Film Review: TERMINATOR: GENYSIS (2015)

First, I’d like to say that I’m a Terminator fan.  I’ve seen all the films and I’ve read all the comics and I know what could be a great Terminator film if someone (the Studio) was brave enough to take real chances and utilize some of the story elements from the various Terminator comics.  Unfortunately, Terminator: Genysis (2015) just isn’t it.  In an age when Studios pander to what they think will make a profitable film rather than what will actually be something new and exciting for audiences we get this new rebooted film that first wants to erase and rewrite everything that came before in the previous four films while still trying to appeal to the same audience that enjoyed those earlier films. 

The film stars Arnold Schwarzenegger as another T-800 Terminator sent back to protect Sarah Connors (Emilia Clarke) when she was a child.  We don’t know who sent him back but this new Terminator nicknamed “Pops” by Sarah has been training and protecting Sarah as she grows until the day in 1984 when Kyle Reese (Jai Courtney) is originally sent back to protect an innocent (and older) Sarah (from the original first film) from the Terminator.  Unfortunately, Kyle is a little late as it is she who has to save him.  Then they discover that the timeline has changed (again) and that they are on a new mission to finally stop Skynet from coming into existence in the future through a new technological advancement that will link technology all over the world (in a more advanced version of the Internet) called Genysis.

The concept of the film isn’t that bad considering the many unanswered questions in the film (presumably for the future installments of this new proposed trilogy) but what really hampers the film is the fact that the love story between Sarah Connor and Kyle Reese never comes off as genuine probably because Clarke and Courtney have very little onscreen chemistry and all their interactions seem forced.  Another thing is that Pops is made the comic relief in the film (probably to appeal to a younger audience) and none of this fits into the film despite Schwarzenegger doing the best he can with the role.

The film is written by Laeta Kalogridis and Patrick Lussier and directed by Alan Taylor.  Taylor does a serviceable job with the material but all of the action sequences lack the style of James Cameron’s original two films or even McG’s Salvation (2009) and Jonathan Mostow’s Rise of the Machines (2003).  The final result is a “paint-by-numbers” action film that relies on too many of the previous films’ story elements while also trying to abandon some.

What needed to happen is a film that didn’t feel the need to tell a story with Sarah or John Connor or the need to change history.  What audiences need is a new story with new characters to follow and not the tired “old guard”.  I have very little optimism for any future entries in this new proposed trilogy because if they don’t make some real changes they will be just as uninteresting and flaccid as this one was.

Film Review: HOUSE AT THE END OF THE STREET (2012)

There are many types of horror films and there is a place for Evil Dead (2012), where the gore hounds get their fill, as well as Twilight (2008), where the lovelorn and romanticized get their vampires and werewolves that are eternal and “twinkle”, but where does a film like House at the End of the Street (2012) lie?  It tries to appeal to the teenage crowd as well as the suspense and horror crowd but fails to deliver on either side.

The film concerns Elissa (Jennifer Lawrence) and her mother Sarah (Elizabeth Shue) who has moved into a new town into a home near where a massacred occurred in their neighbor’s house.  Elissa becomes friends with Ryan (Max Thieriot), the only member of the massacred family alive who still lives in the house.  Her mother disapproves of her friendship to Ryan but Elissa sees only a misunderstood man trying to make a living for himself.  The closer Elissa gets to Ryan the more she realizes that he hides a terrible secret buried deep beneath his house that ties back to the night when his family was massacred by his sister.

Horror films really lie within two spectrums – one is the too tame PG to PG-13 films which include Twilight and the remakes of Prom Night (2008) and One Missed Call (2008) and the other are the hard core films like the remake Evil Dead and Hostel (2005) and Saw (2004).  In between you have the few PG-13 films that cross between the two such as Insidious (2010) and Apollo 18 (2011) and Mama (2013).  House at the End of the Street tries to appeal to this middle ground but fails because of its lack of originality (hence why so many remakes have failed over the years) and suspense as well as its failure to deliver any real shocks.

Written by David Loucka (with story by Jonathan Mostow) the film comes off as a by the numbers thriller with no original or new ideas.  The only thing that keeps the film rolling along is director Mark Tonderai who manages to at least keep the film moderately interesting with his directorial choices.  Lawrence seems out of place in this film playing a teenager despite the fact that she doesn’t look at all that young which makes the pairing with Thieriot even odder since they try to make him look older as he plays a college bound character (a far cry from the character he played in Wes Craven’s My Soul to Take).  Thieriot has no chemistry with Lawrence which makes their coupling even less likely.  Shue, who made a return to horror with the remake of Piranha 3D (2010), is wasted here as the mother as very little is given to her to do other than look like the concerned parent.

Overall the film is mediocre and easily forgotten which is probably for the best of everyone especially Lawrence who has her own Twilight-like franchise in The Hunger Games films and I’m sure she’d like this film to be buried deep within her resume.