Before now, one of Terminator: Genisys' most controversial developments was something of an open secret. Which is to say, none of the marketing had given it away, but everybody and their dog seemed to have read a draft of the screenplay on the internet. And you wouldn't have to look far to find a website that had scooped some element of the film's developments or another. Cough. Somewhere around the one minute and ten second mark of this 'payoff trailer', the veil of secrecy is finally ripped aside and this big twist becomes part of the movie's advertising. At least Paramount have reclaimed a certain amount of control over how this 'surprise' is being related. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0V1tCzsgy44 I think it's some of the other twists here that are the most interesting. In particular, the decision to fully equip and empower Sarah Connor from the off is a good idea - sending her back to anything like damsel in distress mode just wouldn't have cut it. There are enough new ideas being thrown around here that I'm very keen to see how Terminator: Genisys plays out in full. Will it stand shoulder to shoulder with Cameron's first two pictures? Probably not, but I doubt very much it will crawl around in the gutter like Mostow's either. Genisys will open in UK cinemas on July 3rd and US cinemas two days earlier, on the 1st.
Brendon Connelly has been a film writer since the early 90s, with time on the staff of Orbit Magazine, Slashfilm, Bleeding Cool, Den of Geek and many more. He's a long time teacher of film studies and practical filmmaking classes, and has directed music videos, commercials, short films and more. His favourite film is Terry Gilliam's Brazil, his favourite food is pancakes or crepes, and he tries to live his life by the teachings of Kermit the Frog.
