OVERVIEW: Called “one of the best action movies of the year” (Rick Bentley, The Fresno Bee), the thrilling new chapter in the iconic franchise TERMINATOR GENISYS explodes onto Blu-ray Combo Pack, Blu-ray 3D Combo Pack, DVD, and On Demand November 10, 2015 from Paramount Home Media Distribution. The film arrives three weeks early on Digital HD October 20.

“Arnold is back and better than ever” (Shawn Edwards, WDAP-TV, FOX) in the movie hailed as “the best Terminator since T2: Judgment Day” (Mark Hughes, Forbes). In the war of man against machine, Kyle Reese (Jai Courtney, The Divergent Series) is sent back to 1984 by resistance leader John Connor (Jason Clarke, Everest) to protect his young mother, Sarah Connor (Emilia Clarke, “Game of Thrones”). However, this time unexpected events have altered the past and threaten the future for all mankind. Now Reese must join forces with Sarah and her “Guardian” (Arnold Schwarzenegger) to save the world and stop the next evolution of Terminators. The TERMINATOR GENISYS Blu-ray 3D and Blu-ray Combo Packs with Digital HD include nearly an hour of bonus content, featuring behind-the-scenes interviews with the cast and filmmakers, including the director of the first two films, James Cameron. Plus, take an in-depth look at the stunning visual effects and jaw-dropping action sequences, the recreation of iconic scenes from the original film, and more.

The Blu-ray Combo Packs also feature a Dolby Atmos® soundtrack*, which delivers captivating sound that places and moves audio anywhere in the room, including overhead, to bring entertainment alive all around the audience.

SYNOPSIS: When John Connor (Jason Clarke), leader of the human resistance, sends Sgt. Kyle Reese (Jai Courtney) back to 1984 to protect Sarah Connor (Emilia Clarke) and safeguard the future, an unexpected turn of events creates a fractured timeline. Now, Sgt. Reese finds himself in a new and unfamiliar version of the past, where he is faced with unlikely allies, including the Guardian (Arnold Schwarzenegger), dangerous new enemies, and an unexpected new mission: To reset the future…

FILM REVIEW: "Terminator: Genisys" isn't so much a sequel or a reboot but a nicely done piece of big-budget fan fiction brought back to life in the most grandeur way possible. As a much needed or necessary entry in a series of movies about indestructible time-traveling robots and genocidal computer networks, it's pretty spot-on with having to satisfy the tech-savvy millennials of today along with the die-hard Terminator fans of yester-year. And Three decades removed from its original script, key roles have been nicely casted, while the movie efficiently and sparingly regurgitates some of its “greatest-hits” moments of its predecessors. 

Exploiting the narrative possibilities of time travel on a more vigorous and elaborate scale than its relatively self-enclosed predecessors, “Genisys” effectively returns us to the events of James Cameron’s “The Terminator” (1984), stirs in the action dynamics of “Terminator 2: Judgment Day” (1991), borrows the man-machine-hybrid plot device from McG’s “Terminator Salvation,” and more or less pretends that Jonathan Mostow’s “Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines” (2004) never existed…lol. Essentially, “Terminator Genisys” takes everything about the first movie and twists it into an almost paradoxical story within itself. And for a bit of nostalgia, it’s great to see Schwarzenegger back in action, having him utter all his famous lines as a kind of link to the past and a way to bring the Millennials along for Schwarzenegger ride. 

Because this latest release, tend to twist or morph some of the details of the first couple “Terminator” flicks, some fans may object to this alteration and see it as a negative aspect, but it’s actually immensely enjoyable, despite all the (what some would say is) messed up, confusing technicalities associated with time travel. The action sequences are fun and exciting, and there are a lot of throwbacks to the first two releases, plus some impressive special effects that allow a young Schwarzenegger to appear as another Terminator. 

Unfortunately, the opportunity to turn this into a cautionary tale about technology is missed out on in favor of a generic “let’s blow up the building” type of story. Quit a shame, really, considering how far along technology has come in terms of smartphones, the internet, social media, and so on since the first “Terminator” flick. And the movie does give us an enjoyably dumb crash course in time-travel specifics that explains how a “nexus point” can give rise to parallel timelines and alternate memories, opening a narrative wormhole that’s intended to justify the movie’s wholesale re-imagination of its material. (It’s roughly the same maneuver J.J. Abrams pulled off, though much more cleverly, in his 2009 “Star Trek” re-launch.)

Regardless of any possible short-coming the flick might have, this latest effort is a fun action-packed movie that is a far improvement over the last two “Terminator” films. Giving four and a half stars out of five here is probably pushing the envelope, but is probably deserved and should be seen in theaters with popcorn in tow.

BLU-RAY: The film is presented in widescreen in a 2.40:1 aspect ration preserving its theatrical format. The picture is just flawless. Not only the picture looks great in this release, also the sound it is good, a 5.1 Dolby Digital in English that provides a good complement to the picture. It also includes  English, French  and Spanish subtitles.

VIDEO:
Widescreen (2.40:1) 16x9

AUDIO:
English 7.1 DTS-HDMA, French-Canadian 5.1 Dolby Digital, Latin Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital, English DVS 2.0 Dolby Digital

Subtitles - English SDH, Spanish and French

SPECIAL FEATURES:

Blu-ray™ unleashes the power of your HDTV and is the best way to watch movies at home, featuring 6X the picture resolution of DVD, exclusive extras and theater-quality surround sound.

DVD offers the flexibility and convenience of playing movies in more places, both at home and away.

DIGITAL HD with UltraViolet™ lets fans watch movies anywhere on their favorite devices. Users can instantly stream or download.

Family Dynamics – Casting Terminator Genisys and how the actors filled some of the most iconic roles in cinematic history

Infiltration and Termination – Go behind-the-scenes to San Francisco and New Orleans in a first-hand look at filming locations

Upgrades: VFX of Terminator Genisys – Delve into the revolutionary visual effects behind the movie’s incredible action sequences