Expectations
I wasn't expecting much from Terminator Salvation, so I ended up liking it more than I thought I would. Harry Knowles over at Ain't It Cool News couldn't wait to see it and ended up giving it a rare pan.
But our difference are wider. Here's Harry:
I was 12 when THE TERMINATOR came out and thank God, my parents were the kind of awesome people that let me watch it. Now – that movie is all kinds of awesome greatness – but the thing that captured my imagination were those glimpses of the future mythology. [...]
When TERMINATOR 2: JUDGMENT DAY came out – I had purposefully stayed ignorant of everything about the film. I knew nothing. I was obsessive about seeing it – and I remember the giant ass line I stood in for the film. And while Robert Patrick was amazing with the help of ILM – I was left amazed by the brief glimpses of the future – that lone shot of a scarred John Connor with the binoculars. That reinforced the dream of John Connor and the Future War. I’ve been dreaming and chatting about the “Future” for a long time.
Wow! I couldn't have a more different view. When I saw Terminator, I was knocked out. It was low budget, but had tremendous imagination and relentless action. The only thing that sucked the life out of it every now and then were those boring glimpses into the future, but luckily they didn't last too long.
I loved the sequel, too, and the future stuff was, once again, best ignored. The third film was the weakest, but I figured at least it's still set in the present, so we don't have to waste time in some dull, futuristic landscape where machines fight humans.
So you can understand why my main objection to Terminator Salvation (along with no Arnold) was they set the whole thing in the most boring part of the epic. Terminator is about a killer sent back to try to change the future--throw this out and you've got something far less interesting.
posted by LAGuy @ 12:02 AM
3 Comments:
What nonesense. It's all in what you do with a story. The future stuff in the first two Terminator films is fine and does make you at least curious to see a bit more. When Reese is talking about how the first Terminators had rubber skin vs. the newer models which were indistinguishable from humans, I'm sorry, but that sounds exciting and scary. Or at least that it could be exciting and scary if told well. The present day stuff is great so it's not like you're feeling left out by not seeing more of the future. Maybe this new movie is no good, but the idea that because it's set in the future it's automatically not as entertaining as the present stuff is ridiculous.
The Terminator series follows a plan, and it's a good one. A killer is sent to the present with awesome power to kill someone to change the future. The latest Terminator is not a real terminator film.
Let's say you go to see a Batman film, and it's set in Ancient Greece with only a minor appearance by Batman. Would you say Who cares, as long as it's good?
The Batman thing is a bit off the mark. Batman has no history in Greece. If he did (and the public loved the character they way they do in our universe) that would be a fair comparison. I don't think such a movie would cause any outrage or even head scratching for setting a film there alone.
That said, all the crazy places Batman goes in "The Brave and the Bold" (outer space, underwater, Arthurian times) have very little to do with what most people expect from Batman and yet they are awesome adventures in which Batman is still being true to the character. I don't know if people would put up with that for a live action, big buget movie (or if it would even translate) but it just goes to show you that you can mix it up, even tonally, and still arrive with something exceptional.
I wouldn't mind setting a Terminator movie in the future if this movie were Terminator 2, not Terminator 4. It just seems like a natural (or at least perfectly acceptable)place to go. Likewise, if this movie were set in the present and good I wouldn't have a problem with that either, but it's possible it might seem tiresome/ burdened by formula at this point.
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