Common Sense Media Review
By Jeffrey M. Anderson
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Good idea devolves into repetitive action, tons of violence.
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Terminator Genisys
Parent and Kid Reviews
Based on 13 parent reviews
Based on 42 kid reviews
Kids say this movie blends action and humor but falls short compared to earlier installments in the franchise, resulting in a confusing plot and mixed reviews on its appeal. While some appreciate the entertaining aspects and character portrayals, others criticize it for lacking the intensity and substance expected from the series.
- confusing plot
- cartoonish violence
- mild language
- mixed reviews
- entertaining moments
- character portrayals
Summarized with AI
Summarized with AI
What's the Story?
In TERMINATOR GENISYS, in the future night that John Connor (Jason Clarke) and his followers launch an assault on Skynet, they're too late, and the first Terminator is sent back to 1984 to kill Sarah Connor. So John sends Kyle Reese (Jai Courtney) back to protect her, but he unexpectedly arrives in an alternate timeline, where a tough, resourceful Sarah (Emilia Clarke) already has a guardian, a reprogrammed Terminator she calls "Pops" (Arnold Schwarzenegger). Armed with new memories from the time shift, Reese realizes that their next destination is San Francisco in 2017, where an operating system known as "Genisys" is about to launch. If they can stop that, they can prevent all the trouble from ever occurring. Unfortunately, Genisys has its own protector.
Is It Any Good?
The fifth movie in the series does well by ignoring the third and fourth installments, but after starting with a good idea, it devolves into a rather typical, monotonous shoot-and-smash fest. Far too much screen time is spent watching terminators shot at, bashed, dropped, and blown up ... only to reform again, with the whole cycle starting over. This might be fine if we hadn't seen it all before in the earlier films. And then everything comes down to a ticking counter, signaling the end of the world, that must be stopped.
Though Sarah Connor is a strong, resourceful woman, and all of the characters are appealing in a surface way (partly because of their familiarity from the earlier movies), they have little emotional draw other than the "business" they engage in between action scenes. Director Alan Taylor (Thor: The Dark World) keeps things looking good, but ultimately Terminator Genisys feels more like a business transaction than it does an attempt to tell a solid story.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about Terminator Genisys' violence. How did it affect you? Was it exciting? Exhausting? Gruesome? What's the impact of media violence on kids?
How does the movie handle the fact that the characters must time travel naked? Does the nudity seem sexual in any way? Do the characters present unrealistic male or female body types?
How does it feel that the movie essentially ignores the series' third and fourth installments?
What's the appeal of time-travel stories? How does traveling through time affect a story's timeline?
Movie Details
- In theaters : July 1, 2015
- On DVD or streaming : November 10, 2015
- Cast : Jai Courtney , Emilia Clarke , Arnold Schwarzenegger
- Director : Alan Taylor
- Inclusion Information : Female Movie Actor(s)
- Studio : Paramount Pictures
- Genre : Science Fiction
- Topics : Robots
- Run time : 125 minutes
- MPAA rating :
- MPAA explanation : intense sequences of sci-fi violence and gunplay througout, partial nudity and brief strong language
- Last updated : October 9, 2025
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