The first T movie since 2 that actually takes the lore and canon seriously. It's obvious this movie cares about the story and the characters, and holds the source material in high regard. I really dug how they re-created so many shots from the original film, as well as the deliberate differences. The problem here is not a question of enthusiasm or interest, but of taste. It looks super generic. Oversaturated, antiseptic. No grime, no dirt, NO practical effects or stunts - an over-reliance on objectively bad CGI that does not hold up, even though it's not that old. Ballistic explosions are not puffy clouds of flame. They are supersonic shockwaves that coat everything in the area with dust and rip everything else in half with shrapnel and often contain no flames at all. What, you never watched Mythbusters? Never seen any combat footage? With all the good faith put into the overall effort, this is a disappointment. I get concepts like budget, but when it hurts the experience and breaks the 4th wall, the cost-cutting backfires and proves it wasn't worth the sacrifice. SPOILER: Hated how John showed up in the late-game as whatever he was. IMO it made the entire first part of the movie completely pointless and was a total crumple-it-up-and-throw-it-out dumpster writing decision. Felt cheap, gimmicky. You don't have to make everything "the next T-1000". The novelty of special effects enemies went away MULTIPLE DECADES AGO. So we see how there is a good-faith core to the experience, but it's ruined by bad taste, both visually and narratively.
Review of Terminator Genisys
