He's baaaak.....

Governator Schwarzenegger has returned to the silver screen in one of his most iconic roles. He even has several fights with himself, courtesy of ever-present Computer Generated Imaging, so we get two for the price of one.

As I watched this convoluted time-traveling behemoth, an old country-western song was echoing in my brain: "I'm My Own Grandpa." In fact, the  elaborate blather which posed as a quasi-scientific explanation elicited laughter from our screening audience.

Written by a team of screenwriters and directed by Alan Taylor ("Thor"), this familiar PG-13 outing takes us back in time as John Connor dispatches his good friend Sgt. Kyle Reese to 1984 to protect Sarah. The machines built to help mankind are also programmed to protect Earth. As they become sentient, they realize that Earth is most damaged by humans, so Skynet sets out to eradicate mankind. Thus our story...again... (Doesn't this feel a bit like "Groundhog Day?")

We see:

• * Emilia Clarke ("Game of Thrones" she's Daenerys) is excellent as Sarah Conner,  slated to become mother to...
• * Jason Clarke ("Zero Dark Thirty") as John Connor, charged with the responsibility to save mankind, but as we already know from previous movies in this series, he discovers a plot to prevent his birth which will change history! THEN things get complicated...
• * Arnold Schwarzenegger ("Escape Plan") is Guardian, the Terminator programmed to protect Sarah, no matter what. He emphasizes that he may be old, but he is NOT obsolete.
• * Jai Courtney ("Insurgent") is Kyle Reese; he has to save Sarah from Skynet with absolutely no idea where his efforts might lead.
• * J.K. Simmons (2015 Oscar for "Whiplash") O'Brien has followed this story for over 30 years but he drinks, so he doesn't have much credibility.

Naturally the CGI is bigger, louder and more spectacular. If you see this in 3D as I did, you'll be dodging debris and weapons during the endless battles. The ubiquitous humor is fun; the closest we come to nudity is a shadow on the wall; and we are reminded that clothing can't travel in time. Ahem....

Our audience had a good time and we noted that all of the pieces are in place for a sequel. Shocking!