I was 15 when Terminator 2: Judgment Day came to movie theaters. It was one of the first movies I saw on the big screen and it left an indelible impression on me. The scope of the story and the special effects were fantastic. Very few sci-fi movies before 1991 captured the greatness of the genre, but Terminator 2 was one of them. I believe I was an official geek from that moment on.
There are many reasons why the first two movies were blockbusters, but the main one did not even appear in the movie. James Cameron directed and co-wrote the first two movies, the second of which raised the bar where the blending of story and special effects were concerned. Sure, technology versus nature has been a theme in sci-fi for decades, but in the terminators nature met its match—mankind met its match.
Then Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines was released. It was not directed by James Cameron and make no bones about it lacking his vision and subtlety. It did well at the box office but fans of the series were angry; they wanted a continuation of greatness from Cameron and instead got lukewarm results.
Now, the fourth Terminator movie is in full production. And again, James Cameron is not in the director’s seat. What does that mean for fans of the series?
What does director McG have to offer?
When Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines ended, the machines had won in the present. Nuclear war had come to Earth with devastating results. Only a few people would survive, one of them destined to become mankind's savior in the future. John Connor would bring mankind back from the brink of extinction; John Connor with his soon to be wife Kate Connor would build a resistance that would one day take the planet back from the machines. We caught glimpses of the horrific future they were to inhabit in all three movies but nothing concrete. That was mostly left up to the imagination of the movie viewer.
Terminator Salvation is the beginning of that horrific future, where machines rule the world and John Connor begins his fight. Terminator 3 was needed as a bridge story to where the movie studio wanted to take the series—into the future. Director McG, who is mostly known as a music video director and director of both Charlie's Angels movies and We Are Marshall, is helming the film, leaving much speculation if he can return the franchise to its storied beginnings.
The one thing I can say about McG is he is accessible. He posts frequently on his Blog where he discusses the movie's progression. He has also done an Interview with Quint over at Aint It Cool News where he talks about the movie as well. It seems he is fully invested in the project, loves the source material, and wants to make the best movie he possibly can.
Will it be enough?
Well, he has brought together a fairly great cast to begin with. Joining him are Christian Bale as John Connor. Bale rarely picks bad projects to act in; Anton Yelchin, who will play a young Kyle Reese, made an impression on me as Bobbi Garfield in Hearts of Atlantis; Sam Worthington, Moon Bloodgood, and Common, this last actor has been in several great movies recently including American Gangster; and Bryce Dallas Howard, who has been great in every role she's been in, will play Kate Connor. Apparently Arnold will not be back for it, but ya never know...
In other words, I have hope for this!
You can watch the teaser trailer that has shown before The Dark Knight! I like the feel of this movie just from what I saw in those short clips. Do you?
So what kind of movie are we going to get next year?
We'll have to wait and find out!
I know it's become almost balsphemos to say this around Terminator fans...but I LIKED T3. I thought it was a great movie and it sort of ticks me off that it gets bashed all the time. The actors did a fine job with their roles (except Ahnald who seems to get worse with every picture) and it had some good twists and turns in the story. The action was great and the big chase scene with the crane, ambulance, and other vehicles is one of the best scenes in the entire franchise.
McG does scare the bejeesus out of me though. If it weren't for C. Bale, I'd be really worried about T4. At least we have another season of the great Sarah Conner Chronicles to look forward to.
I think it was because I worked at a movie theater when I watched T3 and we had nothing to do all day but talk about movies-but I couldn't get past the movie's flaws. This is also around the time when I started noticing continuity errors, obvious foam blocks, and blatant support wires in films. There were just so many logistical errors in T3 that I couldn't enjoy the movie fully.
(My least favorite flaw being: a liquid metal terminator stole her hot red leather outfit off of someone, but the clothes then acted as maleable too, rather than as actual leather. There's a scene that should be awesome where she just switches her head and arms to be facing the opposite direction without turning around ... only the clothes switch with her.)
The writing on T3 is what pained me the most. It wasn't tight and it was all over the place. The obvious errors aside, the dialog was painful to my ears. The guy who played John Connor simply wasn't a very good actor, in my opinion -- or perhaps that was the direction he got.
I didn't mind the avenue the story took; as I said up above, it was a logical movie to make if the studio already knew they wanted to do the Afterwar. Ahh well... to each their own as they say. :) I still have great hopes for T4 though; I'm a Bale fan through and through and he usually does great projects.
Do you think the studio should have gotten Claire Danes again to play Kate?
The cast impresses me and the storyline always held a lot of potential. But McG? I know Charlie's Angels made a lot of money but the film is dreck, and that's being kind.