Terminator Salvation Discussion Thread

Off Topic
81

Wait…this is REALLY bugging the shit out of me (someone please correct me here)…

SPOILER

When Connor jumps onto - throws himself, really - onto that platform to get to his gun, the Terminator jumps on the SAME platform, NOT too far from him, and Connor shoots that container of molten metal/lava…are you telling me he was TOO far away himself to worry about being touched by the molten metal? It almost seemed like he was FARTHER away then when he first landed there, and I couldn’t believe that.

Does anyone know what I’m talking about?

And why the FUCK don’t directors somehow ask a bunch of die hard fans for ideas? They really need to start doing that. Look at how awesome Iron Man turned out when Favreau did this.

MODOK is right, franchise went to shit post James Cameron.

82

[quote]Doug Adams wrote:
Spoiler

sen say wrote:

  1. The cyborg has to go through a ‘scan’ before he can enter the Skynett compound…we never see Connor go through this, or see how he avoids it. One minute he’s on the terminator motorcyle, then he’s climbing through the bridge, then he’s inside…

This one I can answer. When Marcus breaks into the facility he disables the giant turret that scanned him, allowing Connor to access undetected. [/quote]
SPOILER
Right, the first thing Marcus did when he synced was disable the security turret so John could gain access.

One more thing that kind of bugged me also was that I feel like the Terminators weren’t deadly enough. One scene that comes to mind is when John crashes the helicopter in the beginning, and the Terminator comes up behind him and… throws him.
I’m sorry, but if you’re a heartless dedicated killing machine of immense strength and power, you’re going to go straight for the kill and ripping off a person’s head, breaking their neck, putting an arm through their torso, etc… not throwing them.
There was many more examples of this in the movie.
Perhaps that would make it less interesting to watch because you couldn’t have fight scenes, but the way I’ve always thought of it, and the way it has been for the most part in past movies is that if a Terminator gets it’s hands on you, you’re pretty much dead; only other terminators fight terminators and live to tell about it.

I actually liked the “I’ll be back” line; maybe I’m just retarded, lol, but I didn’t see it coming at all.
I agree that Kyle Reese was cool; it was the same actor that played the pilot in Star Trek wasn’t it?

83

I thought it was a pretty good movie, but not great. It kept me entertained.

I can’t really nitpick much from what has been said already.

84

[quote]MODOK wrote:
Man, I REALLY wanted to love this movie. Been waiting for it for a couple years now.

I was hoping we’d get up close and personal with the Connors…really see this great leader and his wife and what made them so special. Develop the characters. Unfortunately the little Edward Furlong Connor at the arcade has so far been the most character development we have seen. The characters were just flat. Instead we get Marcus. Oh well, on to Transformers.[/quote]

Yep, the TV show blew away this steaming pile of crap.

85

I don’t care how many other “Terminators” Hollywood makes to milk extra $$. To me there has always been, and will always be Terminator and Terminator 2 only. The rest, is just bullshit.

86

[quote]Neospartan wrote:
I don’t care how many other “Terminators” Hollywood makes to milk extra $$. To me there has always been, and will always be Terminator and Terminator 2 only. The rest, is just bullshit.
[/quote]

Yep. I did like the TV show, butt hat seemd to me to follow the two movies well in plot and spirit for lack of a better term.

87

SPOILERS, SPECULATION, INTERPRETATION, PHILOSOPHIZING

I think a predominant theme in this movie is being overlooked. Yes, it is the case that Marcus became more prominent a character than John Conner in this movie, but this has purpose. Have you noticed that all of modern society is literally and figuratively attached at the hip to power of technology and mass communication/information distribution? Despite this overwhelming reliance on Iphones and other online implements and the information accessible through them, we still maintain our humanity. Odd point? Maybe so, but the benefit of massive access to nearly everything our race has discovered is at our fingertips, through machines, seconds away.

What I noticed is that Marcus is essentially the combination of the advantages of being machine and the advantages of being human. Wealth of knowledge with human compassion. This was shown best during the scene where Marcus tapped into Skynet. He had the human consciousness necessary to remove his machine-based motor cortex and the machine-like qualities necessary to explore the depths of Skynet’s information stores.

I think this speaks to the future of mankind. With biomechanists and neuroscientists working together to completely mechanize human limbs while still relying on the voltages delivered via efferent nervous impulses, with quicker and more efficient methods of accessing human knowledge (the internet) surfacing on nearly a daily basis, with the technology necessary to mechanize a human eye for use by the blind, etc. . . I see a combination of human and machine taking place in our current times.

I don’t want to turn this discussion into a philosophical discussion of the mind/body problem (I did that enough in Philosophy of Mind :stuck_out_tongue: ), but I do see the possibility for the human mind to interact with machines for desirable, human outcomes.

I believe this is the direction this series will take.

Another thing, Marcus died to fulfill the theme of machine failing at the hands of man. The heroic or villainous machine has, in the end, always died in these movies.

SPOILER END :stuck_out_tongue:

88

I saw it last night and thought it was a great movie and the direction the series is taking is encouraging. The big battle scenes were reminded me of the big battle scene in Children of Men. It had a chaotic and frenetic pace that kept the battles fresh and entertaining. The only time it became routine was the last fight. Which had a very familiar T2 feel to it. The machines were dynamic and very tricky.

SPOILERS

Why do the studios feel they have to reveal half the plot of these movies in the trailers? It would have been a much better movie I knew nothing about Marcus being a Terminator. The trailers made it very clear to me that he was a cyborg.

You guys who believe that Conner took control of that Bike terminator too easily have to remember that the humans got used to doing without, and are very good with everyday materials. Remember that Reese was able to make a pipe bomb out of simple shit he got from the supermarket in the first Terminator. So they know alot about guerrilla warfare.

Also minor gripe, Why does all Terminator showdowns happen in factories?? Like almost EVERY SINGLE ONE

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[quote]Pootie Tang wrote:

Also minor gripe, Why does all Terminator showdowns happen in factories?? Like almost EVERY SINGLE ONE [/quote]

In the first movies, that was literally the only way to destroy the terminators. Heavy machinery. By the third movie and now this one, it is more likely just an homage to the originals. That said. If you really want to get into it, you could make some interpretation about factories produce terminators, thus they are the only things that can destroy them…or whatever. But I’ll stick with my first statement.

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MAYBE SPOILERS***********************************************

I haven’t read this thread because it’s too long to hold my attention, but I give the movie a 7.3

Things that sucked include the cute little kid, the monologuing Skynet (helena bonam carter), the giving of the letter jacket scene–that shit was straight out of LUCAS. I was waiting for the slow clap to begin.
Also, the whole movie was a buildup to destroying skynet, but when they do they say skynet is still strong globally. They whole movie is like a buildup to the war, but it turns out to be a minor battle. big deal.

If the plot was just to save the humans at the skynet complex it would have been better.

91

Just wanted to say - I caught T1 on TV tonight, and it is really worth watching after having seen this newest one. There are a LOT of little things that watching the old one cleared up and/or made more interesting.
There are a lot more parallels between the 1st and 4th than I’d remembered.

92

Spoiler*******************

Cheezy at times, a bit of over kill with elements of all different action movies thrown together.

Without Arnold there is no Terminator.

Found it humorous that both leading male actors had smaller arm than me!

overall a very generous 6/10 stars based on special effects not acting.

93

[quote]MODOK wrote:
Well, in order to do that, you’ll have to see them send back Reese, send back the second T-800, have John Connor assassinated by the third T-800, have Catherine Brewster reprogram that T-800 and send them back. Which begs the question… if they have time travel, after the T-800 assassinates John Connor, why not just go back in time to right before he assassinates him ( travel back what 10 minutes?) and prevent it? Since we like sending people back in time and all.

Bottom line…after Cameron gave up the franchise it got thrown into the dump. I wish we could have seen what he would have done with a T-3.[/quote]

Just responding to the T3 continuity, it was said long before Salvation’s release that we are supposed to pretend that T3 never happened. The producers of The Sarah Connor Chronicles said the same thing before the show started.

Basically, you can ignore everything that happened in T3.

Seems like everyone would just like to pretend that T3 never happened at this point.

94

I liked it. Thought it was entertaining. Not great, but good overall.

I’ll be interesting to see the director’s cut at this point, as McG said he was planning on putting everything back in the movie for the DVD release. This includes Moon Bloodgood’s topless scene!

SPOILERS

I didn’t mind the marginalizing of John Connor. I like that at the early stages of the resistance, that people wouldn’t necessarily trust or believe him. If some guy had all of this ‘inside’ knowledge of Cyberdine and the Terminators, I’d be a little suspicious of the guy, too.

The T-800 cameo at the end made me happy. That got the biggest reaction out of the audience.

[quote]PonceDeLeon wrote:
And maybe I have Geek Alzheimer’s, but was Cyberdyne supposed to be based in San Francisco? I mean, I love it when a film mentions my (pretty much) hometown, but I don’t recall that detail in earlier films.
[/quote]

Maybe this is more of a Bay Area thing, and you might not be old enough to remember, but when they blew up Cyberdine in T2, that was filmed in Fremont/Newark. Perhaps setting Cyberdine in San Francisco was a reference to that. My friend has pics of Arnold going into the Newark Hilton from back then.

I think most of the action in the Terminator films was always set in SoCal. However, they did travel to Cyberdine in T2 though. Has it every really been established if they went North or South and how far they went? For all we know, they started in SoCal and drove up to the South Bay.

On another note, it’s all good Malevolence. All is forgiven. :slight_smile:

95

[quote]doogie wrote:
MAYBE SPOILERS***********************************************

I haven’t read this thread because it’s too long to hold my attention, but I give the movie a 7.3

Things that sucked include the cute little kid, the monologuing Skynet (helena bonam carter), the giving of the letter jacket scene–that shit was straight out of LUCAS. I was waiting for the slow clap to begin.
Also, the whole movie was a buildup to destroying skynet, but when they do they say skynet is still strong globally. They whole movie is like a buildup to the war, but it turns out to be a minor battle. big deal.

If the plot was just to save the humans at the skynet complex it would have been better.[/quote]

MORE SPOILER**

Salvation was supposed to be focused on Kyle Reese

First off, theres 2 more movies, so they wouldn’t just end it there.

secondly, theyre timing these new three Terminators in line with the previouse 2. and with the accompanying social commentary represented by each terminator.

the “future” or the “present” in this movie was changed by the arrival of the Terminators and Kyle Reese in the first two. Thats why Connor is expecting to see T-800 plans in the beginning but is pissed becuase he sees the production is already taking place, it was earlier than the tapes said it would happen.

Also, the arrival of Marcus was not in the tapes. And Connor is struggling because he’s not yet leader of the resistance, but was we know at the end now its shapping up to be.

they dont expect Marcus because in T-2 they destroyed cyberdyne. all the cyberdyne patents were bought by the US Military, Cyberdyne owned the company that did the experiments with Marcus in the begging, “Project Angel.” And skynet uses that to remake Marcus.

Marcus was supposed to represent humanity’s dependence on machines, and the frailty of humans.

Focusing on Kyle Reese tyes the movie into T1 becuase hes the hero of that movie.

the guy who plays T-1000 in T2 is going to be in the next movie will play a research scientist who is obsessed/focused on cellular regeneration, staying young, human obsession with fountain of youth ect, playing into how the T-1000 is built.

and skynet central being destroyed is the whole point. The Terminators are sent back in time

because Skynet realizes its going to lose and gets desperate, so if they can kill sarah/john conner/kate brewster, everything gets changed and it might win in the end.

Lots of tid bits though, the guys in the tower at the Skynet compound, Kate Brewster is pregnant, also with the T-800 program being disabled, presumably they were all destroyed in the nuke, or that the one in the end is the only one currently online/produced,

it will be interesting on what they do with T-1000 and time displacement becuase its already been confirmed as the plot of the next movie, perhaps Connor goes back in time instead of a T-800, to protect himself, meet his mom ect.

96

[quote]AngryVader wrote:

Basically, you can ignore everything that happened in T3.

Seems like everyone would just like to pretend that T3 never happened at this point.[/quote]

Just like Rocky V

97

[quote]PB-Crawl wrote:
doogie wrote:
MAYBE SPOILERS***********************************************

because Skynet realizes its going to lose and gets desperate, so if they can kill sarah/john conner/kate brewster, everything gets changed and it might win in the end.[/quote]

Right - I hadn’t realized this until I re-watched the first one - Skynet only sends back Terminators as a last resort, after it’s defenses had been breached and is basically about to lose the war. And time travel is apparently quite limited; only living tissue, no weapons, very few times, etc.

That’s cool that the next one will be about T1000 and that it’s the original actor; sounds awesome!

Again, I highly recommend watching the 1st one again, it will make you like the new one more.
Lots of little tidbits/throwback shots/etc.
For instance, did anyone notice that when Marcus gets on the dirtbike, he makes a seemingly unnecessary 360 skid while getting on it? This is a throwback; ALL of the Terminator movies contain a very similar shot (it’s usually Arnold that does it).

There is also nearly identical shots of the T-800 in the factory in the first movie and the 4th, close-ups of their feet walking up metal stairs, etc.
The picture John has of Sarah Connor plays a large part in the first movie; the tape that John listens to about Kyle Reese in the new movie is almost word for word the tape Sarah makes at the end of the first one; etc. etc.

98

[quote]MODOK wrote:
I didn’t like it at all. I agree that it was by far the weakest of the franchise. I thought I was watching “Road Warrior” for the first 90 minutes of the movie. It had ONE unbelievable special effect, thats its only saving grace in my book. I do have to mention one thing that me roll my eyes:

SPOILER ALERT*

A freaking heart transplant? In the middle of a MASH unit? And Marcus just happened to be typed for Connor? Maybe I am overly sensitive to it because we do transplants at my hospital, but it seemed very very silly to me. Here we are, living in post-apocalyptic america where they are eating COYOTE and haven’t had a shower in 8 years, but they can do a heart transplant in a tent. Yeah.

It sucks, because now I know that will be the last of the Terminator movies, and it sucks to end it on such a quiff.[/quote]

SPOILER ALERT*******

Rumor has it that the original ending had Connor dying and Marcus the cyborg basically taking on his appearance and becoming Connor, which would be explored more in the next movie (following the themes of what it means to be human). When this was leaked they changed the ending so it would remain a surprise. I agree the transplant was ridiculous and basically ruined what was going to be a decent movie.

End Spoilers******************

99

Obligatory spoiler alert

I saw ti last night and I thought it rocked. There were a few things that left me flat, like the whole escape scene with Marcus and Blair, the scene where Conner takes out the motorcyle terminator, the scene where Conner stops the termintor with the molten metal… Ugh, I mean really? and the ending heart transplant at a MASH in the desert.

But this was a non-stop thrill ride in my opinion, I LOVED the scene in the beginning where Conner takes control of the chopper. I was like “How did they DO that?”

MICHAEL FUCKING IRONSIDE… Who doesn’t just fucking LOVE this guy? It’s too bad he got killed, he would have been a great character for the next Terminator movies.

Helena Bonham Carter… Is still severely dickable.

Bale is an amazing actor. He really is on top of his game.

It was cool to see Arnie too, even though it wasn’t really him.

The guy they cast to play Kyle was kind of annoying, but it didn’t detract too much. I just didn’t like him.

All n all, good popcorn flick… Or raisinette flick if you are like me :slight_smile:

100

[quote]AngryVader wrote:

PonceDeLeon wrote:
And maybe I have Geek Alzheimer’s, but was Cyberdyne supposed to be based in San Francisco? I mean, I love it when a film mentions my (pretty much) hometown, but I don’t recall that detail in earlier films.

Maybe this is more of a Bay Area thing, and you might not be old enough to remember, but when they blew up Cyberdine in T2, that was filmed in Fremont/Newark. Perhaps setting Cyberdine in San Francisco was a reference to that. My friend has pics of Arnold going into the Newark Hilton from back then. [/quote]

Interesting!

Do you think it has something to with ILM - who I am sure was responsible for T2’s special FX - being George Lucas’s baby (right?)? I know he’s from Modesto, but I also know he got the idea for those white robots from Star Wars from these things off to the side of the Bay Bridge…damn, their name escapes me. I am sure you know what I’m talking about.

I know T2 took place in LA/So Cal. I thought it was cool that SF was mentioned, but hadn’t seen a direct reference to the city in earlier Terminator films.

Cool tidbit about T2, though.