Terminator. For all the back story, reboots, future apocalypse stuff, it’s very simple at it’s core. Man vs Machine, with some cool effects and lots of smashy crashy bits to sear your eyeballs. That’s what we have here, evil molton-tar like, indestructible robots, good robots, including Arnie and it’s strongest card, Linda Hamilton. Here she’s knarled, militant, full on badass. She’s still the unhinged revenge monster, but she’s really the only thing that anchors this in a dusty world of car chases and super fast cut fight scenes. It’s storyline isn’t original, in fact it’s a carbon copy of its predecessor. That’s the angle, it’s happening again. Skynet is replaced by Legion, but the premise remains to wipe out the origin of the pesky human resistance. The trio of female leads works well, largely because it’s fun. This was always the strength of the first two films, it didn’t take itself too seriously and that’s what we have here with self referential in jokes and cheesy yee-haw dialogue. However as the film goes on, it all gets a bit much, overly sentimental and despite some typical blockbuster explosion heavy action sequences, I’m left cringing rather than smiling. It looked promising at the outset, but come the trope-laden finale, I was willing it to end, as it descended into lazy predictable nonsense and one bloody awful line after another. Yes it was fun watching Arnie being Arnie and Linda Hamilton reprised the role pretty well, but as they drive off into the sunset (what, you didn’t think the good guys were gonna die did you?), I’m left with the horrible realisation that the story is left open for more. Please I’m begging, no more. Terminate this before you do any more damage.
5/10
