My Terminator Struggles.

Terminator: Salvation will soon be upon us and I find myself asking the same question, "Why am I not hating these new Terminator movies?" Up until Terminator 2 I considered myself a James Cameron Terminator film purist. The Terminator was one of the first movies I ever remember renting on VHS. I was seven years old when we rented it from VK Video on Kimball Avenue in Albany Park. If memory serves me right it might have been a choice between The Terminator and Red Dawn. I remember holding the over sized plastic case and seeing a picture of a big ass Arnold with an even bigger ass gun and thinking "This is gonna probably scare the crap out of me and I'm gonna love it." Good choice Ricky.

What can be said about Terminator 2: Judgement Day that hasn't been said already? T2 is another one of those movies that I dragged my Mom to go see with me knowing she wouldn't understand a word of it because it was in English (Mom I love ya' for that!). I've owned a copy of it on every available format except Blu-ray and that will soon change. The special effects in the movie were revolutionary. Every action sequence is a memorable one. It introduced us to Robert Patrick as the T-1000. It re-introduced us to a ripped Linda Hamilton. It even re-introduced us to Danny Cooksey. It's nearly perfect. Why just nearly perfect? 2 words. Edward Furlong. Edward Furlong is to Terminator 2 what Sofia Coppola was to Godfather III. I can still hear his dialogue in my head and it hurts here, here, and here. Alright Eddie I got it. And bro that Public Enemy shirt ain't fooling me. Bad choice James Cameron.

I went to go see Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines in my Paul Winfield Lt. Ed Traxler costume waiting to be disappointed. I was so sure that a Terminator movie without Cameron's involvement would be awful just like I was so sure that the great summer movie battle of 1993 between Jurassic Park and The Last Action Hero would be won by The Last Action Hero. Hey it was Arnold's first movie after T2 and you know what Spielberg had just directed? Hook. Really bad choice Ricky. Instead I was pleasantly surprised. I actually liked what director Jonathon Mostow brought into the Terminator universe. Sure it has its flaws, having the Terminator arrive in the present at a strip club is not funny, it's goofy. That's one of the things James Cameron is able to do in his movies that other action directors can't. James Cameron movies are funny. True Lies was on cable last week and that's a perfect example. Funny ass movie. Whenever I want to give myself a good chuckle I'll tell myself the Tom Arnold line, "She took the ice trays. What kind of sick crazy bitch takes the ice trays.". You see the Terminator doesn't need to have a funny catchphrase each time he shows up especially one as dated as "talk to the hand" ( side note: John McClane you don't have to say Yippee Kay Yay motherfucker all the time either); and is it me or when Arnold says "I'll be back" in T3 does it seem like they used an outtake? It just doesn't sound right. The new Terminator model, the T-X, worked as a villian but casting Kristanna Loken didn't. It felt like too much of a gimmick to cast a woman in that role. You're going to cast a woman as a Terminator? Perfect. Find one that can be the essence of pure intimidation on screen. What about Angela Bassett as a Terminator? That would've been interesting. The action sequences aren't as good as T2 but they can hold their own. The daytime truck chase is worthy of repeat viewings. The shot of the truck lifting into the air and about to land on the Terminator as he is lying on the roof of a moving car is a stand out. T3 does improve on T2 in one aspect. Edward Furlong. He gone! Replaced by Nick Stahl who is a perfect John Connor. I like the moment when he speaks into the microphone at the hidden bunker and declares that he is John Connor. I bought that moment of him realizing what the responsibility is that he now has to take. Good choice Jonathon Mostow.

So now we await Terminator: Salvation. As the tagline says the end can truly be beginning. Everything we've scene from the trailer looks good though right? New kinds of Terminators that we've never seen before. Nice! Terminators and humans going to war. Word! Christian Bale as John Connor. Solid! It seems like a can't miss. However it could be a case of When A Good Trailer Happens To A Bad Movie. I'm also not forgetting this important piece of information. T4 is directed by McG. McG? Really? Okay. Is that your boy? He ain't my boy. I'm taking my hate out of my heart on this one because I've already been proven wrong once in this series. I've done my research and I've heard the good and the bad. I have heard parts of the storyline from this movie that really make me nervous. I've heard other spoilers that I will not talk about here nor should anyone that made it into the finished movie that I do like. If anyone posts anything please don't post any kind of spoilers. Even if you don't consider it a spoiler someone else might. All will be said and done on May 21, 2009. That's when T4 hits. I'm going. That's my choice.