Convoluted in plot, plodding in pace and empty in purpose, Terminator: Genisys feels every bit the stale, watered down fifth instalment of a once innovative and thrilling action series.

The main concern many had about a new Terminator movie was the age of its, well, ageing star Arnold Schwarzenegger. Yet such a thing shouldn't worry, not when the likes of Sylvester Stallone (Rocky Balboa), Clint Eastwood (Gran Torino), and hell, even Helen Mirren (Red) have proven that age is not a factor when delivering an ass kicking performance.

No, good ol' Uncle Arnie is just fine here. The problem with Terminator: Genisys is everything else that surrounds him, with this Alan Taylor directed sequel/reboot dismally failing in its attempt to relaunch the Terminator franchise for a new, superhero obsessed generation.

The film begins in the year 2029, where amongst a post-apocalyptic wasteland of ash and rubble, a final push by the Human Resistance - led by prophetic John Connor (Greg Clarke) - against machine overlords Skynet results in a battle won, yet a war still to be fought when (as depicted in the original Terminator movie) Skynet sends a Terminator back to 1984 to kill Connor's mother, Sarah (Emilia Clarke). Connor's best soldier Kyle Reese (Jai Courtney, seemingly poised to star in every vintage action franchise) volunteers to protect her.

And with that comes the first fault in a film riddled with many: re-enacting scenes from a superior movie, of which James Cameron's breakthrough The Terminator is in so many ways. While the logic in doing so is to re-establish a new timeline from which this film can bastardise all of the crucial groundwork laid down before it, Taylor and company inadvertently leaves the film open to a comparison upon which it just cannot win.

It's second of many faults is the confusing plot structure. The best time travel movies are usually the ones that keep things as simple as possible, yet Terminator: Genisys is determined to throw curveballs just for the sake of it. Taylor had a very similar problem in Thor: The Dark World, with too many time-centric twists never fully explained, resulting in a convoluted mess that robs the film of the one element that made the original Terminator films so exciting: the stakes in play.

In the second (and best) Terminator movie there is that now iconic scene of California laid to waste by a nuclear bomb. That scene alone -frightening, brutal, serious - summed up what was at stake if the machines won, resulting in an intense urge for the humans to win. Terminator: Genisys sorely lacks that grit, that edge. It's a reheat of original masterpieces, yet instead of deconstructed and pieced back together with care and heart it's merely zapped in a microwave, visually edible yet lacking taste and nutrition upon sample.

Outside of Schwarzenegger none of the actors bring much to their roles. Tis a shame, but not wholly unexpected. Terminator: Genisys marks the fourth (Kyle Reese), fourth (Sarah Connor) and fifth (John Connor) time these characters are portrayed by different actors on screen, and with each new interpretation the quality has diminished. There is no power felt in Clarke's supposed leader, no heroic pull for Courtney's protector, nor empathy for Emilia Clarke's central, maternal figure in this whole universe. Zero chemistry is shared between all three.

They all just play slave to a film that plods along with little excitement nor reason to exist, really, save for a quick cash grab from a new generation fed a steady diet of superhero movies, which the makers of Terminator: Genisys so desperately attempt to cater to (gotta love their commitment to hiding the obligatory Schwarzenegger butt shot for that PG-13 rating).

In the end Terminator: Genisys feels less like an event picture and more an excuse to keep the franchise alive. When watching it, the need for the end of the world to come is overwhelming.