Reviews

Let me first say that this movie was by far a lot better than what T4 was supposed to be. In this movie I at least appreciate that the plot tries to be a terminator script at heart, but sadly enough not a good one because this movie has so... many.... plot holes and redcons that it's almost a joke at this point.

The Terminator movies were never supposed to be about complex timelines, multidimensional timeloops and what not. Keeping up with the story here is actually a complex task by itself and goes against what the franchise (T1 and T2) stood for. I had hope for the first act of the movie until it tried to become something that it shouldn't be. I can forgive this movie for its complex plot, however what i can't forgive is the whole second act of this movie where John Connor turns out to be the bad guy (which would be a spoiler if it wasn't literally shown in the trailer of the movie) which brings me to the following: The absolute miscast of the cast in this movie.

If you want to play on nostalgia by returning to the first movie and re-use its premise, then at least get the original cast back together or make a reboot or something. Seeing Jai Courtney casted as Kyle Reese just hurts to watch. I absolutely adore Emilia Clark, but boy did she do a poor job at playing Sarrah Connor. Sarrah Connor is supposed to be this emotional killer woman and instead we get an angry girl scout. Emilia Clark isn't a bad actress in my opinion, she is just horribly miscast. Now I don't know much about Jason Clark's work, but all I know is that he makes for a bad John Connor, perhaps worse than Batman 'always angry' Christian Bale in T4

Which makes me think, James Cameron laid the foundation of an interesting sci fi world which still had a lot of untapped potential so why does every movie have to be about John Connor? Why limit yourself by extending an already finished story 5 times if there is still a whole world left to explore?

Oh and before I forget to mention, stop making PG-13 terminator movies, it doesn't work.

At Least there are some good things in this movie if you just turn your brain off. The action scenes in this movie are actually pretty good, they made this movie actually a decent watch. CG was a bit off at times (Looking at you CG 1984 Arnold), but for the majority of this movie the special effects and CG were pretty good and dare to say that the pacing was decent as well.

So. Why not give it a 1/10 and call it a day? Well, I didn't go into this movie with the expectations to view a good Terminator movie at all but rather a generic action movie with a coat of Terminator paint slapped on it, because that is as good as it gets for this franchise nowadays and with these expectations it did what it was supposed to do so: plain, simple entertainment which makes it for me barely a 6/10 but a 6 nonetheless, especially after the joke that was T4.

6/10 already lost faith since T3.

This is one of the few movies that got my attention by its outstanding poster design. A man walking in Paris with the starry night in the background. At first I thought this movies was about Vincent van Gogh for some reason and that the plot was about a man getting absorbed in his paintings (I'd still like to see a movie about that), nonetheless I was still surprised by the movie's plot, and in someway it wasn't as far away from what I thought it was supposed to be.

We follow Gil and his fiancee Inez on a business trip to Paris with the parents of Inez. They soon meet up with another couple Paul and Carol who were going to visit Versailles the next day and invited Gil and Inez as well to tag long, Gil however is not too fond of this idea but Inez stays adamant that it's going to be lots of fun and the couple decided to join Paul and Carol against Gil's will. We soon find out that Paul is an expert in everything Versailles related and is the the center of attention while Gil is casted aside, even by his fiancee Inez. After Versailles the couples decided again against Gil's will to go wine tasting, because of course Paul is an expert on wine tasting as well. After wine tasting the tipsy couples decided to go dancing, but this is where now tipsy Gil decided to draw the line, he was going back to the hotel by foot against the will of Inez who was sure that Gil would get lost, something he did a few moments later. As Gil sits on some stairs wondering where the hotel is he suddenly gets picked up by an old carriage which was on its way to a party. When Gil gets out he finds himself transported to 1920's Paris where he meets up with the likes of Hemingway, Picasso, Dali and the lovely Adriana.

The way that I like to interpret this movie is that it symbolises escapism, by using nostalgia as an excuse for the misery and regret of one's own choices and responsibilities leading up to the present. Where one's life often feels dull and meaningless in the present it's easy to look back and get stuck in a time that felt more easier, warmer, lively and eventful even though it's often a lie, something the movie beautifully portrays with these beautiful 20th century Paris set-pieces.

My biggest surprise with this movie was the excellent performance by Owen Wilson. When I found out that he was playing the main character I kind of gave up immediately but my shallow expectations were blown. Although comedy is in my opinion not the main focus of this movie, it does have some funny scenes and I can't help myself other than laugh at Owen Wilson's out of place wows. Also, seeing both Marion Cotillard and Léa Seydoux, both one of my favourite actresses, playing in the same movie is an absolute treat.

So why just 7/10? The thing with movies like this is that although it delivers beautiful scenery and dialogue, I often feel it is missing something. That doesn't mean every movie needs a plot twist, jumpscares or a high octane chase scene, it is just that besides its grasping concept of nostalgia it doesn't really have anything else going for it. I absolutely loved this movie but I was just missing the 'wow' factor.

So 7/10 an Owen Wilson wow.

I don't even know what to say here. What I saw here was not a Terminator movie but rather some weird spin-off Transformers fanfic. If you hadn't told me the title of the movie I would 100% think that the first act was straight ripped from Transformers 10 or something. I'm pretty sure my soul left my body for a while after the mega transformer terminator thing was shooting moto terminators out of its legs.

T3 barely got away with its many plot holes and it's quirky story just because of its ending. But T4 here extended the plot holes beyond repair. Instead of opting for some sort of reboot they had to extend on an already in-stable franchise after T3 cleaned house and added to the pile of rubble.

I couldn't help myself other than keep thinking the whole movie that Skynet was just messing around or something. Every person in this movie should've long been turned to dust by Skynet's power as shown in this movie.

Maybe the most disappointing thing here is that McG promised to stay true to the future described in T1 and T2, but with a PG-13 rating we should've known better. I was actually interested to see a Terminator trilogy about the future (something T3 should have been in the first place imo), but now I'm glad the other two movies that should have been made after this by McG are canceled because of the poor reception of this movie (but they were made by different directors anyway, so I guess you truly can't change the future, that's one extra point for T3).

I'd say that the acting wasn't as bad. Seeing an always angry Christian Bale as John Connor was a little out of place coming from T3 imo and I personally think Sam Worthington and Moon Bloodgood both did an excellent job with the cards they have been dealt.

If you expect a good Terminator movie, or a Terminator movie at all, don't come looking here. I'd rather recommend rewatching T1 and T2 or read the comics, because this is not a Terminator movie. It's a Michael Bay Transformers movie with some Terminator paint slapped on. The action scenes are bland, you have already seen it before. And the end is the most basic Hollywood good ending with sacrifice cliché you have ever seen.

4/10, please let the franchise die or let James Cameron make another one.

Let me start by saying that this movie is slow, like extremely slow. In some way I can respect it, and perhaps you get used to it the second time you watch it, but I couldn't help myself not to take a break every hour just to grab a drink for the sake of staying awake.

I think the concept of Solaris is amazing. After the movie has ended I was dead tired and went to bed immediately, but I kept thinking about Solaris and the way it explores consciousness, the narcissism of the human race and train of thought.

The ambient sound and overal soundtrack in this movie is amazing, especially in the second part on the spaceship. Although not being a horror movie, it sure does make you feel creeped out. Even though it felt as if nothing was happening 90% of the movie, it still keeps you on your guard that something might pop up.

Having said that, I would still not recommend this movie. Not because of its amazing concept or soundtrack but because of its horrible pacing. It's perhaps fair to say it's a product of its time. I've read that the taxi/car scene back then was perceived as a trip through the future (with Tokyo being to most modern city at the time) However the trivia stands by the fact that it was just kept in the movies just because filming in Japan at the time was very difficult and the crew didn't want to let all the effort go to waste. Whatever the reason was, I think it simply does not hold up in 2022. For the modern viewer it's just a car driving for 5 minutes. And it's not just that scene that had me placing question-marks. Sometimes you just stare out of a window or a piece of nature or someones ear for 5 minutes wondering what the hell is happening.

I respect what it tries to do and I do respect the way Andrei Tarkovsky has directed this movie. But if you want to explore the concept of Solaris I'd have to recommend the original novel written by Stanislaw Lem (Who btw wasn't a big fan of the movie, because he didn't write it about quote 'erotic problems in space').

5/10 beautiful concept and ambience but overshadowed by its horrible pacing.