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Cameron had always been attracted to the idea of a future war Terminator film until he watched Salvation
- Thread starter Scullibundo
- Start date
Yo I completely checked out when Skynet had Helena Bonham Carter's face and it had the hubris to monologue its plan like a Bond villain.
I think a future war film still has potential, you just need a way better script and director. After Dark Fate there's no chance though
Salvation was probably the best directed, post-T2, Terminator. That pretty much sums it up. Good riddance to this franchise.
The intro future scene in Dark Fate looked horrendous. Basically sets up the rest of movie quite well in preparing the viewer for shit. THIS is what the people in charge think Terminator fans wanted. Linda deserved better.
The intro future scene in Dark Fate looked horrendous. Basically sets up the rest of movie quite well in preparing the viewer for shit. THIS is what the people in charge think Terminator fans wanted. Linda deserved better.
It would have been neat to have a future war film that looked like the T1/T2 versions of it
Seeing footage from T1 and T2's future wars always brings tears to my eyes. Why can't Hollywood seem to get the mood and vibe of these movies right even with millions of dollars spent on CGI? Every single movie we've got depicting the future war scenes after T1 and T2 looks like shit. Why they take place in day time with humans firing conventional weapons always bothers me. The Terminators with modern CGI don't even look scary. I bet you money that hardcore Terminator fans would support a Terminator future war movie that gets all the elements right from T1 and T2, the reason the recent Terminator movies have all failed is because they all get it wrong when it comes to depicting the future war.
Compare the trash we got from Terminator Salvation and Dark Fate to this iconic imagery and it's not even close...
I always felt the terminator future war should have legit been a remake of Saving Private Ryan. Less about John Conner the Messiah, more of him as a leader who has to make the tough choices and ultimately pushes Skynet to resort to time travel to stop their own doom.
Holy shit where was I when this was released! Its so gooooooooood!
I agree with Mr Sunday Movies that this mute fucker here is far and away the most badass future John Conner.
Never understood the hate for Salvation. Other than the weird timeline shenanigans with Kyle Reese, I thought it was a pretty cool look at a post war future. Awesome action sequences, great effects work...
Shitty acting, bad dialogue, boring story, poor pacing, convoluted narrative....
OP
OP
Terrible script that didn't make sense. Terminators that literally won't terminate their targets. Awful score. And Helena Bonham Carter as Skynet. Cmon.
Having watched the future scenes in T1 and T2, along with Aliens... I'm going to wholeheartedly disagree.
I mean, I feel like more than glimpses of that future would get really tiring. Like, the future as shown in T1 and 2 showed was fucked. So much so that it's insane to even think about humans winning that war.
They missed the mark on what was the most important thing, the story and characters. Also the aesthetic of the film was just, not what was shown in the series beforehand. It was like, the borderline opposite and turned a setting that in the brief glimpses was very inspired into something much more palatable and generic.
And not a single frame of CG anywhere in that opening. Still looks incredible to this day.It would have been neat to have a future war film that looked like the T1/T2 versions of it
Fact is, even T2 had a different-looking future than T1. In the original, Skynet's army was automated tanks and automated helicopters. Terminators weren't running around on the field shooting stuff like it's WWII. The Terminators were infiltrators, not infantry.
But in T2 all of a sudden you have all those skeleton Terminators on the field which is ridiculous because the tanks and helicopters are much more efficient.
But in T2 all of a sudden you have all those skeleton Terminators on the field which is ridiculous because the tanks and helicopters are much more efficient.
As bad as Salvation was, it could've been ten times worse, with two plot twists that make Genysis' and Dark Fate's look tame in comparison.
The vision of the future we got in the first movie was very, very limited. Time, budget, pacing, all that.
Yelchin was some inspired casting for a young Kyle Reese.
Also, didn't Cameron endorse this movie pre-release?
Also, didn't Cameron endorse this movie pre-release?
Didn't he originally claim to have watched Salvation over two nights in a hotel room and said it, "wasn't bad?"
When you set up a character as the chosen one military jesus whatever you eventually put on screen will be a let down. Not saying Cameron couldn't come up with interesting set pieces but the imagined version will always be better. Its like in the movies where the band plays the greatest song in the world. No screen writers is writing the best song ever nor is a director going to capture the infinity possibilities of skull beach + silent scarred John Connor. More often than not less is more.
Exactly. It wasn't a masterpiece by any means but it definitely was a promising start for a potential trilogy.
Yet, looking at the sequel plans the director had in mine, they were once again gonna do the whole time travel thing while mostly ignoring the future. A terminator director has yet understand that terminator movies do not have to be about time travel/protecting someone/chase scenes.
IIRC, he's said that about every movie in the series after 2 pre-release, then after the fact trash talks them.
Yep. Watching the opening of Dark Fate, I immediately thought "boy, that looked better 30 years ago..."
I think the problem with a "Future War" movie is that it would have been difficult to have a compelling antagonist, since it would just be a bunch of skinless T-800's and HKs running around.
I would have liked to see them do a Rogue One type movie that covers the mission to send Kyle Reese (or Arnold) back in time.
I would have liked to see them do a Rogue One type movie that covers the mission to send Kyle Reese (or Arnold) back in time.
A future war movie could have been/could be great. Just no one has done it right and the franchise is run into the ground now that it'll never happen. Even when I was a kid watching Terminator 2 I knew it was a retread of the first one and was already wishing for a future war movie.
McG didn't make that concept disinteresting, the idea is already completely disinteresting. I could do with a whole moratorium on war films for the next twenty years. What a lazy fucking concept and "tribute". I'm tired of the films, the games and the stories. I don't care if it's future bullshit or not. I'm very much done.
Facts. He didn't have to say anything. The look in his eyes said more than anything any other future John Conor has ever said.I agree with Mr Sunday Movies that this mute fucker here is far and away the most badass future John Conner.
Eh thats a shame. War movies are a dime a dozen for sure but the potential behind a Cameron directed grimy oppressive as hell future war flick is just....whewww.
Hell of a lot more exciting than the sequels we've gotten since 2. Sucks that McG was the one to make Salvation.
Hell of a lot more exciting than the sequels we've gotten since 2. Sucks that McG was the one to make Salvation.
Anyone else sick of Cameron shitting on other films to boost his current movie? That seems to be his only marketing tactic and it hasn't been working.
I thought those "zombie" Terminators towards the beginning of Salvation were terrifying and really well done.
They should've made the whole movie about fighting an army of those things through the ruins of civilization.
They should've made the whole movie about fighting an army of those things through the ruins of civilization.
Awesome action is stretching it.
Also for those who want to see what a Cameron directed future war would look like just go watch the final battle of Avatar. When I first saw that film one of the most prominent thoughts in my head was "I want more of this but with robots".
I re-watched Terminator 1 when it was released on Netflix and the entire future stuff has a very different feel to T2. Skynet seems a lot more low tech and there's a simplicity to the way the Terminator is designed and operates that's inhumanly terrifying.
The bit were the Kyle Reese is having that flashback to when Terminator shoots up the underground resistance base and it's just a pitch quiet as it murders everything as efficiently as possible, then becoming a silouhette with red eyes through the smoke is such an underrated moment.
It really hilights that these are explicitly things that exist to take life, and that the machines are ruthlessly efficient.
Thank you.
Why the fuck didnt they continue the night time setting? The night time future war is so clautraphobic. The day time setting is just lame in comparison.
Didnt Kyle say something about only moving around at night?
Salvation felt like a small skirmish against the machines rather than a full blown offensive as portrayed in T1 & 2's future war segments.
Hell, aesthetically, they look nothing alike. Where the fuck are my torched cars filled with skeletons and LASERS. Oh, and plenty of synth jams. Missed opportunity.
Hell, aesthetically, they look nothing alike. Where the fuck are my torched cars filled with skeletons and LASERS. Oh, and plenty of synth jams. Missed opportunity.
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I may be mistaken, but the people asking about lasers in salvation, wasn't that before those weapons were invented? Like the terminators you see in salvation until the end act with Arnold are not t-800s, but older models? I think like the terminator when you first run into Kyle Reese was a t-600?
like the t-800 at the end is when you see that conventional weapons no longer work.
like the t-800 at the end is when you see that conventional weapons no longer work.
They're my favorite parts of the films by a mile, and that's saying something. That scene when Reese goes down in the basement, the kids watching the burning TV...It would have been neat to have a future war film that looked like the T1/T2 versions of it
Nothing modern will ever touch that. But it's probably so evocative because it's used in small doses.
A Cameron future war would've been some Dark-style incredible shit
Naw he's not that good.
Wait, not even the purple laser thingies? What did they use for that?
Painted them onto the film, I think. That's how the OT Star Wars films did it.
This.
Lazors aren't realistic but here's a deformed transformer fight lol.
I think the main problem with trying to do a future war film is that it completely misses the whole point of the first two Terminator movies. At their core, those movies weren't about trying to stop an evil machine army from destroying the world. They were actually just about a couple of people trying to survive against an unstoppable assassin, set in the 80's and 90's. The future war backstory and cybernetic organism stuff was basically just window dressing in Terminator 1 and 2. Trying to shift focus and build lore from that just sounds like a pointless endeavor.
This is also a reason why I think the Terminator series doesn't really lend itself to sequels because, honestly, there really isn't anything more you can do aside from just repeating the same formula again (which is what Terminator 3 and Dark Fate did) or vainly trying to build the post-apocalyptic backstory (which is what Salvation did). And then there's whatever the hell Genisys was trying.
This is also a reason why I think the Terminator series doesn't really lend itself to sequels because, honestly, there really isn't anything more you can do aside from just repeating the same formula again (which is what Terminator 3 and Dark Fate did) or vainly trying to build the post-apocalyptic backstory (which is what Salvation did). And then there's whatever the hell Genisys was trying.
Genysis tried to be a sequel, remake, and reboot all at the same time.
Except Salvation is still the best post T-2 Terminator movie. Oh Cameron, how wrong you are again.
Worth noting TSCC also had some Future War content that was pretty intriguing, and the third season was going to start with John Connor being transported to the Future War.