Comments on: Terminator Salvation: An Open Letter to McG

By: The New Word

The New Word — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 05:13:53 +0000

Arnold is ’sort of’ in the movie. The naked guy picking up the gun in the trailer is actually pro bodybuilder Roland Kickinger. He was a regular on Howard Stern’s FX show from a few years back called Son of the Beach. Anyway, he was hired as a body double and they are CG’ing Arnold’s face over his because Arnie is not in that kind of shape anymore at 61. The Terminator (Arnold) attacks John in the factory. John is able to trick him into following him (John) into the Time Displacement equipment. John traps Arnold there and sends him back in time to be the Terminator from the original film. The salvation aspect has to do with John saving his own past so he’ll grow up to be the savior he needs to be. So it seems that he doesn’t just send Reece, he also sends the Terminator. John knows that Skynet’s creation and subsequent actions are inevitable. He decides to prepare the mother so she in turn can prepare him for the future.

My comments

Of course, this changes the first movie where Skynet sends Arnold back and older John chooses a man he knows to be his father (Kyle Reece) to follow that Terminator back through time before supposedly destroying the Time Displacement equipment.

I think this might tie in with T3 in the sense that we find out that the apocalypse was inevitable and that the main plan was simply for John to survive it.

There were too many ways in which Skynet’s existence could come about. The Sarah Connor Chronicles seems to follow this route as well with many different terminators either preparing for the period after the holocaust or helping to make sure it happens.

By: SPREAD THE WORD

SPREAD THE WORD — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 20:50:27 +0000

Many rumors are stating that McG is going to kill off John Connor and have the character of Marcus take John’s place. Spread the word!!! DO NOT KILL JOHN CONNOR!!! THIS WILL RUIN THE ENTIRE FILM!!!

The whole point of these movies is that JOHN saves the day in the future, not “Terminator dressed up as John”! And Kyle is much too young to be sent back by John, so you can’t have John send him (and the T800 from T2) back before he’s killed off at the end!

DO NOT KILL OFF JOHN CONNOR, MCG. IT IS NOT WORTH THE SHOCK VALUE. If “only three people know the ending”, but its been leaked, all the shock value is gone, and cheap little twists do not cover up for plot errors and massive series-wide faults! If you kill off John Connor, you’ve just killed the Terminator series as a whole. Do not do it. Your idea of a quick twist to shock the audience will NOT be met with applause, it will be met with confusion and outrage from the fanboys. DON’T DO IT. DO NOT KILL JOHN CONNOR OFF IN THIS MOVIE UNLESS YOU’VE TIED UP ALL LOOSE ENDS, THE WAR’S OVER, AND THERE’S NO TERMINATOR 5.

DO NOT KILL JOHN CONNOR.

Spread the word!!

By: Datan0de

Datan0de — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 14:25:12 +0000

Brilliantly put. Though I’m not as down on the Matrix sequels as you are, your observations are nevertheless spot on, both about the Matrix movies and where the new Terminator trilogy should be headed.

Your third point is particularly interesting. Since TS takes place after a nuclear holocaust it’ll be particularly challenging to have it seem to be grounded in reality. It can be done, but the connection will be much more tenuous than in the other movies. I hope that McG takes your advice and realizes that there’s still plenty of room for the characters to experience the “oh my God how can this be real?” shock factor. As Kyle Reese pointed out in the first movie, immediately after Judgment Day most people have no idea what triggered the nukes and have no idea that The Machines have risen up against mankind.

Oh, one small nit-pick: It’s “Connor”, not “Conner”.

By: 790

790 — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 04:45:43 +0000

I disagree Ali, what the first three films have given us practically writes T4,,, the prob is they want to stretch this out and milk it as a trilogy…

Connor knows that its because of his family that Judgement day happens, therefore the only chance for mankind is to destroy the time machine before Skynet uses it or builds it.
The harvesters are a horrible , Transformerish step in the wrong direction…

The way its looking is failure for T4,,,

By: CARLOS

CARLOS — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 00:13:57 +0000

I think this letter is incredibly on target. You are definetely in tune with what needs to be in a terminator film. Cameron bled his vision into a script then onto the screen and we felt every emotion and every desperate attempt to survive from the connors. Mostow didnt really capture that feeling in the third mostly due to the comedy which was unnecessary. T4 needs to be dark, bleak and make the audience believe we dont have a chance.

By: Ali Chughtai

Ali Chughtai — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 00:00:18 +0000

Great essay. I am extremely pleased that you are critiquing the outlook of the movie without a sense of bias, because that is unfortunately what all the ” haters ” are doing. I am being cautiously optimistic, and I really hope that McG can pull it off. It depends on so many factors, and this movie is one of the most difficult movies to direct/write/design in terms of characters and atmosphere. I hope that McG provides us a fresh movie which while it sticks true to the Terminator mythology, doesn’t become predictable in terms of its storytelling.

This is an extremely hard movie to make, and I can only have my fingers crossed as to McG making a great T movie and reviving the franchise. He has my backing