smile on my face. So it gets a thumbs up. Go see it if you're feeling optimistic. If not, don't bother

Disclaimer: if you dislike the tone of a post I make, re-read it in a North/East London accent until it sounds sufficiently playful

I wish Emilia Clarke wasn't terrible and completely miscast

I thought this was enjoyable but yeah, lots of plot holes. The largest is, of course, who sent the terminators back to 1973. The entire story rests upon this, and them leaving it open is either extraordinary lazy storytelling or gutsy. Though to be honest, how Skynet is able to send back the T-1000 is a plot hole in T2.

I love the concept of playing with the 1984 events, even reversing the roles, but the moment the story resolves 1984 it devolves into stupidity. There's a time machine, they travel more than 30 years into the future to mere days before the singularity, they have the same plan as Sarah had in T2, they meet Evil John Connor, and they resolve the conflict through violence which predictably doesn't work.

Also, how does Sarah know where the Time Machine is in the future, so that she can tell John? I've seen Terminator, and there's not lot of time for Kyle to give her that kind of detail.