Arnie returns as older and wiser

Actor on reprising role after 30 years in ‘Terminator: Genisys’

LOS ANGELES: Arnold Schwarzenegger may be older but that doesn’t stop him from destroying his younger self, as he returns to one of his most recognisable roles in Terminator: Genisys. The film that was out in theatres on Wednesday opens a new chapter for the Terminator franchise, with a slew of new cast members joining Schwarzenegger, including Emilia Clarke and Jai Courtney.

“I said I’d be delighted to play the Terminator again, especially after 30 years of having starred in the first one, but we have to have a great story and a great script otherwise it won’t work,” said Schwarzenegger. In the opening of Genisys, Schwarzenegger’s aging Terminator comes face-to-face with his Terminator from 31 years ago. Thanks to special effects trickery.

Courtney said, “It’s very easy to underestimate what he’s doing with that character and what he has done throughout this entire franchise … because we see he’s a machine, there’s rigidity to it, but it’s carefully crafted.” For Clarke, playing out Sarah’s father-daughter relationship with the Terminator allowed Schwarzenegger to bring something new to his now iconic role. “He has brought new wisdom, new experience and a new sensitivity to the role that he is reprising of himself,” she noted.

The story follows resistance fighter Kyle Reese (Courtney) traveling back in time to 1984, the year of the first Terminator film, to save Sarah Connor (Clarke) from a cyborg humanoid assassin, the Terminator. But he soon finds the events of the past have already been altered, taking him and Connor on a new mission to fight the killer artificial intelligence entity Skynet, with help from Schwarzenegger’s older, greyer Terminator, Connor’s protector. 

Published in The Express Tribune, July 2^nd, 2015.

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