Nice To Meet You, Arnold.

In my not-so-short viewing experience with motion pictures, very rare cases have survived against the edge of my expectations.In a way, expectations serve as the higher bar spontaneously set yet to fail the high-jump athletes. However, in the particular case of TERMINATOR: GENISYS, the latest instalment of the Terminator Volume, pleasant applauses are well earned, to my surprise.

What is funny, or perhaps self-amusing, is that the theory mentioned above might have worked in the opposite direction, as basically all the marketing materials intended to pave a good way to release this movie, e.g. trailers and posters, have turned off my mere interest than otherwise - tacky bits are spilled all over the trailers and posters such as the no-brainer line of "I will be back", fire from explosions etc. However, to be objective/fair as I am well aware, those gimmicks may actually work for the targeting audience, with whom I am not involved.

Therefore, by the time I was literally THERE in the cinema as a good-hearted companion to my boyfriend who is keen on action movies including no-brainers (haha), my anticipation of two-hour boredom, if not suffering, was swiftly over turned as the movie gradually revealed himself (not in the Magic Mike way, lol).

My personal favourite of this movie lies, certainly, in how smart the story is created. - The highlights, or outstanding features, of its predecessors have been well integrated to revive this new instalment. With no intention to spoil the fun of the unknown for you, advice would still like to be shared that to watch or recap those previous episodes, especially the original one and two created by the master 詹姆士 Cameron, would contribute to your experience since the tributes arranged in the lated can be better enjoyed.

On the other hand, Arnold, the former Californian governor and the real Terminator star, shall finally take a breath and have something to be proud of, as the very "appropriate" performance he gives in this movie ought to be the best among the herd he made since coming back to the screen after leaving the office. Interestingly, it is not Arnold who has been changed or improved, I believe, but the excellent sculpting of his character (perhaps by the screenplay writer or director) that has made his performance very "adequate" to the story, via which his usual cons, such as the incompetence of natural facial expressions (sorry, not meant to be mean), have been flipped to flattering pros. Well done.

Plus, if my glance on the opening credit was not mistaken, Hans Zimmer is the Executive Producer of this movie (note: should be "Executive Music Producer" after fact check on IMDB), thanks to whom the score is righteous as well, at least not as disturbing as INTERSTELLA.

In a nutshell, TERMINATOR: GENISYS is a happy surprise worthy of your time and popcorn.