In Contention

Tag: Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines

  • SHORT TAKE: “Terminator Salvation” (*1/2)

    Terminator SalvationI knew five minutes into McG’s cumbersome, misguided, lifeless “Terminator Salvation” that I would be writing a short take rather than a full review.  The film sucks inspiration out of the viewer in a staggering fashion.  It disavows intriguing ideas explored in the franchise to date and renders a potentially exciting re-launch of the material impotent and meaningless.  It is frankly difficult to give the film a whole lot of thought.

    This glossy new installment is splintered with the shrapnel of smart and at times visionary ideas, both narratively and visually.  But it has no idea which way is up.  It is a video game, not a piece of cinema.  It is the accomplishment of a filmmaker smitten with the work of people far more talented and far more dedicated to realizing something that endures, rather than something that capitalizes on pre-existing framework.  And it is a nightmare to anyone who cherished James Cameron’s now 25-year-old creation.

    And that might be a key statement.  Not everyone holds that creation dear.  And for them, a compelling film might be in store.  But I wanted more.  I certainly wiped my brow with relief in the summer of 2003 when Jonathan Mostow’s largely misunderstood “Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines” managed to bridge two philosophies under the same umbrella, but I knew something bigger and more thematically powerful was needed to recharge the dimming light on the “Terminator” series.  Something with a particular blend of creative ingenuity and allegiance was necessary.  “Terminator Salvation” substitutes confused storytelling for the former and eye-rolling winks and nudges for the latter.

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  • The Film Experience’s ‘Terminator’ retrospective

    Arnold Schwarzenegger in The TerminatorBefore I tear into McG’s “Terminator Salvation” in T-minus 10 minutes, I thought I’d offer one last sliver of positivity for those who, like me, love this franchise.  The always intrepid Nathaniel Rogers over at The Film Experience has been writing up a retrospective on the three entries in the series to date, with extended looks at the first and second films already up.  He’ll be getting to “Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines” in due time, though I don’t know if he’ll be including “The Sarah Connor Chronicles’ or not.

    Here’s his intro on 1984’s “The Terminator”:

    In March of 1984 when The Terminator began filming, the director James Cameron and the producer Gale Ann Hurd were no Hollywood heavyweights. Cameron was no one’s idea of a visionary (except for perhaps his own) and had only one feature under his belt, Piranha 2: The Spawning — auspicious beginnings! Hurd had learned the production ropes on B movies for Roger Corman. Cameron and Hurd intended for the dark, fast and cheaply made robot movie to be their calling card. Seven months later in October the movie premiered with only its deceptively simple premise (killer machine hunts woman) and Conan the Barbarian (Arnold Schwarzenegger) to sell it. The Terminator was an immediate hit, though not quite a blockbuster. It earned a Conan-like $38 million gross in its initial run (which I believe is something roughly in the ballpark of $90 million in 2009 ticket sales).

    As a franchise it was a slow starter but as a stand alone movie The Terminator was anything but.

    And on the 1991 follow-up:

    The Terminator cost 6 million to make, Terminator 2: Judgment Day would cost 100 million plus. The budget wasn’t the only thing exploding: salaries, visual effects, setpieces, ambition, and public reaction were all supersized. Yet for all of this exponential external growth, Cameron smartly kept his focus tight and intimate.

    Sarah Connor’s opening narration and the imagery of post-apocalyptic LA it plays over, both review the first movie and download Cameron’s game plan for the sequel…

    In other words, it’s more of the same… only bigger (we notice immediately by way of shinier effects and massive fireball explosions). This repeat template is familiar but it won’t be comfortable. We’re also going deeper. The story structure is varied only enough to reflect the passage of time. But what has that passage of time wrought?

    Check out each of the in-depth pieces over at The Film Experience.

  • McG talks ‘Terminator’ sequel

    McGI don’t think there’s a site on the net more trigger happy with the word “EXCLUSIVE” (besides maybe Collider) than MTV’s admittedly whip-smart, on it movies blog.  You take the good with the bad, I guess.  Everyone wants to claim morsels of nothingness for their own in this increasingly copycat coverage age of online journalism.

    Anyway, the crew over there recently cornered director McG on the possibility of a “Terminator” franchise beyond next month’s “Terminator Salvation.”  Bottom line, I really want this film to work.  I felt like I breathed a sigh of relief with “Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines” in 2003, which I quite enjoyed.  It felt like the franchise dodged a bullet.  I’ve already gone on about how much I love the new trailer, but it’s also clear that a PG-13 rating it’s troublesome to say the least, especially in a franchise that has been dominated by the R.

    In a nutshell, Warner Bros. has made it clear that money is a bit more interesting as of late than most anything else, and a PG-13 rating is likely to bring in a bigger audience than an R.  A tent-pole heavy slate of product has dominated the studio’s list of upcoming works while indie divisions have been cut loose and allowed to disintegrate.

    Keep that in mind as you read through McG’s comments to MTV below.  The bold is mine (and indicative of an obvious desire to see this thing reach “Dark Knight” level business):

    “If we have good fortune we have indeed planned out two more ‘Terminator’ pictures,” explained the director, keeping his fingers crossed that “Salvation” opens strongly on May 21st. “There’s an arc of story [in the new sequels].”

    This arc will be left open with the ending of “Salvation,” which will point to a “Terminator 5” film. “The ending is indeed elliptical,” McG told us. “And it challenges the audience. It’s not a happy little bow of an ending at all. The ending is tough and requires reflection, and in some degrees it bifurcates the audience. You walk back to the car and one person thinks it means this, and the other person thinks it means that.”

    As fans know, McG recently signed on to a film version of the Broadway hit “Spring Awakening,” and is also working on an update of another sci-fi classic.

    “I’m working on ‘20,000 Leagues Under the Sea’ out of Disney,” he said of the update of the Jules Verne tale. “I’m prepping that.”

    But if “Salvation” is a big enough hit, those other movies might have to wait until McG and Christian Bale reunite for the fifth “Terminator” flick.

    “I would never presume there would be another picture – that is up to the audience,” he explained. “But if the audience jumps up and likes it and wants another one, Christian and I have been talking about it and we’ll see what happens.”

    “You have to see how the film is received,” McG added. “And that’s in the hands of the fans.”

    I know what you’re all thinking: “McG knows what bifurcate means?”