Posts Tagged ‘Terminator’

Movie Review – Terminator Genisys (2015)

Released to theaters this weekend is Terminator Genisys, the latest film in the Terminator franchise and (hopefully) the beginning of a new Terminator series of films.

Terminator Genisys returns to the origins of the Terminator story, but it’s not what you’re expecting.  This isn’t simply a reboot of the original film.  Instead, Terminator Genisys pays homage to the original film while also offering people a new story as part of an alternative timeline.

Directed by Alan Taylor, Terminator Genisys returns Hollywood legend Arnold Schwarzenegger in the role of the T-800 (Model 101) / Guardian.  Co-starring in the film are Jason Clarke as John Connor, Emilia Clarke as Sarah Connor, and Jai Courtney as Kyle Reese.  Also in the film are J.K. Simmons as Detective O’Brien and Courtney B. Vance as Miles Dyson.

Terminator Genisys begins with a voiceover of Kyle Reese (Jai Courtney) explaining how life has changed drastically since Judgment Day, the moment when the machines declared war against humanity and launched a surprise nuclear attack, wiping out most of humanity.  The survivors were forced to band together and fight for their lives.  The leader of the Resistance is a soldier named John Connor (Jason Clarke).

In the year 2029, John Connor leads the Resistance in a final assault in the Los Angeles offensive.  The attack, coordinated with an attack in the Colorado offensive, is aimed at striking at Skynet‘s secret new weapon, a weapon that could change the outcome of the war.  Hidden underneath a remote storage facility is Skynet’s ultimate weapon — a time machine.

The final attacks are launched against Skynet.  The Colorado offensive is successful at stopping Skynet’s main defense grid, but Connor’s Los Angeles offensive is unable to stop Skynet before it sends a lone T-800 cyborg back in time to 1984 to kill John Connor’s mother.  If the cyborg is successful in its mission then Sarah Connor will die and John Connor, the leader of the Resistance, will never be born.

In order to stop the cyborg and save the future, then somebody from the Resistance will have to travel back in time to save Sarah Connor.  Several soldiers volunteer for the dangerous mission, and John Connor selects Kyle Reese.  The Resistance gets the time machine operating and they send Reese back in time.  Just before he travels through time, Reese notices one of the soldiers (a Terminator in disguise) grabbing and attacking John Connor.  Reese then travels through time and has flashbacks to an alternative version of his younger self. Read more…

Movie Review – Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003)

Twelve years after the release of the epic Terminator film Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines arrived in the movie theaters.

The ending of Terminator 2 concluded with the presumed destruction of Cyberdyne Systems along with its Skynet project.  The research material was also destroyed and it was believed that Judgment Day was stopped.  But as we see with Terminator 3, Judgment Day was merely postponed and Skynet still declared war on human beings.

Unable to locate John Connor as he’s been living “off the grid,” Skynet sends a new model of the Terminator machines back in time to kill future officers of the Resistance prior to Judgment Day.  The Resistance is once again able to send a reprogrammed Series 850 Model 101 Terminator back in time to protect those targets including Kate Brewster and John Connor.

Directed by Jonathan Mostow, Terminator 3 stars Arnold Schwarzenegger in his classic role as the Terminator cyborg.  Nick Stahl plays the role of John Connor this time, and Claire Danes plays Kate Brewster, Connor’s future wife.  Kristanna Loken plays the role of the T-X, the superior Terminator sent back in time to kill members of the Resistance.  Supporting actors include David Andrews, Mark Famiglietti and Earl Boen.

Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003) – (c) Warner Bros. Pictures

Set about nine years after the events in Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines begins with John Connor (Nick Stahl) being paranoid about Skynet and the future war against the machines.  Although Judgment Day does not occur on August 29, 1997, John still isn’t taking any chances.  He lives “off the grid” without a permanent home or credit cards or a cell phone.  There’s nothing that can be traced to his constantly changing location. Read more…

Movie Review – Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)

In 1984 James Cameron released his science fiction marvel, The Terminator.

We were introduced to a world where machines launched an all-out war against human beings.  The humans eventually won the war at a cost of several billion lives.  One-way time travel was invented, and to try to stop the humans, the machines sent a killer cyborg back in time to kill the mother of the future leader of the human resistance.  The Resistance was also able to send a soldier back in time, and The Terminator focused on the soldier stopping the Terminator from completing its mission.  The soldier won at the cost of his own life.

We know that there’s much more to the story.  It was just a matter of time before the technology would allow for James Cameron to give us a proper sequel.

Terminator 2: Judgment Day was released on July 3, 1991, and it quickly broke ticket sale records.  James Cameron would continue this massive blockbuster trend in later years with Titanic (1997) and Avatar (2009).

Terminator 2: Judgment Day returns Arnold Schwarzenegger in the title role as the Terminator.  He’s a Series 800 Cyberdyne Systems Model 101 cyborg, but instead of hunting John Connor this model has been reprogrammed by the Resistance to protect the child.  Linda Hamilton reprises her role as Sarah Connor, now an energetic woman locked in an insane asylum who still fears for the future war with the machines.  Robert Patrick plays the role of the Series 1000 Terminator, a liquid metal, shape-shifting machine sent back in time to kill the child version of John Connor.  Edward Furlong has the role of John Connor, a 10-year-old boy being hunted by the T-1000 Terminator.  Earl Boen reprises his role as Dr. Peter Silberman, Sarah Connor’s psychiatrist in the asylum.  Joe Morton has the role of Miles Dyson, the engineer at Skynet responsible for reverse-engineering the technology left behind from The Terminator.

Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) – (c) TriStar Pictures

Terminator 2: Judgment Day opens with a horrific vision of the future.  We’re told that the machines launched an all-out war against mankind on August 29, 1997.  The initial round of battle and nuclear fire cost billions of lives.  The battle against the machines would last for another thirty years before a man named John Connor would lead the Resistance to ultimate victory.

Like in The Terminator, the machines send an advanced cyborg back in time to kill the leader of the Resistance.  This time around the killer machine is sent to the year 1995 to kill John Connor as he’s just a 10-year-old boy. Read more…

Movie Review – The Terminator (1984)

Imagine a near-future where computers have complete control of the country’s military power.

Then imagine those computers deciding that humans, all humans, are a threat to the computers.  The computers declare war and a worldwide nuclear war wipes out most of the human population.  The surviving humans are enslaved as an army of robots tries to take control of the world.

But the humans fight back and ultimately defeat the robots.  Time travel has been developed, and to stop the humans the robots send a hunter-killer, a Terminator, back in time to kill the mother of the leader of the human Resistance.

Back in 1984, visionary director James Cameron presented the world with The Terminator, an action-adventure and science fiction film where a robotic Terminator is sent back in time to kill the mother of the human Resistance.  To combat it, the human Resistance sends a soldier back in time to protect the mother from the Terminator.

The Terminator stars Arnold Schwarzenegger as the Terminator, a hunter-killer cyborg sent from the future to kill Sarah Connor, the future mother of the leader of the human Resistance.  Michael Biehn plays the role of Kyle Reese, a human soldier from the Resistance who travels back in time to protect Sarah Connor.  Linda Hamilton is Sarah Connor, future mother of John Connor, leader of the Resistance.  Rounding out the cast are Paul Winfield, Lance Henriksen and Earl Boen.

The Terminator begins with a quick telling of the future war between humans and the machines.  It explains that while the war was fought in the near future, the ultimate battle for the future of the war will be fought tonight (remember that we’re back in 1984 in a modern day version of Los Angeles, California).

The Terminator (1984) – (c) Orion Pictures / Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

It’s night time as a massive power surge electrifies an area.  Out of the blasts of electricity steps a naked man (Arnold Schwarzenegger).  He walks naked to a group of street punks (one of them is played by Bill Paxton) and kills one of them for his clothing. Read more…