From a new T-1000 to a classic Schwarzenegger, here are the moments from the 'Terminator Genisys' trailer that give us hope.
On Thursday morning, we got our first extended look at the upcoming Terminator Genisys, and despite hesitations -- stemming from the last two less-than-stellar installments in the franchise and the weird spelling of "genesis" -- this trailer shows that there are a few good reasons to be optimistic about this grim dystopic thriller.
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1. Post-Apocalyptic Los Angeles- There are simply not enough big budget post-apocalypse movies these days. Sure, we got Mad Mad: Fury Road on the horizon, and the weird Insurgent trailer looks surrealistically promising, but looking out over a ruined Hollywood is making the Fallout 3 fan in all of us very excited.
2. Lasers! - Purple laser battles are so 1980s cyberpunk, but it still looks as cool as when they were used in the war scenes from the original Terminator.
3. Killer Crab Robot Things- This likely doesn't need further explanation. That robot looks straight-up insane. If they have those, it really doesn't feel like Austrian-based cyborgs are necessary.
4. Old-School Terminator Skeletons- First of all, this CGI looks flawless – which is not something that can be said of all the Terminator films – although it never occurred to us until just now how unsettling it is to see human teeth inside a steel skull.
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5. Nuclear Obliteration- So that's what nuclear annihilation looks like from an orbiting satellite. Have fun sleeping!
6. Emilia Clarke as Sarah Connor- First of all, it's weird how different Emilia Clarke looks when she doesn't have her Game of Thrones platinum blonde, Daenerys Targaryen hair. Second of all, it's weird how much she looks like the original Sarah Connor, played by the incomparable badass Linda Hamilton.
7. John Connor- The makeup for Jason Clarke's John Conner is amazing, but it looks less like he got in a knife fight with a cyborg and more like he fell into the grizzly bear habitat at the zoo.
8. Weird Pumping Iron-era Schwarzenegger- In the shot before this in the trailer, we get to see regular, old, former California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger – and that made us a little sad – but immediately afterward, we see this creepy 1970s version of Schwarzenegger and that makes us scared. It's a whole cyclone of distressing emotions.
9. T-1000 In Full Metal Mode- In the 1991 action classic Terminator 2: Judgment Day, the mimetic poly-alloy (liquid metal) T-1000 was played brilliantly by Robert Patrick. In Genisys, Korean action star Lee Byung-hun, best known for his work in the G.I. Joe franchise and Red 2, looks like he's upping the threat level even higher. Earlier in the trailer we get to see him bust out the iconic blade hands, but here we get a glimpse at what he looks like in full-metal mode. He basically appears the same as it did in T2, but that's certainly not a complaint.
10. Flying School Bus- That's not something you see very often. You have to give Terminator Genisys points for trying something extreme.
11. Old Man Schwarzenegger- Embracing the grey hair, Schwarzenegger delivers his famous line, "I'll be back," and then jumps out of a freaking helicopter and dive bombs the rotary blades of another helicopter. The whole trailer could have really just been the full-metal T-1000 and this scene on a loop for three minutes, and it would have still been incredible.
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Terminator Genisys smashes its way into theaters July 1.
If you simply can't wait that long to load up on your sci-fi action and your recommended dose of cinematic explosions, Avengers: Age Of Ultron hits theaters May 1, a full two months before Genisys. Check out the amazing trailer for Age Of Ultron below.
For more fun movie news and cautiously optimistic Terminator Genisys updates, you can follow Zach Seemayer on Twitter @ZachSeemayer.
