There’s been a lot said about the director McG, most of it not too good with some comments so mean you might think they were referring to a war criminal or Levi Johnston, and not a Hollywood director who has shot nothing but hits since he started making movies. I think most of the backlash comes from the fact that he actually uses his nickname as his name when directing.
The guy came from music videos where I guess it was cool to be called a nickname based on your name, but this is the big time, big budget films. Even Ludacris and The Rock understand this and go by Chris Bridges and Dwayne Johnson when acting in films. Seeing as I’m an online critic with zero credentials and write most of my pieces while sitting in my underwear listening to Judge Judy rip some poor shmuck’s soul from their chest, I cannot give McG the benefit of the doubt. Using that dopey name on a big screen feature is about as dumb as thinking that Lisa Marie Presley and Michael Jackson were really going to grow old together. It’s time to grow up McG. I know the name is based on your mother’s maiden name but I could care less if the name was created by Ray Kroc himself.
Warner Bros. in their infinite wisdom decided to hand the reigns of the Terminator franchise to McG. The real question is do we need another Terminator film? James Cameron began the series in the eighties when Arnold Schwarzenegger was still a bulging mass of muscle with an accent so thick it resembled a pastrami sandwich from Carnegie Deli. We can all agree that James Cameron is a visionary director. He sank the Titanic and it only cost him $150 million more than the original ship. He decided not to return for the third installment so Jonathan Mostow came on board, and then the real Terminator debate began.
T3 (as it was known, kind of like how I refer to Martin Luther King, Jr. as ML2) was a decent movie. The problem was that it had the word “Terminator” in its title and had to live up to the two previous films. Francis Coppola suffered the same issue with The Godfather trilogy. The third film with Andy Garcia was not a bad movie, except it would never compare to parts one and two. Had Coppola made part three and not called it a Godfather film it would have received much better reviews. Had I not eaten that third burrito yesterday, my colon would not be paying the price today.
The new McG film is called Terminator Salvation and it stars Christian Bale. This was a smart move (at least before his profanity laced rant and being arrested for bitch slapping his mom). Bale is seen as a real actor even though he does popcorn films. His name lends a certain credibility but doesn’t over shadow the characters he plays. Imagine if Brad Pitt was cast as The Dark Knight. You would no longer believe it was Bruce Wayne under the mask, but keep thinking it was People Magazine’s Sexiest Man of the Year 2000. Bale understands that in action and comic book movies the acting has to be even more believable because the slightest slip or mistake takes the viewer out of the world they are watching and then they begin to say things like “If he’s Bruce Wayne during the day and Batman at night, when does he sleep? Never? That’s impossible.”
Up to this point every Terminator film had been rated R, Salvation is rated PG-13. Will this help or hurt the box office? True fans are upset because they won’t be able to see the buckets of gore and blood they expect, but younger fans will be able to get access to the theater. Die Hard did the same thing a few years back when the fourth installment was rated PG-13. It still had the same amount of action but didn’t go as far in the nasty killing department. I figure as long as the story is there I don’t need to be shown crazy ways to die, I can just look those up on Youtube if the mood hits me.
I’ve been a fan of the Cameron movies, with Terminator 2 standing out as not just a great story but an excellent use of effects. So curiosity will win out and I’m sure I’ll head out to the theater to see Salvation. The problem will be in convincing the missus that this is worth seeing. I might have to drag her to the movies with the promise that she can go off and see a Matthew McConaughey romcom. There’s usually one or two of those playing where he’s shirtless for an hour or two.
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