Terminator Salvation, Benbot, zombies, apocalypse, cyborg, shotgun, cha-bert

Discussion (20) ¬

  1. Matt D
    Matt D

    Hey Tom,

    I’m personally looking forward to Terminator Salvation, despite that a guy calling himself “McG” is a very douchebag move (even if it is a shortened down version of your family name). While he may not be reinventing the wheel so to speak with this movie he might just make it his own.

    Personally Bale’s rant on set is going to have the same effect that having the Wolverine movie leaked did, it’s built up the press surrounding the movie. Personally I think Bale is perfect for the role of John Connor, he’s a pretty intense actor to begin with and I don’t know about you but if I was in the middle of a robot apocalypse I would be pretty intense as well.

    On a side note I read a review of the new Tarantino flick “Inglorious Basterds” and the general consensus was it’s ok but not your standard Tarantino fare. That’s another one I’m looking forward to.

    Anyways back on topic, I love a good action movie and as long as this has some semblance of a plot line and lots of robots and exlposions it will do good by me.

  2. totalmoviefreak
    totalmoviefreak

    I have no hopes for this movie to begin with since the third Terminator was stupid and this one doesn’t even have Arnold. Then after reading the review in the local paper which said it was an “epic failure” and gave it one star then reading this article, I know its going to blow.

  3. Dr. Halpinstein
    Dr. Halpinstein

    Is the name meant to be ironic? If so it is pretty good but he really needs to stop talking like a douche bag to be considered as anything other than “that-retard-director-with-the-douchey-name”.

    On the related topic of Christian Bale I am a big fan, the movie credits are pretty much all awesome and really well played parts. Equilibrium and the Machinist, Batman and the Prestige all great stuff. I think people would really have to stretch to name one bad thing (exlcuding stupid batman voices) that can be attributed to him.

  4. MrMighty
    MrMighty

    I really don’t think the rant is going to be remembered. Even if it is, I took a listen today and don’t think there would have been any fuss if Christian Bale wasn’t famous. I’ve gotten worse abuse at several of my previous jobs. Tempers flare then you get on with making things work.

    What most amazes me about this is they got Christian Bale to play John Connor. I can’t wait to see this movie.

  5. wren1313
    wren1313

    My hubby is taking the stance: “No Arnold, No Terminator.”

    I, personally, am not sure how I feel about the movie. I want to see it on the big screen because it is a action film with lots of explosions, but I’m beginning to think the whole Terminator concept has played itself out. Part of the Terminator draw was that we never got to actually see the future (much), and were able to use our imaginations a bit. I think this explaining/showing everything to death is a serious problem in Hollywood and we keep asking for it and eating it up in mega-million dollar doses. Just because we want the glowy thing in the Pulp Fiction box revealed, we were all a little better for having to speculate and discuss what it might be.

    Sorry, I got a little rant distracted there. Ahem, I will probably take my dose next week.

  6. FSugino
    FSugino

    ”I had people telling me, ‘Don’t do it, Christian. Don’t go with that guy.’ In a strange way, I like the fact that he keeps that name because it does him no friggin’ favors,” says Bale. ”But people hear it and they go, ‘F— him!’ People were telling me, ‘Christian, you’re too good for Terminator.’ And I’m thinking, I’m too good? I’m not a snob. I really f—ing enjoy watching a good action movie. Who do you think I am?!”

    I can’t wait for Christian to work with Uwe Boll on Zero Wing. Imagine hearing “All your base are belong to us!” in that asthmatic, scowling Batman voice.

  7. Steve
    Steve

    wren1313: You have a good point. That’s one thing I like about the way JJ Abrams thinks… he’s all about the mystery. His trailers are never revealing, they actually leave you wanting to know more, which makes you interested in seeing the movie. I watched a video of a presentation he did at TED that was awesome. I loved it, and there was also a great article he wrote in wired magazine in an issue he edited.
    You mentioned the example of the Pulp Fiction case… remember Ronin? What’s in the case!?! You never know… made the movie all the more intense, and the ending all the better.
    Mystery is a great thing that many movies lack these days. Perhaps people are eating up the “explain/show to death” because they’re all just getting really stinking lazy! Well, count me out.

  8. Steve
    Steve

    One more thought, still along those lines of the concept of the original movies never showing much of the future. It kept it mysterious and scary, but also you know the main challenge was John Connor not being prevented from growing up to lead the revolution. In the first movie, Kyle Reese tells us that the human resistance has pretty much already defeated the machines, that’s why the machines were trying to stop John Connor at birth… they already lost. So with this new Terminator movie… we know they win, is there really anything more than ‘filler’ between the points that the original movies already established? I kinda doubt it… but I guess we’ll see. As long as McG-tard doesn’t pull something like Star Trek did and try to use some time travel loop-hole to give him free reign to mess with the original story. Don’t get me wrong, that was GREAT in Star Trek… but I don’t trust McG could pull it off, or that it would work well in the Terminator story. After saying all that, I’m sure my wife and I will be in those theater seats sometime soon after opening weekend. Oh, I’ve thought of another example. In the first Matrix movie (I pretend the last 2 don’t exist) we never saw much of the machines or the network that ran the matrix and ruled the real world. That was great….. ok, I’m done.
    hmm, maybe I need that dose you were talking about wren… actually, make it a double! 😉

  9. wunami
    wunami

    Yeah, but James Cameron did not really “created something original and groundbreaking”.

    • Tom
      Tom

      That’s an interesting video, Wunami. And – while I think James Cameron is a raging ego-maniac – I’m not entirely sold on the idea that what he did was plagarism.

      He might have said he got the idea for the Terminator movies from a couple of Ellison episodes of The Outer Limits, but time-displaced warriors or unknown savior characters are not unique storytelling devices.

      I think it’s fair to say he was inspired by Ellison, but outright stole? I disagree.

      It’s kind of like The Matrix – an amalgamation of dozens of different concepts repackaged and sold as something new.

      Incidentally, Ellison seems primarily motivated by money…

      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mj5IV23g-fE

      He’s not entirely wrong with his criticism, but he doesn’t exactly come across as being concerned about artist’s rights first.

  10. Pete

    I almost think people convince themselves not to like McG. It feels a bit bandwagonish to me. I agree with him; if you can’t get past the name, that’s your problem.

    To be honest, I’ve read interviews with both McG and Bale, and I like McG more than Bale. McG seems to come off as very down-to-earth, whereas Bale sounds like a jackass. I won’t begrudge him his acting ability, because Lord knows the man’s got chops, but after reading several interviews with him I’m not planning on ever having dinner with the guy.

    And as far as Terminator goes, I’ve been looking forward to it ever since I read Halcyon bought the rights to the franchise. I know the first two movies are classics, and I won’t argue with that. But, heck, I love a good (or bad) sci-fi film, and I’ve been itching to see the Terminator movies move into the actual war between man and machine. I’ll be there this weekend with bells on.

    • Tom
      Tom

      Bale has a reputation for being intense and very method. I’m sure if he could do away with doing promotional duties for his movies, he would.

      But then, he could always choose not to be in movies that require huge marketing and promotion.

      I don’t think people hate McG solely for his name. It’s more of a symbol of everything douche-tastic they’ve come to associate with the guy.

      Take for example his challenge to Michael Bay in LITERAL dick-measuring contest over the use of giant robots in their films this summer. Even if he was kidding around, it was totally stupid to even bring it up.

      I think that, coupled with his involvement in high-gloss, superficial entertainment like Charlies Angels, Fastlane and his background directing music videos give people enough reason to doubt his artistic integrity.

  11. Jonas
    Jonas

    this one doesn’t even have Arnold?

    Do we know for sure that they never got permission to use his likeness for Salvation?

  12. wunami
    wunami

    Aye, I’m not necessarily sold that it was directly plagiarism. But I wouldn’t call it groundbreaking since it appears the ground was somewhat broken already if he mined some existing show for ideas.

    • Tom
      Tom

      Fair enough, wunami. Either way, I was unfamiliar with Ellison’s claims so… the more you know!

      Also +10 Men In Hats avatar.

  13. Richard
    Richard

    McG’s an executive producer on Supernatural, and I really like that show. Though I dunno how much influence he actually has over it.

    • Tom
      Tom

      Producers usually have very little influence. Executive producers, even less.

      Basically, they’re the people who put the money up for the show’s development. I suppose they could exert influence by pulling their support. But creatively, they contribute nothing.

  14. Manda
    Manda

    I think that Christian Bale has and continues to make good movie choices; he can’t only take Oscar worthy roles and actually make money, and I appreciate his willingess to do a range of different roles and movies. Plus, he’s got the Dillinger movie with Johnny Depp coming out in a couple weeks, so that should put him back in everyone’s good graces if Terminator sucks. I think he needs to be more worried about the choices in his personal life (like the rant you mentioned and the assault charges).

  15. Kayne
    Kayne

    My biggest problem with the idea of this movie is that it is meant to be a trilogy. McG was interviewed for a special that aired up here in Canada about “Salvation”, and he said the trilogy hangs on people accepting his new direction for the films.

    This tells me that we will not see the destruction of Skynet in this movie. The resistance will not win. The whole movie revolves around Conner being promoted to leader of the resistance…. I mean we already know he will become leader, so what exactly is the point of this movie?

    I’m guessing McG’s point is he can direct action and special effects. That is about all I can expect from this. Big bloody action sequences where we all know there is very little on the line.

    On the flip side, the “Terminator: Sarah Conner Chronicles” has established that actions in the past have fundamentally altered the future time-line. Perhaps there will be more at stake than I am guessing. Perhaps Judgment Days delay from August 29 1997 to sometime in 2012 will have allowed the machines to advance technologically far beyond what they were in the original 1984 film. Perhaps they are much more dangerous and deadly.

    It all depends on whether McG is the douche we all expect he is, or if he can truly become a visionary storyteller we all hope he could be.

    The Terminator franchise has a very special place in my heart, and I will see the film anyway. I just hope it doesn’t suck too hard.

  16. the last dj
    the last dj

    bit harsh critisism just because of a name! if anything causes the film to fail it will most likely be the writing, the timeline being shifted in a tv series a lot of people wont have seen and plotlines that contradict and embarras the originals. On the Matrix’s originality…well it doesnt really have any, its nothing short of a blatent rip off of Grant Morrison’s the Invisibles, though they shouldve stuck to that for the sequals.

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