Terminator Genisys Review
SARAH (V.O.)
Watching John with
the machine, it was suddenly
so clear. The Terminator would never stop, it
would never leave
him... it would always be
there. And it would never hurt him, never shout
at him or get drunk
and hit him, or say it
couldn't spend time
with him because it was too
busy. And it would die to protect him. Of all
the would-be fathers
who came and went over the
years, this thing,
this machine, was the only
one who measured
up. In an insane world, it was
the sanest choice. (James
Cameron and William Wisher. Terminator 2: Judgement
Day. Shooting Script, 1991. IMSDb. Web. 13th of July 2015)
Terminator Genisys main idea is to question and reinforce what we think as “family”.
In this movie, we see Sarah Connor raised by the Terminator. The bond between
them is the same as a daughter and a father. Less dark than Terminator
and Terminator 2, it keeps the same strong action and gore.
To begin with, the first thing which impressed me was the new version of T-1000 played by Byung-hun Lee. It was a cold performance showing the same spirit of Terminator 2 where T-1000 was played by Robert Patrick. In Terminator Genisys, T-1000 is the same unstoppable machine. Despite that it has an appealing human form it lacks any human feelings. This new version made me remember how I felt when I watched Terminator 2 in my childhood. Back then just like now I thought about how technology combined with artificial intelligence could be way more powerful than us and take over our lives.
In contrast with T-1000, in this movie it is explored a humanized
Terminator which works as a father/grandfather for Sarah. Just like the
Terminator which had to protect John Connor in Terminator 2, the Terminator
throughout this movie gives humanity to Sarah and Kyle. While preventing the
end of the world, the Terminator adopts the role of Sarah’s protector. However, he
insists on Kyle by and by taking on that role not as a soldier sent from the
future to just accomplish his mission but as her future husband.
I always wanted to see a movie where John Connor was raised by the
Terminator like Sarah mentioned in Terminator 2. For some reason, a machine
detached from human defects (ex: alcoholism, drug use, mental or social
problems) would seem as the perfect parent to raise children. However, as seen
in this movie with Sarah, it only creates more pain. The reason for this is
that the identity of parenthood and an artificial intelligent machine are
horribly merged. Again and again, Sarah tries to save the Terminator and
depends on the Terminator to destroy Skynet and Genisys. Several times this
dependence on the Terminator puts both her and Kyle in danger. Her mental
symbiosis of the machine and the parental figure continues on the entire movie
as something that would never change.
In conclusion, this movie raised the same questions about artificial
intelligent machines as in Terminator and Terminator 2. Do we prefer machines
rather than people to be our family? When a machine cares for us are we
mentally obliged to give it a human role and treat it as one? Briefly, in the
movie when Sarah and Kyle are in 2017 it is shown how people depend on nowadays
technology for everything from leisure (smartphones, tablets, and computers) to
life (machines designed to operate in hospitals) and war (machines for the
army). Hence, machines still seem all-powerful and the fear of the future
technology is something that attracts anyone.
Back when I was writing my novel, The Guardians of the Earth Type Planets,
I included machines similar to the ones of Terminator and Terminator 2. For some reason,
machines are something that science fiction writers love to use because we know
they think like us and look like us but they are on a different superior level
both physically (machines are stronger than our simple flesh and bones) and
mentally (all the information about Earth and us can easily be used and it is
preserved by them).
I hope you found this review useful and I encourage everyone to enjoy
watching Terminator Genisys this summer!
