Xenu wrote:
I think it is hated on more than it should be. I mean it wasn't by any means a good movie but some of the ideas they had where pretty interesting. And the kid who played Kyle Reece was amazing, I think with a different director and the movie focusing more on him as well as the over the top violence terminator is known for it could have been a much better movie. I also liked the concept of the Terminators trying to kill him because he is John's father. I also liked how the ending set up for a remake of Terminator 1 (as long as McG doesn't direct it...)
It is heavily implied that SkyNet had set out to kill Kyle Reese, but why? I have issues with the script for Helena Bonham Carter's appearance as the SkyNet mainframe's persona. She made a statement along the lines of "You accomplished what we have failed to do for so many years...you killed John Connor! If SkyNet had failed several times along the time line of the first three films, Salvation takes place about a decade before the attempt on Sarah's life. SkyNet should just be learning who John Connor is, not already knowing that its future self would be making attempts at killing him. Even such an advanced A.I. couldn't do that.
My thoughts on Salvation?
It was cool. Not high in quality, but not horrible, neither. It's a movie I can sit back and genuinely enjoy without worrying about its setbacks. I had a smile on my face when I walked out of the theater. Cool effects. The story could have been better. For me they just timed it wrong, the story would have been great if it had been in a different order. Salvation was an alternate reality, thrown off track by Marcus Wright donating his corpse to science. That should not have been there, but it's tolerable. I hate reboots. Why not stick to the original timeline? Like I said, they messed up with the linearity. I wanted to see the rise of the Resistance. There could have been a lot more story from the beginning. And the beginning where John Connor first appeared, that was equal to a scene that could have been in a 90's comedy with the middle-manager being called over to isle 3 for vomit cleanup. Then to have the sort-of Jack Nicholson lookalike (leader of the Resistance) sit there and mock him for having believed that he was going to jump in and be in control. Very cheesy.
Casting was great, except for Kyle Reese. He's a good actor but just didn't fit the part. He might've if he hadn't been given a script that made him look like an idiot (the whole imitating the line "don't point your gun at someone if you don't intend to shoot it" from Marcus Wright was funny and got everyone in the screening room laughing including me, but it was still lame). John Connor couldn't have been casted better. He perfectly fits the description told to Sarah by his father in T1. He gained a lot of experience in the war and seems to keep his head in the right place, while still being sympathetic and caring towards his inferiors. Overall vibe is balanced as well. The type of character portrayed combined with the script is what we need in a lot of TV nowadays, calm and cool and more interested in the details instead of shooting first, asking questions later. Has a bit of insecurity about the way he treats the machines, but still is trying to get the timeline figured out.
I agree Marcus Wright didn't get enough story. All it really showed was the whole thing between him and that chick and before Reese and Star got captured, it was just him and Reese arguing.
The Star character was a waste of time and money.
Future films? The franchise was sold by Halcyon so a whole nuther production company will be developing it. But the new people are sticking to McGee's "JDay in 2011 and Connor going back to 2005 London and meeting Robert Patrick as the scientist developing the basis for the T-100 for which he would be the default template (which, in the Terminator universe, there is no default template), and meeting his mother who would join in a cat and mouse game with yet another new model chasing them that was pulled out of someone's ass.
For me, the Terminator series isn't about the machines. It's not about SkyNet, it's not about John Connor's fight for survival and the victory of the human resistance. It's about the entire human race who has been at war with each other since the beginning of our time and the fact that it takes SkyNet to bring us together. Certain Terminator characters such as "Uncle Bob" (Arnie) and Cameron play a huge role because it shows how two different types of beings with such contrast between them could learn from each other, and the way that concept is applied to the war.
And about Mutate's jokes, why argue? But I have a good guess at why it was brought up in the first place. It's a parody of the ongoing question about who fathered Connor before he sent Reese back, which is believed by many to be the dude who ditched his mother on that date, had that relationship continued.
02 Aug 2010, 10:51 pm
