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030

AUGUST 2015

JB Hi-Fi

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REVIEWS

CINEMA

ALSO SCREENING

IN AUGUST

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

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE –

ROGUE NATION

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

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

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.

he first hour of

Terminator Genisys

is a full-

throttle action machine that smashes and

mashes up the events of

The Terminator

and

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

TERMINATOR GENISYS

RELEASED:

Now Showing

DIRECTOR:

Alan Taylor

CAST:

Arnold Schwarzenegger,

Emilia Clarke, Jai Courtney

RATING: