So I've seen people bashing the hell out of this movie. And while I don't think this movie is perfect, I don't think it's shit. So here are my thoughts on the fifth movie of the Terminator franchise (P. S. Happy Fourth of July)
Heros:
Instead of there being one central hero like in most movies, there is really a trio, so I will judge them as a whole basically. Starting with the classic, Arnold Schwarzenegger. He's back, and as he says in the movie, he's old. But not obsolete. I really enjoyed his preformance a lot more than his other recent preformances. The reason people say he nailed the original role is because people say that he's just such a wooden actor that it's easy for him to play a character with no emotion. And in some senses, their kind of right, but here it works as always. Plus, the fact that Emilia Clarke's Sarah Connor was teaching him emotions and he's just so awkward with it, that made me laugh almost everytime. Speaking of Emilia Clarke, she was really good as a woman that has had her entire future and free will ripped apart from her. She was pretty badass, almost like a mix between T2 Sarah Connor in her badassery, but also John Connor in T2/T3 in that she realizes she has no choice but to be a hero. And I feel like I should add, she is really hot. And now for the third lead, Jai Courtney. Courtney has recieved a lot of flack as an actor. This is honestly the first role that I've seen him in, and I think that if he is terrible then this is one of his better roles. He doesn't nail it like Michael Biehn, but I found him better than the whiny Anton Yelchin in Salvation. Some of his delivery I didn't like at all, but there was parts where I thought he was decent, and I feel okay with him as Captain Boomerang, or at least he won't [frick] the role up that much...
Villains:
At the time of the first trailer, I assumed that it was going to be basically the first Terminator with a T1000 as the main villain. And the T-1000 being one of my favorite villains of all time, I was excited. And him in the movie was more of a mini boss. And they didn't piss on T2 by just killing him. They at least showed that unlike T2 they were prepared. The Arnold/Arnold fight was really well done. And as for the main villain, Jason Clarke has been a favorite actor of mine for a long time. And he did a good job as the main villain. The twist they did with John Connor was interesting, and lead to a lot of pretty decent action sequences. My complaint is the small amount of screen time he has. Unlike the first three movies, this movie has quite a few terminators, instead of just one. And that works to its disadvantage because now they don't have an extremely memorable crazy villain like Arnold Schwartzenager or Robert Patrick, they have Jason Clarke, who does a good job when he is on screen anyways.
Supporting Characters:
So starting with the few in this movie, Matt Smith was pretty wasted in this movie. I was hoping that they'd show more of him. I almost wish that instead of Jason Clarke they had him as the main villain, but whatever. And J. K. Simmons did a great job with his role. I expected him to be the police psychiatrist from the first movie, but the character he ended up playing was a lot better. He had a lot of memorable lines and such, so I really enjoyed him. Andddddd...thats it. There were more characters, but none that made a real impact on the story as these two.
Action:
The action was really well done. The first scenes in the future were really good, and the Terminator fights were also well done when they were there. The overuse of CGI really just makes some action sequences unmemorable. So unlike the mall fight in T2, we get a hospital fight, which is well done, but ends quickly and isn't very memorable. But at the very least the action was entertaining. And that's the big reason to see this movie if you want to go see a movie right now, it's the action.
Writing/Plot:
The writing and plot of this movie was very dull. Wheras the first two (notice how in this entire review I only really mention the first two) had very well developed story and action, this is an action movie. It was also really messed up timeline wise. One of my friends at the end of the movie said "Time for me to go online so I can understand the timeline, someone has to have figured it out by now!". And I really agree. I wish this movie kept it simpler and stuck to 1984 and them fighting either Matt Smith/T1000. But at least it wasn't completely screwed up. Alan Taylor and the rest of the cast did the best they could with what they had. So it really was the writing that brought the movie down. Hopefully for the sequels (it's been confirmed that BO means nothing and this movie is getting a sequel because James Cameron gets the rights back in a few years) they keep the story simple like the first two.
Conclusion:
If you go see this movie it will be for the action. It's not terrible like everyone says, I would say it's better than the last two. So rating it would be around a 6.25/6.5 out of 10, because really, it's not a terrible film. Problems yes, but not unwatchable.
So do you agree, disagree? Comment below! And if you do agree, show some love and hit the red thumb! Peace out.