Terminator Salvation
Written by Nikki Baughan Monday, 09 March 2009 00:00
Images
It’s time to turn our attention to the summer's behemoths, and one of the biggest has to be Terminator Salvation
The fourth film in the hugely successful franchise, which began with Arnold Schwarzenegger’s iconic performance in James Cameron’s 1984 original, is directed by McG (Charlie's Angels) and stars Christian Bale as John Connor. Set in 2029 – after Skynet’s destruction of humanity but before the events of the previous three instalment – it depicts what McG himself described as a “dirty, difficult future of duress.”Indeed, from the rough cut footage I was lucky enough to see at the end of last year, that’s exactly what we can expect from Terminator: Salvation. Although the film was still in post-production, and the sequences weren’t polished, they depict a brutal, bleak world – and a passionate performance from Bale as Connor, busy galvanising a resistance effort against the increasingly powerful Terminators.
"Why Flog a Dead Horse?"
Although it seems that McG has handled this new Terminator in exactly the right way, the director admits that he had to be persuaded to take on the project. “I was puzzled by the notion of a fourth Terminator,” he says, while introducing the footage to an expectant audience. “Why flog a dead horse? James Cameron maintained he’d told the story after the second movie. I didn’t think it had potential for growth until I started thinking what the story could be.” And when McG contacted James Cameron about the project, his response was as expected. “He didn’t give us his blessing, but he didn’t shit all over the movie!”
Indeed, these feelings of doubt were also initially shared by the films’s star, Christian Bale but, after hearing McG’s plans for an origin story, he came round to the idea. “He said, ‘If you can get [the script] to a place where it can be read cold on stage and be engaging with no effects, I’ll consider it,” explains McG, who says that the team worked hard to create a screenplay that would win the actor’s approval. The script, written by Jonah Nolan, is described by McG as “the becoming story of John Connor. It has a lot to do with what went into him becoming the leader of the resistance. I realised we needed a star who’s the most credible [actor] of his generation. To let an audience know we mean business, there’s only one choice – Christian Bale! And we’re delighted to have him.”
"This Is Not the Future My Mother Told Us About"
McG’s energy and enthusiasm for the project are evident when he speaks, but he’s also keen to let his work speak for himself. “Enough of my bullshit!” he explains. “I don’t want to cheerlead the film” And so come a couple of clips which show a world in which humanity has been obliterated by robot technology, a world ruled by Terminators. And although these machines are the precursors to Arnie’s T800, they are no less terrifying – travelling by water, land and sky they are hunting down the small pockets of humans who are scavenging for survival in the smoking wasteland.
And in the middle stands Bale’s gruff, determined John Connor, increasingly desperate to mount a defence when he realises the Terminators are coming online 10 years earlier than expected. “If we let the things go online, then this war is over,” he growls. “This is not the future my mother told us about.”
It is, in short, damn good looking stuff, with Bale taking the role as seriously as everything he’s done previously. He is no longer Bruce Wayne, he is John Connor and it seems as if McG’s dogged determination to cast him has paid off. (Bale has apparently signed a three film deal, providing the first movie is a success.)
"I Wanted The Film To Have A Velocity"
And another element that’s paid off is McG’s desire to mix new technologies with old school methods, such as having his team build the robots so that his cast had something to act against and react to, “rather than just tennis balls.” Although he had a sophisticated vision for the look and feel of the film that would rely on technology, he is determined that shouldn’t be all the movie is about. “[We want to] honour the idea and take it to the highest level,” he says. “Connor has been made aware that the T800s are coming online [so] the coming of the T800s is a big element of the movie. [So] I wanted the film to have a velocity, but I didn’t want to hang our hats on it.”
Shrugging off any comparisons to the Transformers movies by insisting that Terminator Salvation is more about characters rather than robots, McG understands the duel elements of the film. 
Realising that “the responsibility of any Terminator film is to push the visual effects envelope further,” but he’s also resolute that the movie has a much deeper reason for being than merely to thrill on a visual level – and that it could even be a valuable lesson for us all. “I’m worried about where technology is going in society,” he says. “Who is not worried that a nuclear bomb could go off in anger. I love tales that speak to ‘that which makes us great will be our undoing’. But I’m not a prophet. It’s just strange that we live in a world where when we lose our phones we don’t know our best friend’s number. Is that progress? Ultimately, the movie is all about the blurring between humanity and machines.”
Visual spectacle meets morality tale; McG is desperately proud of what his team have achieved with Terminator Salvation and hopes that the film strikes a chord with audiences on its release on June 3rd, 2009. But ask him what will really make him happy and the answer is simple. “It just better kick the shit out of Star Trek."
And if all that has made you impatient for the film's release date, you can have a little taste of the action with the film's awesome new trailer...
