Epic Fail?

There are fleeting moments of greatness in the newest installment of the Terminator Series. Probably the greatest--and most subtle moment--is when John Connor plays a Guns and Roses song to attract the terminator motorcycles, before he "tamed" one to use as a ride. The link to T2, when teenage John Connor zipped around on his old school bike listening to G&R, is nostalgic and sincere. Yet, director McG doesn't give his audience enough of these nuggets. Ultimately, the film struggles and flails--like a T-1000 in hot liquid lava.

The major flaw of the movie is that the plot leaves you little room to worry about the protagonists. Sure, John Connor is the target, but we know that Christian Bale has been in talks for the fifth film. (Or maybe I just read too many movie blogs?) Also, given the delicate time travel structure, Kyle Reese's entrance in the middle of the film actually relaxed me. Logic suggests that the film writers would not kill off the father of the Jesus figure, as the very premise of the films require that John Connor's birth occurs. So, instead of worrying weather Kyle would meet death under his captors, I realized that there was no way he was going to get offed.

I don't want to delve too far into feminism, but the Terminator series really needs to figure out how women fit into this saga. Sarah Connor rose from the ashes of the damsel in distress in the first film to become her own advocate in the second film. She was also the most badass woman action movies had ever seen, and maybe will ever see. One forgets that Sarah was practically out of the mental hospital when John and the T-850 show up to help her escape in T2. She's a single mother, of the modern day Jesus no less, and she had enviable biceps. Furthermore, Linda Hamilton, while no Heidi Klum, had a unique sex appeal. But her sex appeal wasn't on the table for the taking. She is one of the few women in movies who isn't looking to get hitched. Then again, when the fate of the world is at stake, who's worried about a Saturday night date? T2 had no romance, another reason to canonize it in the cookie cutter action genre.

Linda Hamilton and James Cameron's success in raising action women up by T2 has been completely undermined in the third and fourth films. The TX in Terminator 3 validates so many stereotypes it's almost nauseating. The female terminator surmises from a billboard advertisement that bigger boobs will help her with human interactions. She has no personality, unless you count her blonde hair and red leather jumpsuit. It's as if they transplanted an evil Charlie's Angel into the film to ruin women's rights. In fact, the very model name conveys it all Terminator X. She's two letters away from a porn movie. And Claire Dane's role doesn't help either. She's about to get married and she doesn't want to. Then she's sucked into saving the world, which she wants no part of either. Judgment day or not, she doesn't have a say in her future.

Terminator Four avoids the painful female stereotypes of the third film by making the female characters completely bland. Kate Connor is a doctor/nurse and is pregnant. She serves as a nurturer for John Connor's tortured soul. Yawn. Blair Williams wants to be the bad ass Linda Hamilton of T2 but doesn't even come close. She's almost gang raped and struts around in leather. She redeems herself slightly by refusing to obey orders of her male superiors, but in doing so, she is sort of obeying the order of another man, even if he is half machine.

Wow, I got totally sucked into the feminism track. It's not even that I look to action films for a strong representative woman--clearly the action genre would disappoint me again and again if that were the case--it's just that Terminator 2 made such progress, and then the writers just got lazy for the next two films. This laziness also extends to the conclusion of Terminator Salvation. The ending, aside from ludicrous, is rushed. There are also nostalgic plot points that link back to the first film (like the G&R tune and the final battle feels a lot like the factor from T1), but after awhile, it feels recycled. I will commend them for the CGI used to make young, buff, naked Arnold appear in the film. I'm sure Governor Schwarzeneggar was thrilled with their work.

I had high hopes for Terminator Salvation. But I am losing faith, even in the tried and true film franchises because each film is not seen as an opportunity to tell a great story. It is seen as the prerequisite for the imminent sequel. When the credits rolled, I turned immediately to my dad and brother and asked the obvious question: "Whatever happened to making ONE film?? Why do action movies ALWAYS feel like a season finale??" I realize that this is sort of a pointless question, in that of course Hollywood just wants to be able to cash in on the next segment. At the end of Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Sarah Connor says that if a machine can learn the value of a human life, "maybe we can too." I sincerely hope that Hollywood can relearn the value of a SINGLE standing action movie, even if it ultimately is one part of a series.