Terminator Genisys' Director Admits He Doesn't Understand The Movie

By Alex Leadbeater / July 7, 2015

Terminator Genisys doesn't make any sense. Not one jot. It's not that you can't provide answers to some of its more glaring plot holes (I tried my darndest to do just that, and just about succeeded), but that throughout its runtime the film shows no comprehension of what's going on. On top of the myriad of unanswered questions, there's absolutely no consistency to the internal logic. The film throws up three different types of time travel (the future is set, the future can be changed, you can have visions from different timelines) and they work together as well as Skynet and the human race. It's all so convoluted and unexplained that you have to imagine the filmmakers didn't have a clue what they were doing. In fact, you don't actually have to imagine. Interviews with the film's director, Alan Taylor, have revealed that's exactly the case; in short, the director of Terminator Genisys doesn't understand the first thing about Terminator Genisys. Talking with The Daily Beast, Taylor had this to say about the film's approach to time travel:

€œArnold has one of the most unpronounceable, impenetrable expositional lines in the movie when he says, €˜It€™s possible to remember two time frames when you enter the quantum field during a nexus moment,€™ and nobody has any idea what he€™s talking about. But yes, it makes sense. We don€™t expect anybody to get it - then Kyle turns to Sarah and says, €˜Can you make him stop talking like that?€™ It€™s a way to say, you don€™t really have to get this. If you want to nerd out, it€™s all there, I think it€™s coherent. But hopefully we can move on.€

Well, let's just say it; the time travel isn't coherent and it doesn't make sense. The reason nobody gets it is the same reason that Kyle makes that luddite comment - the film doesn't have an answer, even unwritten, to its intrinsic elements, so instead tries to handwave its way through exposition before chucking a joke in at the end (probably some variation of the one that Arnie smiles funny) to stop the audience asking questions. And that's not just me making grand statements about its trickery either. Taylor literally says in the same interview he used humour to try and distract the audience from the movie's plot holes:

€œMy favorite part is using humor to sort of skate over it. It€™s a way of saying, €˜You may not get this, but who cares? Keep going!€™"

Yeah, it isn't. It's more a way of saying "I don't understand this or the tone of the franchise, but I'm too deep in this sh*t to even start trying to claw my way out now." Perhaps if Taylor's idea of what's funny wasn't pulling out the Cops theme then perhaps it could have worked, but as it is it's just insulting to have the film mumble pseudo-science and pretend that's enough for fans to "nerd out". In my review I pointed the finger of blame squarely at the director, and in the wake of these comments it's even clearer that through all the studio-wrangling behind the production he simply sat there and nodded. Taylor clearly doesn't care enough to try and understand his movie. So why should you? Terminator Genisys is out now. Two sequels are planned, but don't hold your breath.