Note: This is not an article about the set visits other outlets have already written about.
There’s so much bad talk about Terminator Genisys already that the final movie is actually bound to surprise many. It’s not gonna be a new T2 for the ages, or be as revolutionary as the original The Terminator, but there’s actually way more to it than expected. It’ll be to its predecessors as Abrams’ Star Trek was to its franchise. Genisys won’t be all that much like Abrams’ reboot, but it’ll have a similar approach of bringing in as much nostalgia as possible, while still going for fun and shining a whole new light on previously seen plots and characters. Personally, I’m looking forward to the new movie and hope it’ll turn out to be as good as Rise of the Machines. Yes, I’d prefer another James Cameron caliber entry like you do, but I can live with a fifth Terminator movie “only” being as good as Mostow’s. And you should too.
Now unless you’re a frequent reader of Terminator related communities like terminatorfiles.net, I have gathered 30 new (?) Genisys rumors and facts you may not know yet. There are of course some spoilers therein and even a big one at the very end — but I promise I’ll refrain from giving away too much. Hopefully this will give you a clearer image of what’s to come and why you need to see it in theatres. Please take it all with a grain of salt, though.
– There will be at least six different Terminator models in the movie, including a re-programmed T-800, a T-850, a T-1000, a Hunter-Killer jet, a tank with legs and a completely new model, the T-5000.
– The T-5000 is pretty much like an advanced model of the T-1000. Instead of a living liquid mass of mimetic polyalloy it acts more like a living cloud of nanobites. That is pretty much like an earlier idea they had for T3, with Vin Diesel becoming a gaseous T-1G.
– Just like the T-X could remote control machines by touching them (remember how she temporarily re-programmed Arnold?), the T-5000 can do this to humans.
– Emilia Clarke turned down Fifty Shades of Grey because of nudity concerns; don’t expect her to get naked in this. Okay, might not be the best argument to win you over (maybe if you’re against gratious nudity?)
– For the first time, Kyle gets to know about his parents. This leads to a completely fresh take on Kyle’s relationship with Sarah.
– Genisys is not a direct sequel to Terminator Salvation. It’s a standalone trilogy that basically could have happened way before the events of the first Terminator, or way after the events of Salvation.
– that’s why the initial title of this first new movie was just ‘Terminator’.
– Laeta Kalogridis and Patrick Lussier have already mapped out treatments for two sequels. They are not doing the Nolan approach of one at a time, but plan on telling a specific arc over three movies, with an agreed-upon ending.
– If Genisys is successful enough, two sequels will be shot back-to-back (and they won’t have the Genisys subtitle).
– There will be three different time displacement machines in the movie, and they’ll crudely explain how they work (lots of refrigerators!).
– The movie will show what happens if an object thrown into a time displacement machine isn’t coated in organic matter.
– If you have a problem with the time travel aspect, brace yourselves. There’s a lot of time traveling in the movie, and they don’t explain where everyone comes from or what happens to all them.
– Recent Academy Award winner J.K. Simmons plays a detective named O’Brien, and like Arnold you’ll see his character at two different ages.
– Genisys will come with 3D options, but hasn’t actually been shot in 3D. Still, as nearly every scene of the movie is highly enhanced with CGI effects. Expect a very well made 3D experience.
– You’ll see four different times in the movie: 1973, 1984, 2017 and 2029.
– Genisys is the name of a revolutionary app (which — of course — is Skynet).
– The future stuff will bring back the human concentration camps of Salvation.
– While certain characters use a time machine to go from 1984 to 2017, Arnold’s Terminator can’t and therefore just waits it out. As his human skin ages, this explains why he looks like a (fit) sixty-year-old.
– the T-1000 itself won’t be as prominent as Robert Patrick’s in T2, but the mimetic polyalloy technology plays an important part and will get even more important in the sequels.
– Yes, there are moments in which Sarah calls the fatherly T-800 “Pops”, but it doesn’t happen constantly. Arnold’s T-800 has some laughs but mostly he’s as least as serious as the T3 Terminator. In T2 we saw uncle Bob’s personality become more and more human over the span of just a few days. The new Terminator has been around humans for over ten years. Expect him be better at quips, but there’s no scene as bad as the stripper glasses.
– Schwarzenegger plays both good and hostile in the movie.
– This movie will be the first since the original to show successful Terminator infiltrators.
– Genisys is littered with references to the first and second movie.
– The production title of the movie was “Vista”, as in “Hasta la vista, baby!”
– Unlike Salvation’s use of practical sets, Genisys uses way more green screen and CGI.
– Schwarzenegger WILL be in the Genisys sequels, but his role will be quite different.
– Expect A LOT of action. I can’t stress this enough. Salvation had some dragging moments, but just like the first three movies, Genisys offers non-stop action with huge set pieces and spectacular fights
– As they knew they couldn’t replicate the same dread and tension of the first two movies, they chose to go for interesting twists and new perspectives. Yes, they try again to stop Judgment Day and the assassination of Sarah, but it’ll get a lot more important how the characters interact with each other and what happens to them
– Don’t expect the ending of the movie to significantly change the overall story, but the characters will have changed in a big way.
Sources: TerminatorFiles, IGN, and some inside sources.
The last one is a big one. I’m not going to directly spoil it, but there’s a major surprise in the movie and the next paragraph implies it in a delicate way. I’m not saying to whom it happens or when or whether it’ll only influence the sequels or if it’s really only a temporary thing, but you’ve been warned.
WARNING: BIG REVEAL AHEAD – HIGHLIGHT TO READ
Remember the original ending for Salvation? No? In the movie version, John Connor was mortally wounded and the cyborg prototype Marcus (Sam Worthington) gave him his heart, sacrificing himself. The original idea was wildly different though, with ballsy implications. John Connor was to actually die – and Marcus to get John Connor’s (Bale’s) face transplanted onto himself. It would have meant that the leader of the human rebels would actually have been a Terminator in disguise. Back then they didn’t have the balls to do that and scrapped the idea. Now I won’t go into details how, but Genisys takes that unused idea and does something very similar with it. Something really interesting that will obviously spark a lot of discussions, whether you like it or not. Same goes for the whole movie. Even if it doesn’t work out, it’ll be much fun to talk about the hows and whys. At least this is not a boringly safe Terminator Salvation.
Now what do you think of it? Did any of those possible reveals increase (or decrease) your interest in this?
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