Wednesday, July 1, 2015

Riske Business: The Rise and Fall of the Terminator Franchise

by Adam Riske
Some things are better left in a pit of molten steel.

Legacy seems to be a thing that fans care more about than studio heads and filmmakers. How else to describe what has transpired with the Terminator franchise since 1991. After an upward trajectory beginning with the original The Terminator in 1984, followed by an exponential leap in success with its sequel Terminator 2: Judgment Day, the franchise has flat lined...and not gradually, either. The decline was almost immediate from the first frames of Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines. Now after 2009’s catastrophic Terminator Salvation, we are on the heels of Terminator Genisys, a sequel attracting bad buzz that fans are more dreading than anticipating. What did we do to deserve this?
I think a problem with the sequels since and including Rise of the Machines is that Hollywood learned the wrong lessons from the massive success of Judgment Day (which was the #1 movie of 1991). We, the audience, liked Judgment Day because it was a seminal action movie and starred the biggest action star of it day, Arnold Schwarzenegger. That movie was groundbreaking in its special effects and it marked another notch in the evolution of filmmaker James Cameron who grew as an artist since the original The Terminator with his work on Aliens and The Abyss. He became a master of weaving special effects and action with characters that had just enough personality for us to care about them. He also was a champion for strong women in action movies, and not the type that feels like a put-on but instead the type that fed out of a story organically.

It’s hard to top something as influential as Terminator 2: Judgment Day, and what the filmmakers who picked up the Terminator torch seemed to get out of the success of T2 is that what we cared about most was the story, specifically the war with the machines. Guess what? We don’t. At least I don’t. Even though it takes place in the future, T3 and Salvation might as well be prequels because they are there to fill in and dramatize details that we already know about from the first two Terminator movies. The key developments of T3 and Salvation include that the events of T2 are basically null and void (the characters delayed Judgment Day, they did not prevent it) and that Sarah Connor died a few years after the event of T2 – from leukemia. Are you fucking kidding me?
One thing I can’t abide by in movies is when inferior sequels shit on the memory of a superior predecessor. To this day, this is why I will not watch 2010 or Staying Alive. They might not even be guilty of shitting on the memory of such classics as 2001: A Space Odyssey or Saturday Night Fever but I don’t want to run the risk of them messing with my memory of those two movies. Same is the case with T3; my life would be better if I didn’t know about the developments of this movie. I don’t want to watch T2 thinking about how Linda Hamilton’s awesome Sarah Connor (who is even better than Ripley in my opinion in terms of kick ass heroines), knowing that what falls her is something as ordinary as cancer. I don’t want to see or hear about her dying in a heroic way either. From my perspective, she won T2. She should have a lifetime pass of happiness and peace of mind. Same with John Connor.
Speaking of John Connor, that’s another problem I have with the Terminator franchise. He’s become a focal point when he works better as a peripheral character; a character who is acted upon and not the center of the action. Let’s face it. He’s a boring character. That’s why a solid, sometimes great, actor like Christian Bale couldn’t even do anything with him in Terminator Salvation. The series has stated that he’s a great leader, but when in the series can you point to an example of him actually being a great leader? His most successful moments are when he’s playing off of Arnie’s T-800 in T2 because that movie knows that Arnold Schwarzenegger in that role is money in the bank. It’s a perfect blend of character and casting, which John Connor has never been. He’s the audience conduit (he and Linda Hamilton in the original), the person we learn about all the craziness with, whether it be from Michael Biehn’s Kyle Reese or Schwarzenegger in T2. Nick Stahl (who is a boring actor btw) knowing everything about what is going on and having to teach it to Claire Danes is not compelling.

Now with Genisys (a title as stupid as if it were Terminator Super Nyntendo) the ripple seems to be that John Connor is – SPOILER FOR THE TRAILER FROM TERMINATOR GENISYS– evil? That’s just making shit up to make shit up. Could the filmmakers make a good movie out of this concept? Of course, though the evidence seems to be indicating otherwise. If this doesn’t work, though, all that director Alan Taylor (Thor: The Dark World) has done is to Walmart-ize the franchise even more; diluting its power by making it about being a product, an IP. Who knows? This sequel might even go a step further and do what is now the worst trend in blockbuster filmmaking right now, which is to retcon mistakes from earlier sequels through time travel gimmicks (I’m looking at you, X-Men). No! I hate that. Better to lie in the bed you made and improve it organically rather than do the cinematic equivalent of Gandalf’s magical eagles that bail him out whenever he’s in trouble. Movies shouldn’t have mulligans. There is no way to improve the Terminator legacy from more sequels. The damage has been done. It’s now time to stop the bleeding and cut off the franchise where it stands. NO MORE TERMINATOR sequels!
That being said, I will still see Terminator Genisys during its opening weekend. Fair is fair. I’m not going to completely shit on something without knowing about what I’m denigrating. Nothing would make me happier than if I’m wrong and this new Terminator movie is better than anyone was expecting it would be. I just can’t get over the finale of T2. It’s perfect and would have been a beautiful capper to the franchise. If only, if only….

13 comments:

  1. The problem with the Terminator franchise is that the concept is so simple, that there's really nowhere to go with it. Even T2, which I love, is kind of just a remake of the first. A bigger, more expensive remake. So when they got to 3, they just did it again. Even Salvation, rather than being a human/machine war movie....just turned into "the Machines have targeted someone for termination, we have to protect/save them."

    I actually think the set-up is borderline brilliant. They might actually be doing something different this time, but I know it's just going to dissolve into that. My guess is it's going to be a reversal, and Sarah will have to be the one protecting Reese. I mean, whatever. Although I think I may be the only person who doesn't think the John Connor reveal is a big deal. For 1) it may be a rather early reveal and not the big "twist" everyone is treating it as, and 2) Terminator 2 did the exact same thing in their trailers, and that movie kicks ass.

    I'm not excited for it, but I'll check out Genesys sometime during it's run. It makes me sad to think about it, about how I'm rarely excited for blockbusters and always just like "yeah, I guess I can see that." Although I am reasonably excited for Spectre and Mission Impossible 5.

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  2. I just came from an early afternoon showing. I avoided the 'spoilery' trailer and knew nothing about the story going in. Even though I can see the flaws (those got damned Schwarzenegger one-liners, arghh!) and can understand why hardcore fans will not like what it does to the Cameron movies (which are just about perfect and can withstand sequels playing around with its timeline, IMHO), for me "Genisys" is a ton of summer popcorn fun. Besides, we've been getting an Arnie-starring "Terminator" movie every decade since '84 and this flick is easily the most fun one he's done since giving up politics. Considering the writers had to deal with an aging star and a convoluted-beyond-redemption backstory the time-travel solution they came up to explain an old-looking T-800 "Genisys" 'is fine.' Like "Terminator 3," though, it won't enter my mind except when I rewatch it and enjoy myself while it plays.

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  3. My expectations for terminator would be higher but that trailer seems to be showing the whole movie but I to will be seeing it opening weekend. Movie trailers are a lost art.

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    1. That trailer was basically the whole movie. Except for Matt(hew) Smith's part...blink and you'll miss him.

      But if you liked what JJ Abrams did to Star Trek, you'll be happy with this.

      PS - If there are any more sequels that "No fate but what we make" line has got to go. They've proved with these movies that that one shitty outcome you think you've stopped will always exist and come back to try to kill you.

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    2. I would argue that JJ Abrams still got the characters and their relationships right in his Star Trek. This movie gets almost all of that wrong. To me, anyway.

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    3. But isn't the main thrust of the "Genisys" story that the characters and their relationships have been irrevocably altered by that last-minute intervening act the second before Kyle Reese travels back to '84? The relationships between the characters can't be right because in this new timeline they're not supposed to be the way they were before, and this only affects Sarah Connor since Reese isn't even aware of what's about to happen like she (and we as the audience of the original movie) does.

      Time travel movies are fun, wee! :-P

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    4. Abrams got the characters and the relationships right... If you forget that this Spock got involved with Uhura (his student?) while he still had an arranged marriage waiting for him back on Vulcan - something Spock Prime avoided with everyone, That this Kirk doesn't have a 100th of the experience of the original as he sent straight from school into the Captain's chair. That there are no scenes of Kirk, Spock and McCoy spending time together - professionally or socially - as did the originals. The originals basically being the Id, Ego and Superego of the ship (and therefore the series). Other than that... :-)

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    5. It's all personal preference but I think the new Star Trek's are much much better than anything in Terminator Genisys. It wouldn't be hard though. Genisys is about as much fun as swimming off the coast of North Carolina.

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  4. I saw the new Genisys movie against my better judgement and yeah its a real piece of junk. I agree with an earlier comment that the story is limited and yeah it truly is. I'd love to think James Cameron has some sort of awesome idea he'd love to do after he escapes Avatarland and gets the Terminator rights back. Short of that though yeah just end it already.
    Here's the crazy thing, Arnold is still good in the movie (well as much as the script will let him be). He just cant seem to pick the right project these days even though he is usually the best thing in them (Escape Plan, The Last Stand, Maggie). He keeps trying to flex his muscles somewhat and so he decided to do this new terminator flick and it doesn't seem like people are going nuts for it. He must be like "I try something new you dont like me, I try something classic you don't like me, whats a grizzled austrian to do?"
    You know what makes this movie so bad, is its boring. At least T3 and T4 tried to do something new (to very mixed results). Also Jai Courtney is just like the worst, he is like alternate universe The Rock- he destroys all charisma that gets in his way. And if Sarah Connor was raised by a terminator through her teen years she should be a bit more antisocial me thinks, instead its like "hey thats pops he lets me fire guns yay!" When I walked out of this movie at first I was like "meh" now I just keep getting angry whenever the thought hits my head. F this movie to hell.

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    1. If they make a prequel starring teenage Sarah Connor and her 'pops' I'd watch that. The implied upbringing of Sarah by a T-800 is the best part of the movie that they only showed glimpses of, and I was left wanting more. Heck, did "Genisys" even reveal who sent the T-800 model to 1973 or is that reveal saved for the next "Terminator" movie?

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    2. I don't think they ever said who sent the T-800 back to 1973. I agree with Tom, Genisys is super boring. I walked out of the theater at one point because I needed a 5 minute break for its awfulness.

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  5. Nick Stahl, boring? For shame! He was awesome in Carnivàle, and I really liked him in T3 also (playing pretty much the same part, btw). Like Edward Norton, he has an innately haunted look to him. I think he could have been a really good Anakin Skywalker even with Lucas' crappy writing and directing.

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    1. I've never seen Carnivàle so I'll just say that I think he's boring in what I've seen him in. He's all In the Bedroom and I'm all In the Boredroom.

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