Breja: So, I just saw it (alone, as predicted,
because I have no friends). What I think (spoilers):
Is is better than Salvation? Yes. Not much of an achievement there, but it is. Honestly, it's not bad overall, but not great either. Many will probably hate me for it, but I liked T3 more.
Some people say that Genisys is Terminator's Days of Future Past, but I don't think that's quite the right analogy (though I certainly get where they're coming from). I think it's actually Highlander 3, the one some jokingly call Highlander 3: The Apology. And that's pretty much what it was. After Highlander 2 completely shat the the bed, the next movie (and every other installment) ignored it's existance, and went back to the original, in fact it ended up being pretty much a copy of the original. An enjoyable one, but inferior, and not making much sense in the grand scheme of things.
And that's what we have here. Genisys ignores Salvation (and also T3... I think) and goes back to the first two movies, and ends up being in many ways a copy of the two smashed together, but mostly of T2. Let's go prevent Skynet from existing, with the help of a reprogrammed T-800, and fighting off a shapeshifting evil Terminator. And while it's an enjoyable movie, it's not nearly as good as those were. Not as intense, not as impressive, with a surprisingly weak villain.
Yeah, the big twist, spoiled in the trailers (though I didn't really blame them, that was the one thing that actually looked interesting in those trailers), does not really amount to anything. In the end it's just another shapeshifting Terminator, only instead of liquid he's kind of... a cloud, or something. His being Connor never really comes into play, and though he claims to be "something more" than a machine or man, he never shows anything special. And he's not nearly as menacing as Robert Patrick was. In fact, I think even T-X exhibited more uniqueness. It had a new ability, to control machines, and used that. T-Connor? He has the ability to talk too much, like a lame Bond villain. he should team up with Ultron, they could talk their enemies to death.
We have Matt Smith here as Skynet, but he does not really get much screen time, and honestly I'm not fond of giving Skynet a face, and even less of hearing it talk. The inhuman quality of the machine enemies and Skynet itself was always one of Terminator's big pros. It gets ruined here for no good payoff.
There are some really good action scenes, some nice moments between the main cast, and I really think Arnie did well, and his presence never felt forced, like he's there only for nostalgia's sake. In fact, I don't think this movie would have worked at all without him. The new Sarah Connor and Kyle Reese are fine, but never quite live up to the originals. And the "Young Arnold" scenes were really well done, waaaay better than Salvation's attempt.
On the other hand, we get some awkward expository dialogue and some unnecessary, jarring attempts at humor, like the scene when all three main characters get arrested, and "Bad Boys" plays for 30 seconds while they make faces for the mugshots. It's awkward, pointless and takes you out of the movie.
All in all, it's fine, it's entertaining, but did we really need it? I don't think it's fresh, strong and impressive enough to provide the series with a new start.
Like I have said in this thread before. I don't see it as a sequal/reboot like Days of Future Past, but more of a celebration of the Terminator series.
And to me it has the best rendition of the theme song that it even out epic T2's:
