STACK #130 Aug 2016

CINEMA

REVIEWS

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ALSO SCREENING IN AUGUST

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – ROGUE NATION

Never one to pass up the opportunity of doing his own death-defying stunts, Tom Cruise swaps Dubai tower-abseilling for dangling from a plane during take off in M:I number five. Billed as "the most impossible mission yet", Ethan Hunt and the gang take on the Syndicate; an international organisation dedicated to destroying the IMF. This new mission, should you choose to see it, commences July 30 .

RELEASED: Now Showing DIRECTOR: Alan Taylor CAST: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Emilia Clarke, Jai Courtney RATING: M

TERMINATOR GENISYS

The new Terminator film opens with a bang and ends with a whimper.

T he first hour of Terminator Genisys is a full- throttle action machine that smashes and mashes up the events of The Terminator and T2 in an alternate timeline that rewrites the series’ mythology. The machines rise, John Connor (Jason Clarke) sends Kyle Reese (Jai Courtney) back in time to 1984 to protect his mother Sarah ( Game of Thrones ’ Emilia Clarke), and the T-800 (Arnold Schwarzenegger) arrives in a crater beside a garbage truck. So far, so direct remake of James Cameron’s original. But when another Schwarzenegger Terminator shows up along with a liquid metal T-1000, and it’s Sarah who tells Reese to “come with me if you want to live”, we’re suddenly in exciting new territory. It’s The Terminator , but not as we know it. Something went wrong in the future the moment Reese was sent back in time, leaving him with memories of a childhood he doesn’t recall. In this parallel timeline, Arnie’s Terminator – nicknamed "Pops" – has been Sarah’s guardian since she was a child, and Judgement Day is now set to occur two decades later in 2017. This necessitates another time jump into a future where Skynet is now a global operating system called Genisys, poised to go online in a matter of hours, and a new model nano- Terminator pursues our heroes as they attempt to destroy Cyberdyne Systems. Something also goes wrong with Terminator Genisys following this second trip through time; the fantastic potential of the first hour is left behind in the past and the film quickly begins to resemble the lesser sequels, Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines and Terminator Salvation . Unlike the Star Trek reboot, which rewrote its own timeline but still retained its

foundations, Laeta Kalogridis and Patrick Lussier’s revisionist screenplay detours so far from the original concept, it becomes a temporal paradox. Even fans well versed in time travel and Terminator lore will struggle to keep up – and eventually cease to care. Arnold slips back into his signature role as though he’s never been away – “I’m old, not obsolete” is his new catchphrase (yes, Terminator flesh does age) – and his presence does validate this as a legitimate Terminator film. And while Emilia Clarke’s Sarah and Jai Courtney’s Reese are well cast and up to the physical challenge of their roles, they lack the intensity required of these characters. Director Alan Taylor, having helmed a couple of Game of Thrones episodes as well as Thor: The Dark World , is proficient at staging the massive action set-pieces, but the Marvel school of filmmaking continues to permeate today’s blockbusters – the showdown between Schwarzenegger and the new Terminator is indistinguishable from a battle between Ultron, Iron Man, Hulk et al. Arnie might be back, but James Cameron is sorely missed. Scott Hocking

The fourth movie to feature Marvel's awesome foursome already looks like it's going to be the best (although the Silver Surfer one was kind of ok). Flame on and clobberin' time Aug 6 . FANTASTIC FOUR

Guy Ritchie brings the sixties' spy series to the big screen, with Henry Cavill and Armie Hammer as the titular agents sent to infiltrate an international crime organisation hellbent on global destruction. Out Aug 13 . THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E.

A dying billionaire (Ben Kingsley) transfers his consciousness into the body of a younger man (Ryan Reynolds). But of course "immortality has some side effects". Find out what they are on July 23 . SELF/LESS

AUGUST 2015 JB Hi-Fi www.jbhifi.com.au

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