Terminator: Genisys Is the latest movie in the Terminator franchise. Aside from the return of Arnold Schwarzenegger, this film reboots the entire series, and is intended for the fans, but others will like it, too.

I must start with the basic concept. In The Future (future…future…future…), Some computer called Skynet has practically destroyed humanity. The humans were not entirely wiped out, and learned to fight back. The resistance leader, John Connor (Jai Courtney), is almost victorious, but Skynet sent a robot back in time to 1984 to kill Sarah Connor, the mother of John. John was aware of the plan, and manages to send a soldier named Kyle Reese (Jason Clarke) back to protect his mother from the Terminator robot. While Kyle is successful, he sacrificed his life for Sarah, but not before the two fall in love. Kyle is, you see, the father of John Connor. The entire franchise is based on the notion that there were backup plans in place. I’ll leave it to you to revisit the films, but, thankfully, you can skip the last two.

Terminator: Genisys starts with Kyle’s reminiscences of his childhood, and how John Connor saved Kyle’s life. The two were inseparable, and Kyle becomes John’s right hand man. The humans are about to start the attack that will end the war with Skynet, but its done on multiple fronts. Some will attack Skynet directly, but John’s forces are to go after a facility in what used to be San Francisco. The fighting is fierce, but Skynet realizes something is up, and activates a Terminator and sends it back to 1984, this fulfilling that history will remain as it should be. John sends Kyle back, to fulfill his story, but as that plays out, John is attacked in the future, but Kyle makes it back.

It was quite interesting to see the scene played out. The scenes that come after turn the whole story on its edge, and thus have ruined everything that happened in the previous movies. A time travel paradox is created, and everything’s different. Sarah Connor (Emilia Clarke (no relation)) is not what she’s supposed to be, and she has a friend. It would seem that once you muck with a timeline, further mucking is bound to occur. The rest I leave for you to discover.

Those of you who want to talk about time travel and its impact, think of this film along the lines of Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure, though not as clever.  For those of you who get easily confused about time travel, I suggest you watch this clip.

The story is a good one, and it’s never clear what will actually happen next, and that’s a good thing. Things have changed, and while things appear to be certain to transpire, they most definitely do not. While Emilia Clarke does well, she does not have the hard edge that Linda Hamilton developed for Terminator 2. While I did like the resolution of the story, there were some liberties taken to ensure that the franchise is not entirely done, yet. There’s a mid-credits sequence, so be sure to stay for that.

I do recommend this film.