Today's Review: Terminator Genisys

Told you I'd be back with another review?

Terminator Genisys - recensie

And Arnold's back, too. Again. Wish he wouldn't be, considering the disappointing result. Once again a franchise is mucked up by messing with its time line. The producers obviously tok a hint from the financial success (brief as it was) from the recent Star Trek reboot. I hated it, because it created a new time line that hardly acknowledges the old which was running for nigh 45 years, basically saying 'anything goes' from here on out. I would have preferred it if they had shown more loyalty to the existing time line and its fanbase. Surprisingly, that is the route taken for Terminator Genisys, with equally lackluster results. In this movie's case, the new time line does nothing but acknowledge the old, resulting in a total nostalgia fest that rehashes characters, events and particularly oneliners from the previous installments. It offers nothing new, and only shows you the limits of the Terminator franchise if there is a mandate in place to incorporate the ingredients of its past successes, which was put in place because the previous installment, Terminator Salvation, offered too much novelty for many. I appreciated that movie for it. There's no innovation or novelty in Genisys, whereas in Trek's case by comparison, there was a little too much for my taste, so much so that it just didn't feel like Trek anymore. This movie undeniably feels like a Terminator movie, but still leaves a lot to be desired.

Maybe it's a sign that starting new time lines to retcon existing franchises just is a bad idea in general. How about creating new franchises instead, rather than desperately clinging to nostalgia? That's probably too revolutionary an idea for Hollywood's taste...

Today's Double News: if posters come I'm ready!

Got a double dip of news today, thanks to my own forgetting to post half of it earlier this week (that's so not like me!). So there's a bit of older news here as well, but I can live with that. Today, posters are in my blood!

http://www.moviescene.nl/p/148993/nieuwe_poster_thor_the_dark_world

http://www.moviescene.nl/p/148972/nieuwe_posters_300_rise_of_an_empire

A lot of new one-sheets, thus. And a lot of me doing free advertising for these movies on MovieScene, and now on this mine own blog. I ought to get at least a Christmas cards from the studio execs.

Let's start with the older news. The 300 posters (yes, I know there's only six of them, I was referring to the title) were already spotted earlier at Comic-Con, which in online terms makes them ancient history by now, but hey, I have yet to see them adorning walls in theatres and the movie is still more than half a year away (even though originally, it was supposed to be released in fall 2013). Say what you will about them, at least they offer consistency compared to the character posters released for the predecessor in 2007, which took a very similar route. The big difference is these are only showing heads while their original counterparts also showed the rest of the characters depicted. Guess not more is needed here. The silly taglines - 'Athens will burn', is that some sort of cleverly hidden social commentary on Greece's internal affairs? - and the gritty faces set the mood perfectly; as if that was needed, since people who saw the first film will know exactly what they can expect, while I doubt this flick will draw many audiences unfamiliar with the first 300. Gotta love these expressions. Eva Green looks utterly pissed off. Me thinks she's still mad about "her" TV show Camelot getting cancelled after only one season, so shooting this movie no doubt provided some violent therapy to blow off some steam for her. Cersei Lannister Lena Headey by contrast appears reserved and calculating, yet regal as ever. She's not done playing queen yet, returning to her role from the first film. Good to see she can also play a nice queen instead of only the scheming, bitchy variant we've all come to love on Game of Thrones. That is, if you can sincerely call a queen who orders her men to go out and spill rivers of blood in excessively disturbing manners in any way 'nice'. But then, the alternative we see in Xerxes (poor Rodrigo Santoro in dubious bling-bling make-up again) isn't such a good option either. After the stuff he pulled in the first film you sure know you don't want him to be your monarch. In summation, these character posters will do a decent job preparing people's expectations for 300: Rise of an Empire (I'm still unsure what empire is being referred to exactly, but it's clear the people behind these films don't give a rat's ass about historical accuracy, nor will the general audience). I'm moderately excited about this film myself. I gotta admit I hated 300 the first time I saw it, but it grew on me in later viewings as I came to understand what the film was all about: gratuitous violence relayed through hyperstylized imagery. Who could say no to some more of that?

Now, if it's visual spectacle you want in your posters, there's the latest one-sheet of Thor: The Dark World for ya. By Odin's beard, this is something else entirely! It looks utterly fabulous and rich, even if it's in many ways simply a few heads put together. Nevertheless, it clearly showcases its stellar cast (and Tom Hiddleston's Loki's back, yay!) and its continuing journey into the epic fantasy realms of Marvel's take on Norse mythology. And as a bonus for movie aficionados like myself, it also undeniably hearkens back to the good old poster art the likes of Drew Struzan (except photoshopped instead of hand drawn). There's also a definite Lord of the Rings vibe to the piece, which is never a bad thing. If this poster is any indication, I'd say Thor: The Dark World is in good hands, courtesy of Alan Taylor. Who happened to direct no less than six episodes of Game of Thrones, thus taking us full circle to the previous bit of news, thanks to the number six and Cersei Lannister Lena Headey. If that's not a sign from the gods I don't know what is.