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beccatoriaOh, Terminator 4. WTF went wrong, bb?
MEH.
I won't lie. I had high expectations. Christian Bale plus all the awesome of the TV series had me seriously excited for this movie, which turned out to be utterly banal and uninspired.
Aesthetically, the future is, I hate to say it, perfunctory and boring. For starters there's sun and daylight, something I don't recall from previous apocalyptic visions of the future, but more than that it just feels too...fake-gritty. John Connor is dressed up like a marine commando with all the extra kit and gear. While presumably it's a massive deal, I really never felt the sense of terrible loss when the resistance lost a helicopter, or as if the two fighters they sent in to scout/escort the civilians out of that valley thing were a rare, rare and valued resource. The horror at losing two of the only fighter jets left in the world, you know?
They felt like a fully staffed, fully kitted-out military unit, in hard times, perhaps, but nothing like the way Kyle Reese in T1 - if I remember correctly - checks to see if he can strip parts from a freakin' TRUCK almost before he checks if his buddy's alive.
The whole thing felt like one of those commando army manly-man video games, you know? The ones all about being part of a manly, homoerotic elite commando unit who have Honour and Brotherhood but it's all code for feeling less geeky about sitting at home playing XBoX live and playing at being soldiers. It was like a testosterone-soaked fantasy with a veneer of "grittiness" (which amounts to a dirty filter on the lens rather than any actual grit or depth) so viewers will feel it's a "real" experience and therefore must be "deeper" than if they had, I dunno, plasma rifles and made-up swear words.
Possibly I'm picking up too much on that and feeling too pissy about that because the thing that REALLY pissed me off was how horrifyingly sexist this film was.
And in the worst possible way too. In that awful, it can't possibly be sexist because we let the girl punch someone and swear a bit to prove she's a "strong woman" and that excuses any sexist cliche we then want to paste on her.
There were, basically, three female characters in this film and two very minor female characters. I'll talk about all of them.
To start with, the little girl that Kyle was looking after - I think her name was Star? When the 7 year old who doesn't speak is your best developed female character you have a problem. And I liked Star and I liked at the start, she's running around helping Kyle survive and stuff and she's hella sweet. And the main reason she serves as an object for people to want to protect and worry about is probably that she's a kid not that she's a girl, but cynically I can't help but wonder if she was a little boy whether they would have given her more moments of plucky bravery like trying to shoot a terminator herself with a saucepan on her head or something. But...the point is, maybe with better context she wouldn't have bothered me. As it is, it pisses me off that, as I said, the non-speaking child c-list character is the best one we've got.
Kate Connor is...not a character. She's John's Wife. She just...wanders around the base being supportive of John, worrying about John, standing in the background with scenes with John, being vaguely medical on occasion, and then, the one time she's out in the field, as it were, she drops the wounded man she's tending to like a hot potato as soon as she sees her poor wounded husband. Again, I'd freak if my husband had a sucking chest wound like that, but this is literally the only thing she does all movie except asking someone else to knock out Marcus, oh, and apparently performing heart surgery on her husband off-scene. When I highly doubt they have either immune-system suppressors or a good way of ensuring that Marcus is even a tissue match, PLUS SHE'S A VETERINARIAN. And you know, having to use a vet as a medic is...one of those things that could make an interesting commentary on the post-apocalyptic world, but it's not like it's ever mentioned in this film. If I didn't know, I would have assumed she was a doctor.
THEN OH DEAR GOD. The character of Blair Williams is just painful. She's the "strong woman" who the writers, and half the viewers, probably genuinely think is a strong woman, and that in itself is painfully depressing.
So basically, she's a fighter pilot. Her character then turns out to be a 2-D collection of cliches for the first few minutes we know her. You know, being all "tough" like a guy to show she's strong and edgy. And okay, this film's standards are not that high, and I can buy that. AND THEN WE GET THE FOLLOWING.
Trained soldier Blair Williams, while changing out in the wastes, decides to leave her gun more than arm's reach away. She is then cornered by three would-be scavenger-rapists. So first off, I get that this is a real threat for women and in a post-apocalyptic world, perhaps more so. But in the insanely gendered world that T4 presents to us (aside from Blair we never see another woman soldier that I can recall and if so, they're like, tiny background people; none of the five generals on the sub was a woman or, well, anyone else), it felt gratuitous and like a cliched shortcut to, well, a bunch of icky things we're about to catalogue.
So Blair starts by making big talk about how she's gonna beat them up and I'm like, okay, maybe she'll get herself out of this. Nope. She takes down one guy and then the other two pile on her and start to beat her up. It's a fairly transparent and uncomfortable token effort at giving her a fighting spirit which a lot of people would probably claim makes her "strong" and then fall back on the literal truth that three on one is hardly a fair fight. But the point is that the film put the character in the situation in the first place and especially given the would-be-rapists reactions to her pugnacious attitude, it essentially slides into the yucky trope of, "I like a bit of fight in them." So like, that's one of the main reasons Blair Williams' character goes beyond pissing me off and starts venturing into territory that actually offends me is that a lot of the more vile sexist shit that occurs in her storyline is wrapped up in these lies, these things that I know if I say to a lot of people, they'll use as evidence it isn't sexist, rather than proof that it is and blatantly so.
So anyway. Blair, of course, gets saved by a big manly man.
Who she then falls for in like...thirty second flat complete with outrageous flirting and jokes about it being cold and needing body heat. Because nothing gets a woman hot and up for a lack of personal space like almost being raped.
THEN she compromises the safety of her base and everyone in it by freeing a potentially deadly machine. Now I know that it was the right choice in the context of the movie. And I have sympathy for the dilemma that the character was facing. But it doesn't change the fact that really we have no basis for why she'd be willing to trust this machine - when machines have spent most of her life trying to wipe out her species - beyond she WUVS him and apparently that trumps all common sense or loyalty to the people who are, in essence, her family.
THEN she gets wounded during the escape and is saved by a big manly man, only to be captured by John Connor - another manly man - to be magnanimously released by him instead of punished.
*cries*
I mentioned two other minor characters. They are - an old woman who is in charge of a small enclave of survivors and who silences dissent and orders her people to share food with Kyle and the little girl and Marcus. All well and good, sure she's in a position of authority, but also, the immediate response to this is a challenge to her authority at the point of a gun from a big manly man, which we never see the resolution to because everyone gets captured by robots. Also she's yet another stereotype - the kind wisewoman. Perhaps a less harmful one than "Failed Rape Gets Me Hot," but...still not exactly a ringing endorsement.
Finally there's Helena Bonham Carter. I can't remember her character's name. She's a crazy dying scientist and frankly, I love that Skynet looks like her if only because then I can imagine it looks like her from that Planet of the Apes remake.
As herself (rather than the Skynet talking head) she really only appears in one scene (and the Skynet Head only appears in one other and it's just...well it's not really a character). There are interesting things about her character; that one of the chief Cyberdyne computer scientists is a woman, in a film such as this, is in itself gratifying since that kind of desire - to built killer robots - is usually firmly portrayed as masculine.
While hampered by hamfisted dialogue, the prologue with Marcus and Dr. Helena Bonham Carter was without doubt the most complex thing in the movie. It was hampered by hamfisted dialogue but I did feel it was trying to say something complex, and more than that interesting about both characters. The way and reason Marcus sold his body to her, and her motives for wanting it in the first place. In a film with good treatment of women in other areas, I probably would have found this scene predominantly interesting and found any sexism in it to be a reference to the reality of the world; something we're supposed to incorporate into our reading of the scene and our judgements on what it's trying to say about both of the characters.
In this film however, I can't help but note that in her ONLY scene, the key emotional beat is, essentially, sexual humiliation; when Marcus sells her what she wants for a kiss, only to turn around and announce he wanted to know what death tasted like rather than any desire for her. The expression on her face suggesting she was hoping it was the latter.
So yes.
WOMENFAIL.
Also there is PLOTFAIL.
Because really, John, would it KILL you to say, "Please don't attack, there are civilians inside Skynet, I'm gonna rescue them, THEN we can blow it sky high?" Instead of some vague messianic plea to resistance groups who aren't even in contact with each other, not to attack for NO REASON AT ALL other than he asked?
And Skynet, really, you're a robot, you should be SMART.
You have Kyle Reese. KILL HIM. Okay, fine. I can buy that you want live bait. Perhaps you're not 100% sure that he's John's father, or even that killing him will prevent John's existence and you want to be sure and really kill your problem right now. Great. WHEN JOHN FINALLY ARRIVES IN THE BUILDING, WHY IS YOUR GRAND PLAN TO SEND ONE, UNARMED, NAKED COPY OF ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER AT HIM? Why not a squad? WITH GUNS?
Why were they even taking prisoners? Okay, sure, to lure John so that he'd have reason to believe that Kyle was alive, FINE, but the resistance aren't even SURPRISED that they're taking prisoners suggesting this is...normal now? What happened to the horrifying stories Kyle Reese told about how they kept only enough people alive to burn the bodies of everyone else and that's what all the fires are?
And this is without even worrying about the technical continuity details like the fact that when Kyle Reese was sent back by John Connor, Skynet didn't have records of Sarah's face or Kyle's or anyone's because the records were lost on Judgement Day, so presumably BEFORE that happens, they still won't know what they look like? I mean, I'm honest more willing to handwave those details but on top of a poorly thought-out plot they kind of suck.
A simple, "Huh, we're in a different future from the ones my mother told me about on her tapes," as I think we GOT in the trailer, but not in the movie, would have helped! But no.
Plus the weird, convoluted plot to get Marcus to bring in...someone he met completely by chance and who Skynet had no idea the location of. And if the DID know that and it WAS programming that should have been a hell of a lot clearer. I guess maybe their plan was just for Marcus to infiltrate the resistance and get Connor into the base after realising what he was somehow? I don't know. And that's the point. I DON'T KNOW.
Not to mention the fact that NOTHING HAPPENS in this film. The entire film is like...what the first twenty minutes should have been before we launch into the real meat of the story. I mean, really, what happens? John Connor becomes the leader of the resistance because everyone else dies. Kyle joins the Resistance proper. That's it. And neither thing happens in a particularly interesting or surprising way.
Which leads me to the other place where they suffered a serious lack of balls. The robots. I was disappointed that Marcus wasn't actually a completely manufactured Terminator because I think that it's a bit of an easy out - his brain is human with some tech bits and he has metal throughout his skeleton, but essentially, it's easy to justify a belief that really, he's the same guy just with extensive prosthetics. But I was also okay with that. True cyborgification is also fascinating.
And there was this one, glorious moment near the end of the film where I thought, OMFG, they're totally gonna save John Connor by using the Skynet facility to robotify him the same as Marcus! OMG OMG OMG!
BUT NO. Of course not. Instead we get belabored metaphors about the strength of the human heart and the one last true and fundamentally human thing about Marcus goes to John Connor in some hamfisted attempt at a theme.
There's nothing interesting about robots in this film. They aren't even smart.
So, what did I like? Kyle Reese. He was okay. And his storyline with Star and Marcus was definitely the best bit of the movie.
Thus ends my ranty review!
MEH.
I won't lie. I had high expectations. Christian Bale plus all the awesome of the TV series had me seriously excited for this movie, which turned out to be utterly banal and uninspired.
Aesthetically, the future is, I hate to say it, perfunctory and boring. For starters there's sun and daylight, something I don't recall from previous apocalyptic visions of the future, but more than that it just feels too...fake-gritty. John Connor is dressed up like a marine commando with all the extra kit and gear. While presumably it's a massive deal, I really never felt the sense of terrible loss when the resistance lost a helicopter, or as if the two fighters they sent in to scout/escort the civilians out of that valley thing were a rare, rare and valued resource. The horror at losing two of the only fighter jets left in the world, you know?
They felt like a fully staffed, fully kitted-out military unit, in hard times, perhaps, but nothing like the way Kyle Reese in T1 - if I remember correctly - checks to see if he can strip parts from a freakin' TRUCK almost before he checks if his buddy's alive.
The whole thing felt like one of those commando army manly-man video games, you know? The ones all about being part of a manly, homoerotic elite commando unit who have Honour and Brotherhood but it's all code for feeling less geeky about sitting at home playing XBoX live and playing at being soldiers. It was like a testosterone-soaked fantasy with a veneer of "grittiness" (which amounts to a dirty filter on the lens rather than any actual grit or depth) so viewers will feel it's a "real" experience and therefore must be "deeper" than if they had, I dunno, plasma rifles and made-up swear words.
Possibly I'm picking up too much on that and feeling too pissy about that because the thing that REALLY pissed me off was how horrifyingly sexist this film was.
And in the worst possible way too. In that awful, it can't possibly be sexist because we let the girl punch someone and swear a bit to prove she's a "strong woman" and that excuses any sexist cliche we then want to paste on her.
There were, basically, three female characters in this film and two very minor female characters. I'll talk about all of them.
To start with, the little girl that Kyle was looking after - I think her name was Star? When the 7 year old who doesn't speak is your best developed female character you have a problem. And I liked Star and I liked at the start, she's running around helping Kyle survive and stuff and she's hella sweet. And the main reason she serves as an object for people to want to protect and worry about is probably that she's a kid not that she's a girl, but cynically I can't help but wonder if she was a little boy whether they would have given her more moments of plucky bravery like trying to shoot a terminator herself with a saucepan on her head or something. But...the point is, maybe with better context she wouldn't have bothered me. As it is, it pisses me off that, as I said, the non-speaking child c-list character is the best one we've got.
Kate Connor is...not a character. She's John's Wife. She just...wanders around the base being supportive of John, worrying about John, standing in the background with scenes with John, being vaguely medical on occasion, and then, the one time she's out in the field, as it were, she drops the wounded man she's tending to like a hot potato as soon as she sees her poor wounded husband. Again, I'd freak if my husband had a sucking chest wound like that, but this is literally the only thing she does all movie except asking someone else to knock out Marcus, oh, and apparently performing heart surgery on her husband off-scene. When I highly doubt they have either immune-system suppressors or a good way of ensuring that Marcus is even a tissue match, PLUS SHE'S A VETERINARIAN. And you know, having to use a vet as a medic is...one of those things that could make an interesting commentary on the post-apocalyptic world, but it's not like it's ever mentioned in this film. If I didn't know, I would have assumed she was a doctor.
THEN OH DEAR GOD. The character of Blair Williams is just painful. She's the "strong woman" who the writers, and half the viewers, probably genuinely think is a strong woman, and that in itself is painfully depressing.
So basically, she's a fighter pilot. Her character then turns out to be a 2-D collection of cliches for the first few minutes we know her. You know, being all "tough" like a guy to show she's strong and edgy. And okay, this film's standards are not that high, and I can buy that. AND THEN WE GET THE FOLLOWING.
Trained soldier Blair Williams, while changing out in the wastes, decides to leave her gun more than arm's reach away. She is then cornered by three would-be scavenger-rapists. So first off, I get that this is a real threat for women and in a post-apocalyptic world, perhaps more so. But in the insanely gendered world that T4 presents to us (aside from Blair we never see another woman soldier that I can recall and if so, they're like, tiny background people; none of the five generals on the sub was a woman or, well, anyone else), it felt gratuitous and like a cliched shortcut to, well, a bunch of icky things we're about to catalogue.
So Blair starts by making big talk about how she's gonna beat them up and I'm like, okay, maybe she'll get herself out of this. Nope. She takes down one guy and then the other two pile on her and start to beat her up. It's a fairly transparent and uncomfortable token effort at giving her a fighting spirit which a lot of people would probably claim makes her "strong" and then fall back on the literal truth that three on one is hardly a fair fight. But the point is that the film put the character in the situation in the first place and especially given the would-be-rapists reactions to her pugnacious attitude, it essentially slides into the yucky trope of, "I like a bit of fight in them." So like, that's one of the main reasons Blair Williams' character goes beyond pissing me off and starts venturing into territory that actually offends me is that a lot of the more vile sexist shit that occurs in her storyline is wrapped up in these lies, these things that I know if I say to a lot of people, they'll use as evidence it isn't sexist, rather than proof that it is and blatantly so.
So anyway. Blair, of course, gets saved by a big manly man.
Who she then falls for in like...thirty second flat complete with outrageous flirting and jokes about it being cold and needing body heat. Because nothing gets a woman hot and up for a lack of personal space like almost being raped.
THEN she compromises the safety of her base and everyone in it by freeing a potentially deadly machine. Now I know that it was the right choice in the context of the movie. And I have sympathy for the dilemma that the character was facing. But it doesn't change the fact that really we have no basis for why she'd be willing to trust this machine - when machines have spent most of her life trying to wipe out her species - beyond she WUVS him and apparently that trumps all common sense or loyalty to the people who are, in essence, her family.
THEN she gets wounded during the escape and is saved by a big manly man, only to be captured by John Connor - another manly man - to be magnanimously released by him instead of punished.
*cries*
I mentioned two other minor characters. They are - an old woman who is in charge of a small enclave of survivors and who silences dissent and orders her people to share food with Kyle and the little girl and Marcus. All well and good, sure she's in a position of authority, but also, the immediate response to this is a challenge to her authority at the point of a gun from a big manly man, which we never see the resolution to because everyone gets captured by robots. Also she's yet another stereotype - the kind wisewoman. Perhaps a less harmful one than "Failed Rape Gets Me Hot," but...still not exactly a ringing endorsement.
Finally there's Helena Bonham Carter. I can't remember her character's name. She's a crazy dying scientist and frankly, I love that Skynet looks like her if only because then I can imagine it looks like her from that Planet of the Apes remake.
As herself (rather than the Skynet talking head) she really only appears in one scene (and the Skynet Head only appears in one other and it's just...well it's not really a character). There are interesting things about her character; that one of the chief Cyberdyne computer scientists is a woman, in a film such as this, is in itself gratifying since that kind of desire - to built killer robots - is usually firmly portrayed as masculine.
While hampered by hamfisted dialogue, the prologue with Marcus and Dr. Helena Bonham Carter was without doubt the most complex thing in the movie. It was hampered by hamfisted dialogue but I did feel it was trying to say something complex, and more than that interesting about both characters. The way and reason Marcus sold his body to her, and her motives for wanting it in the first place. In a film with good treatment of women in other areas, I probably would have found this scene predominantly interesting and found any sexism in it to be a reference to the reality of the world; something we're supposed to incorporate into our reading of the scene and our judgements on what it's trying to say about both of the characters.
In this film however, I can't help but note that in her ONLY scene, the key emotional beat is, essentially, sexual humiliation; when Marcus sells her what she wants for a kiss, only to turn around and announce he wanted to know what death tasted like rather than any desire for her. The expression on her face suggesting she was hoping it was the latter.
So yes.
WOMENFAIL.
Also there is PLOTFAIL.
Because really, John, would it KILL you to say, "Please don't attack, there are civilians inside Skynet, I'm gonna rescue them, THEN we can blow it sky high?" Instead of some vague messianic plea to resistance groups who aren't even in contact with each other, not to attack for NO REASON AT ALL other than he asked?
And Skynet, really, you're a robot, you should be SMART.
You have Kyle Reese. KILL HIM. Okay, fine. I can buy that you want live bait. Perhaps you're not 100% sure that he's John's father, or even that killing him will prevent John's existence and you want to be sure and really kill your problem right now. Great. WHEN JOHN FINALLY ARRIVES IN THE BUILDING, WHY IS YOUR GRAND PLAN TO SEND ONE, UNARMED, NAKED COPY OF ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER AT HIM? Why not a squad? WITH GUNS?
Why were they even taking prisoners? Okay, sure, to lure John so that he'd have reason to believe that Kyle was alive, FINE, but the resistance aren't even SURPRISED that they're taking prisoners suggesting this is...normal now? What happened to the horrifying stories Kyle Reese told about how they kept only enough people alive to burn the bodies of everyone else and that's what all the fires are?
And this is without even worrying about the technical continuity details like the fact that when Kyle Reese was sent back by John Connor, Skynet didn't have records of Sarah's face or Kyle's or anyone's because the records were lost on Judgement Day, so presumably BEFORE that happens, they still won't know what they look like? I mean, I'm honest more willing to handwave those details but on top of a poorly thought-out plot they kind of suck.
A simple, "Huh, we're in a different future from the ones my mother told me about on her tapes," as I think we GOT in the trailer, but not in the movie, would have helped! But no.
Plus the weird, convoluted plot to get Marcus to bring in...someone he met completely by chance and who Skynet had no idea the location of. And if the DID know that and it WAS programming that should have been a hell of a lot clearer. I guess maybe their plan was just for Marcus to infiltrate the resistance and get Connor into the base after realising what he was somehow? I don't know. And that's the point. I DON'T KNOW.
Not to mention the fact that NOTHING HAPPENS in this film. The entire film is like...what the first twenty minutes should have been before we launch into the real meat of the story. I mean, really, what happens? John Connor becomes the leader of the resistance because everyone else dies. Kyle joins the Resistance proper. That's it. And neither thing happens in a particularly interesting or surprising way.
Which leads me to the other place where they suffered a serious lack of balls. The robots. I was disappointed that Marcus wasn't actually a completely manufactured Terminator because I think that it's a bit of an easy out - his brain is human with some tech bits and he has metal throughout his skeleton, but essentially, it's easy to justify a belief that really, he's the same guy just with extensive prosthetics. But I was also okay with that. True cyborgification is also fascinating.
And there was this one, glorious moment near the end of the film where I thought, OMFG, they're totally gonna save John Connor by using the Skynet facility to robotify him the same as Marcus! OMG OMG OMG!
BUT NO. Of course not. Instead we get belabored metaphors about the strength of the human heart and the one last true and fundamentally human thing about Marcus goes to John Connor in some hamfisted attempt at a theme.
There's nothing interesting about robots in this film. They aren't even smart.
So, what did I like? Kyle Reese. He was okay. And his storyline with Star and Marcus was definitely the best bit of the movie.
Thus ends my ranty review!
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no subject
Date: 2009-06-08 09:09 pm (UTC)Congratulations McG, you've killed the Terminator franchise stone dead for at least 10 years. Probably longer.
I'm convinced the Fox execs were waiting until they saw a copy of this movie before they made a decision about the fate of Sarah Connor Chronicles, then when they saw the movie was an epic Turkey, they pulled the plug on the tv show.
no subject
Date: 2009-06-08 09:46 pm (UTC)I like post-apocalyptic worlds. I don't get many. It's not always Children of Men, either. But I don't care, I like them. A lot didn't make sense in the move. Like Helena Bonham Carter. I was really disappointed that she hadn't Terminatified herself and there wasn't a big Helena/Marcus showdown at the end. But there wasn't.
Oh noes! I don't know if I like true robots! Wait, I really liked Arnold's terminator in T2. Not great but I liked him. I think the robots scare me and there was something reassuring to me about Marcus that he had a human beating heart. Not as interesting but I liked him. :-)
no subject
Date: 2009-06-08 10:09 pm (UTC)Although the idea that FOX executives of all people might have had enough taste to recognise that it was going to be awful is in itself worrying. :(
no subject
Date: 2009-06-08 10:12 pm (UTC)Though this said, I think maybe one person I know who has seen it enjoyed the film, and even the mindless action fans hated it.
no subject
Date: 2009-06-08 10:20 pm (UTC)No, I'm glad you enjoyed it. And I definitely think that Marcus was the most interesting thing in it. I probably ENJOYED Kyle most, but Marcus was the closest they came to being interesting.
I'm convinced that the reason a lot of people don't find robots as interesting as they could (or in my opinion should!) is just presentation and the fact that stories so rarely do interesting things with them and instead make them boring which was one of the reasons I loved BSG and TSCC.
That said, I don't think that having Marcus be a human with robot bits is inherently less interesting. I think it has as much potential to be interesting as a total robot who is sentient/thinks it's human. Problem is I also think it's easier to shy away from the implications/do interesting stuff.
I think they were kind of doing okay with Marcus until the end when they didn't really...go anywhere with him? It's why I wanted them to half-robotify Connor because then there's all kinds of interesting questions about how much robot is bad, and what makes you a robot and stuff?
I was really disappointed that she hadn't Terminatified herself and there wasn't a big Helena/Marcus showdown at the end.
THAT WOULD HAVE BEEN EPIC AND I AM NOW ALSO THOROUGHLY DISAPPOINTED IT DIDN'T HAPPEN.
*dies of awesome*
no subject
Date: 2009-06-08 10:32 pm (UTC)the fact that stories so rarely do interesting things with them and instead make them boring which was one of the reasons I loved BSG and TSCC.
It's like aliens. I think that people are scared to make robots scary and alien. Because we create them and then it's all our fault. But that's what makes it interesting!
I think they were kind of doing okay with Marcus until the end when they didn't really...go anywhere with him?
Nope, they didn't. Maybe that's why he gave up his heart. He was expecting showdown/mebbe another kiss with Helena Bonham Carter and well, I guess after that he was like, "Well, my story is done now, here's my heart." And seriously, I'm not convinced that Kate the vet could perform a heart transplant, that it wouldn't reject, he wouldn't die of infection, etc, etc. Ah, my brain. If I keep thinking in that vein the next thing I'll believe that weak, infected John will or should get eaten by a lion. ;-)
IT WOULD HAVE BEEN EPIC OF EPIC. Becka, I tell you. I never watched the TV show but I think you and I could have turned movie Terminator world on its ass with kickass little girls and women. Did I tell you in my review I said that the strongest woman in the movie was Sarah Connor's voice on tape? I really liked the film but it's TRUE. :-D
no subject
Date: 2009-06-08 11:40 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-06-09 03:47 am (UTC)The attempted rape thing... arrgh. Well, at least we've moved from "man rapes woman = path to true love" to "man saves woman from rape = path to true love."
no subject
Date: 2009-06-09 06:45 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-06-09 06:48 pm (UTC)Maybe by the time OUR kids grow up and go see movies there will be romances with NO RAPE AT ALL! I'M SO EXCITED! THE FUTURE HAS NEVER SEEMED SO BRIGHT!
*cries*
*stabs things*
*hugs you*
no subject
Date: 2009-06-11 03:07 am (UTC)2. I want to throttle the controlling parties for allowing the director of Charlie's Angels and the writers of Catwoman to have at this franchise. T1-3 had stupd, cheesy moments, but, even though most people hated 3, it still had story and characters and so much to work with.How did they fail to see that and end up with this? And did they purposely avoid watching T:SCC?
3. I have to rewatch 3, but wasn't Claire Danes playing his future wife? Was Kate her name? And she was a vet? Assuming so, they kept some of the prvious storyline, but then didn't bother with the awesome concept that JOhn was dead and the T3 Terminator was working on her orders.
4. SC of T2 was overbutched for theatricality, but the essence of the character and her transformation into the powerful woman people looked up to was there. T:SCC softened her a bit and taught her how to be a mom, a bit. How do you go from SC being such a powerful female character and pivotal part of the saga, to Blair and Kate?
5. Your description of Star made me think of Pitch Black's Jack. And Newt, of course.
6. I still want to see it, though, despite knowing it's so disappointing. I am sure tehre are some useful ideas in there that can inspire my imagination. The nature of the Terminator timeline allows for lots of speculation and rewriting it into my own image.
7. Oh also, disappointed at the waste of Skynet as a characer itself. Again shows the ignorance of the creators.
no subject
Date: 2009-06-11 08:52 pm (UTC)2. I think we just don't understand that movies > TV. I mean it's a MOVIE. It couldn't POSSIBLY be worse than a TV show. IT'S ON A BIGGER SCREEN. *cries at the stupidity of the choice of writers/director*
3. Yes her name is Kate and while she's played by someone different she is in this. I still think it was a stupid movie that totally failed to make anything decent of her character, but since it's about how John ends up the leader of the resistance they at least didn't trash that storyline yet since it can still happen in the future. But as you say, even though T3 wasn't exactly great, there was the spectre of now!Kate becoming futureleader!Kate in the tradition of Sarah Connor. There was the spectre of a strong woman taking up the reigns both before and after the myth of John Connor. Which was...not referenced in any way AT ALL in this movie. AT ALL. She was just...a medic. They didn't even mention the fact that technically she's a vet and is probably not brilliantly trained for this. Which could have been an interesting character point.
4. *cries*
5. Good point, I hadn't thought to compare her with those characters, but yes, she's very much like them.
6. Yeah, I'd've gone to see it even if I knew how disappointing it was gonna be. And there were some nice bits. At times, Marcus came close to inspiring interesting questions and I liked Helena Bonham Carter. So I thoroughly recommend you go see it and appropriate like hell! :D
7. ABSOLUTELY. Cus, dude, HELENA BONHAM CARTER. It could have been so epic. *sigh*
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Date: 2009-06-15 06:26 pm (UTC)I believe this explains some of the FAIL.