Los Angeles, 1984. Sent by John Connor, the resistance leader from a future dominated by ruthless machines, Kyle Reese finds himself in the past to save Sarah Connor, John’s mother. But nothing happens the way he thought it would: met there by a Terminator, he realizes that history has been rewritten by Skynet when Sarah saves him from it with the help of a friendly Terminator. Their only chance now is to stop Judgment Day by preventing Genisys – Skynet in a new form – from taking over the planet.

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When faced with whether to produce a remake, a reboot or just a sequel, the makers of Terminator Genisys responded with an absolute solution: reshooting legendary scenes from the first movie to reboot the franchise with new ingredients, opening up a new temporal line that offers the saga all kinds of new possibilities. In the wake of the well-intentioned but failed Terminator Salvation, Genisys returns with the great characters developed by James Cameron – Sarah Connor, the urban setting, time travel. The result is a smooth, efficient and ordinary big budget flick that suffers from overkill on all levels. Engaging at the beginning, it devolves into a phoned-in plot, banter that doesn’t work and unoriginal action scenes, then overdoes it all with too much time travel and long-winded explanations. Nor does it reflect on the difference between homage and service to its fans. At least the movie is honest about what it’s doing, thanks mainly to its overall lightness, but, as witnessed by the awful Terminator Salvation, it is perfectly in sync with what the franchise has become: inoffensive and devoid of all its magic.