Terminator: Genisys, the fifth and inarguably worst instalment in the once beloved franchise, served as something of a "last straw moment" for a series of pictures that were once considered to be brilliant and are now considered to be the very opposite of that. The Terminator timeline has been muddled and confused for years, of course, but when Genisys landed earlier this year things got really, really dumb as the movie attempted to retcon certain films (ahem: Terminator: Rise of the Machines and Terminator Salvation) out of the continuity, in the process destroying any semblance of logic left in the franchise. Because Genisys makes so little sense from a continuity perspective, it's difficult to actually explain how its attempted retconning actually works. Essentially, the movie places the action in 1984 during the events of the original Terminator, but with an altered timeline (or something) that tries to pretend it belongs there whilst phasing out an entire two movies. And the filmmakers behind Genisys clearly lost any remnants of respect they had for the franchise whilst making the movie. This is a retcon to end all retcons, after all; arguably the worst and laziest attempt Hollywood has ever made to try and straighten out a messy chronology in its favour. Even now, it's not even clear what the retcon set out to do (or did). Like this article? Agree or disagree? What do you make of all these dumb retcons? Think they actually work? Let us know all your thoughts in the comments section below.
Sam Hill is an ardent cinephile and has been writing about film professionally since 2008. He harbours a particular fondness for western and sci-fi movies.