Terminator

Another obscure movie (see here and here) that seemed to be on cable all the time, especially late at night, when I was a teenager was The Terminator.  I loved this movie and watched it over and over.  Once again I had my friend Michael, who worked at Blockbuster, special order me a copy (he was a great friend to have in the days before Amazon).  It became a cult classic which spawned three sequels that I vaguely remember liking at the time.  Terminator: Genisys  (why must words be intentionally misspelled for effect?), the fifth installment, is not so much a sequel as it is a reboot with an alternate reality made possible by the quirks of time travel much like J.J. Abrams' reboot of the Star Trek franchise.  Because someone (who?) sent a reprogrammed T-800 (Arnold Schwarzenegger) through time to save her as a nine-year-old, Sarah Connor (Emilia Clarke) is no longer the frightened waitress in need of Kyle Reese (Jai Courtney) to protect her in 1984.  She is not only ready to fight the T-800 and T-1000 (if Skynet had the T-1000, why was the T-800 still sent?), but she has also constructed a makeshift time machine (how?) to travel to 1997 to stop Skynet from becoming self-aware.  However, these events trigger a change in the timeline postponing Judgement Day until 2017 when a global operating system called Genisys goes online.  Reese persuades Sarah to travel to 2017 where they are rescued from police custody by John Connor (Jason Clarke) and then must simultaneously battle a T-3000  and destroy Genisys in some epic action scenes.  The events in 1984 are extremely clever and I loved seeing the scenes from the original film meticulously recreated.  I literally giggled out loud when Sarah said the iconic line, "Come with me if you want to live," instead of Reese.  The explanation of why the T-800 looks old is also absolutely genius.  While I certainly prefer Linda Hamilton and Michael Biehn as Sarah and Reese, respectively, Clarke and Courtney hold their own and having Schwarzenegger, who will always and forever be "The Terminator," reprise his role is perfect.  Even my unanswered questions didn't detract from my enjoyment because it is just so fun.  Having said that, the events in 2017 infuriated me!  Without going into detail, a cornerstone of the entire mythology is completely (and unnecessarily, in my opinion) shattered!  I could hardly bear to watch the second half of the film, although, as I mentioned, the action scenes are intense and I did like the resolution between Sarah and Reese at the end.  So, in some ways, I quite enjoyed the new timeline but...

Note:  In the battle of the 1980s movie sequels, Mad Max: Fury Road is definitely winning, in my opinion.  It will be interesting to see how Star Wars: The Force Awakens is received.  Also, in an attempt to downsize, I recently donated all of my VHS tapes to a thrift store.  Sorry, Michael!