I wanted to like Terminator Genisys. I did. I know it got slammed by the critics (26% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes), but I am a fan of the franchise. I even watched Terminator Salvation (a movie that Christian Bale should never have wasted his time with) a few days prior in anticipation of this movie. I knew all about the movie’s problems. I knew that fans of the franchise would, at the very least, be disappointed. I knew that many of the die-hards were upset with this movie. I had heard that it was confusing and difficult to follow. I knew that the trailer gave away the movie’s major twist. Yet I was willing to forget all of these things and held out hope that this movie could be more. I mean, this was the Terminator franchise. It couldn’t be worse than Predators, Live Free or Die Hard, or Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, could it? Those three movies were packed full of junk (especially Indiana Jones) and should never have been made.
Category Archives: Adventure
Jurassic World (2015)
It’s been 12 years since we last saw the Tyrannosaurus Rex tearing up the supposedly revamped dinosaur park in Jurassic Park III. While much better than the 50% rating it earned on Rotten Tomatoes, the movie signaled the end of the franchise. Gone were Sam Neill, Laura Dern, and Jeff Goldblum. There was talk over the last decade to reinvigorate the series, but nothing ever materialized. Then came the decision to call this Jurassic World rather than Jurassic Park IV and add all-new players to the game.
Had this movie been released in 2005 (to continue the pattern of every three years), this movie would have stunk. Even with its 2015 release date, it still could have stunk. But it didn’t stink. It wasn’t the original (93% on Rotten Tomatoes and $350 million domestically + another $50 million on re-release in 2013, not to mention the millions it earned overseas and through rentals). However, it was still very, very good. If this were the first movie with “Jurassic” in the title, it would have earned a higher rating than its respectable 71% on Rotten Tomatoes. With over $200 million drawn on opening weekend, it’s likely to smash any of its predecessors at the box office (by contrast, Jurassic Park earned just $50 million in its first weekend). Regardless, if the movie received a rating of over 65% fresh, it would probably do very well at the ticket office. I didn’t think it would do this well. But it deserves its positive reviews and its revenue. It was a very entertaining movie, and I recommend seeing it on the big screen.
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 (2014)
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 had a significant knock-on effect before it even hit the screen. And that was that the book was split into two movies. I have been having a big problem with this. It’s a three-series book. Make it a three-series movie. That’s what it would have been if the first movie hadn’t taken off and smashed the box office. I understand why the studios want to break the last book into two movies. I would do it too. But as a fan, a moviegoer, and someone who pays lots of money at the movie theaters, I have a problem paying an extra $12 when I don’t feel I have to. I know I am the exact reason for this issue. I saw the first two movies in the theater. I contributed to that astronomical gross that each of these first two movies reached. And it’s not The Hunger Games franchise that upsets me.
Divergent (2014)
In the mold of The Hunger Games, Twilight, Harry Potter, The Lord of the Rings, The Maze Runner, and other young adult book franchises comes the surprisingly good Divergent. A surefire box office success because of the successful book series, Divergent did not do quite as well with the critics (41%) as well as the first Hunger Games (84%), Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (80%), or The Fellowship of the Ring (91%), but was comparable with the other two. Interestingly, the Divergent franchise has the best cast of any of these movies, even though it is probably the least known. The franchise is four books, and we’ll get four movies from them.
Exodus: Gods and Kings
Exodus: Gods and Men was a movie I thought would be great, then terrible, and then okay. It ended up being pretty good. I am a massive fan of Christian Bale (The Dark Knight Rises, Out of the Furnace) and Ridley Scott (Alien, Gladiator). Bale has had numerous hits over the last decade. I’ve seen 13 of his previous 15 movies, and I’ve been a big fan of all of them. Once as reliable as they come, Scott has had some misses in recent years, most notably The Counselor and Robin Hood. Both of these movies should have been great, and both underwhelmed.
Bale plays the role of Moses. Say what you will about Bale, but he’s not afraid to venture outside the norm. He takes chances. I love him as an actor. In the last 5+ years, only a handful of actors have been better (DiCaprio, Pitt, Gosling, Gordon-Levitt, Michael Fassbender, Bradley Cooper, and Tom Hardy) come to mind. The traditional heavyweights outside DiCaprio and Pitt (Hanks, Will Smith, Washington, Cruise, Day-Lewis, De Niro, etc.) have dropped out of the spotlight. Others (Day-Lewis, Hanks) have fallen into the pattern of doing the same movie repeatedly (Tom Cruise saves the world, Denzel Washington saves a plane, a train, a subway, a boat from catastrophe, etc.). Others have gotten into the habit of just making movie after movie to earn a paycheck without the intent of making a great film (De Niro).