Marginally better than Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines or Terminator: Salvation but still light years short of either The Terminator or Terminator 2: Judgment Day, this utterly unnecessary (if occasionally entertaining) fifth instalment takes us back to 1984, where history is being rewritten once again. Revisiting the events of James Cameron’s original movie(s), Kyle Reese (Jai Courtney) is sent spinning through time to protect mother-of-the-revolution Sarah Connor (Emilia Clarke) from termination by a T-800 killing machine. But the past isn’t what it used to be – Sarah is no longer a waitress but already a warrior, Kyle is behind the times when it comes to foreseeing the future, and Arnie’s iconic cyborg winds up locked in battle with his ageing self who is (he tells us repeatedly) “old, not obsolete”. While the jumbled time-loops and neo-nuclear family gags make for some initial reboot fun, Genisys soon becomes little more than an overblown karaoke rehash of the sci-fi riffs of yesteryear. Cameron’s original 80s production wrung rip-roaring rewards from a smart script and a small budget, but this bloated, smashy-crashy behemoth lacks the role-reversal wit that turned the action of 1991’s T2 into something more than mere spectacle. The fact that major plot spoilers have already been revealed in the trailers further undermines any sense of suspense, while the human relationships remain as sloppily unformed as the liquid metal that once seemed so futuristic. Oh, and former Doctor Who Matt Smith barely gets a look in
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