Terminator Genisys 2015

Wesley Morris, Grantland: Part of what makes Terminator Genisys so pitiful as an evening out is that all the actors do over and over again is tell us why they're in a particular scene and why the movie exists. Read more

Sara Stewart, New York Post: There's a saying in time-travel sci-fi that the process degrades the traveler, and the "Terminator" movies have been through too many plot-accelerators, shedding brain cells along the way. Read more

Justin Chang, Variety: The movie's willingness to veer crazily off-course feels less objectionable than the monotony and sense of self-parody that kick in long before the whimper of a finish. Read more

A.A. Dowd, AV Club: The film moves so fast-an explanatory prologue, a big battle scene, and Reese jumping through time are all covered before the opening credits have finished rolling-that it's easy to overlook how weightless most of it is. Read more

Kerry Lengel, Arizona Republic: Genisys is more entertaining than the last two installments, although it's not nearly as good as the first two. Read more

Ben Sachs, Chicago Reader: Screenwriters Laeta Kalogridis and Patrick Lussier pile on so many pulpy sci-fi conceits -- involving time travel, alternate realities, and the end of civilization -- that you might be carried along by the batty excess. Read more

Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: Made on a reported (and mystifying, given its lack of visual imagination) budget of $170 million, Terminator Genisys doesn't take any pokes or try any dark satire in its technology-enslavement angle. This is strictly business, and dull business at that. Read more

Tom Long, Detroit News: "Terminator Genisys" is the first fully worthy successor to Cameron's original films and it shows Arnold may be old, but he's not obsolete. Read more

Cary Darling, Fort Worth Star-Telegram/DFW.com: Someone needs to go back in time and stop movie executives from greenlighting more "Terminator" movies. It's not that Terminator: Genisys is a laughably bad movie. Worse, it's an interminably boring one. Read more

Chris Nashawaty, Entertainment Weekly: I suppose there wasn't any reason to expect more from Genisys other than the lure of watered-down nostalgia. But it barely even succeeds at that. Read more

Todd McCarthy, Hollywood Reporter: The film just lumbers along, often tediously; there's no sense that the scenario has been carefully kneaded, structured and shaped by attentive dramatists. Visually, we've seen these images, or many like them, so many times before ... Read more

Mark Olsen, Los Angeles Times: "Terminator Genisys" could be Exhibit A in why the current line of thinking in Hollywood regarding sequels/reboots/remakes often leads to terrible decisions and worse films. Read more

Amy Nicholson, L.A. Weekly: Terminator: Genisys feels like a VHS cassette that's been rewound and recorded over for 21 years. It's haunted by ghosts of old movies, a cyborg whose entire DNA is deja vu. Read more

Tony Hicks, San Jose Mercury News: "Terminator Genisys" is a fun ride, as long as fans accept that it's not up to the standards set by the original. But at least it's the franchise's best big-screen effort in more than two decades. Read more

Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger: "I'm old -- not obsolete," Schwarzenegger growls throughout. This movie's both. Read more

Joe Neumaier, New York Daily News: One achievement of James Cameron's "Terminator" is that it overcame its low-rent, B-movie trappings. The great sin of "Genisys" is that it costs millions and yet isn't worth a dime. Read more

Manohla Dargis, New York Times: Mr. Schwarzenegger, 67, is, yes, back, because while the series thrill is lamentably long gone, franchises now apparently last forever. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: Terminator Genisys feels like the film Cameron might have made if he continued the franchise. Read more

Richard Roeper, Chicago Sun-Times: Of course the special effects are more impressive than ever. But nearly every curveball offered up in this new parallel-universe version of the Terminator world isn't as interesting or as original as the timeline we loved in the first place. Read more

Christy Lemire, RogerEbert.com: "Terminator Genisys" turns unfortunately jokey and self-referential, to the point that it borders on parody. Read more

Peter Travers, Rolling Stone: So what if it's a head-scratcher? Arnold is back. And he's the Man. What are you waiting for? Read more

Andrew O'Hehir, Salon.com: Age and apparent cosmetic surgery haven't improved Schwarzenegger's acting, and his physical presence has diminished. Read more

Soren Anderson, Seattle Times: Plenty of noisy cyborg-on-cyborg CG violence with lots of clangy metallic head-butt action is part of the mix. Sound and fury, signifying it's past time to put this franchise out to pasture. Read more

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: For all its weaknesses, "Terminator Genisys" is a "Terminator" movie that feels like a "Terminator" movie, more than did "Terminator 3," not to mention the ghastly "Terminator Salvation." Read more

Jake Coyle, Associated Press: Schwarzenegger's return to his most iconic role provides much of the appeal of this otherwise purposeless redo. Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: It is mechanical in the worst way. Read more

Joe Williams, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: This mash-up movie is like a greatest-hits collection for obsessive collectors. On its own terms, Terminator Genisys makes virtually no sense. Read more

Megan Garber, The Atlantic: Terminator: Genisys, however, has none of the stakes, and none of the moral preoccupations, of its predecessors. Read more

John Semley, Globe and Mail: Like Edgar Wright's The World's End, another film about humanity's robotic takeover, Genisys configures human arrogance -- our refusal to accept inevitability, or even sensibility -- as our saving grace. Read more

Peter Howell, Toronto Star: The only one really having a good time is Schwarzenegger, who grins like a Cheshire cyborg even when nothing's funny, least of all the impending destruction of humanity. Read more

James Rocchi, TheWrap: In 1984's "The Terminator," machines came back from the future to wipe out humanity; with "Terminator Genisys," a whole franchise comes back from the past to water down summer moviegoing. Read more

Joshua Rothkopf, Time Out: Fans hoping to watch Schwarzenegger growl his catchphrases with a slight edge of shtick are underestimating the patience involved in sitting through a two-hour slog. Read more

Brian Truitt, USA Today: Terminator used to be a sci-fi franchise defined by its cool time-travel concept and even better special effects. Unfortunately, it's "Hasta la vista, baby," to those good old days. Read more

David Edelstein, New York Magazine/Vulture: As lousy as the movie is, I must speak up for its makers' valiant attempt to make something old look new and also old ... and new. It's a vexing problem for a system that relies on sequels, "franchises," "tentpoles," etc. Read more

Michael O'Sullivan, Washington Post: Genisys goes back to what made the franchise work in the first place: not the machine inside the man, but vice versa. Read more

Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: "Terminator Genisys" plays like the worst of all outcomes. Read more

Ty Burr, Boston Globe: "I'll be back," the man said, and he kept the promise, but I'm not sure we wanted him back like this. Read more