All That Could Have Been...

There is a great article by Devin Faraci over at CHUD on what went wrong, and what could have been...

The Terminator Salvation you saw on movie screens this weekend was not always the Terminator Salvation that was meant to be. Like in the franchise itself, history has been changed, and the original script for Terminator Salvation ended up getting gutted. You can still see the outlines of that script in the current film (a form of deja vu, as similar vestigial script elements can be seen in this summer's blockbuster hit Star Trek), but the specifics that might have made Terminator Salvation if not better at least more interesting are gone. Continue

Terminator: Salvation *SPOILERS*

I would be EXTREMELY surprised if the Warner Brothers follows through with the rest of the proposed trilogy. What should have been a promising reboot for fledgling series (Rise of the Machines was lackluster and disappointing, to say the least) failed to the deliver and here is why:

1. Rewriting the end based on Test Audience and Studio feedback was a misfire. Having John Connor die and brought back as his cybernetic doppelgänger would have brought a new spin to an old story. This irony would have been a better dramatic beat for the planned trilogy. I was really pissed because having read the original ending, I immediately picked up exactly where the rewrite was tagged on.
2. Marcus sacrifices himself to save John Connor by donating his heart. Okay let's break this down. A heart transplant in the middle of California wasteland. An impromptu heart transplant and they so happened to have the proper equipment. A heart transplant where conveniently enough, both subjects have the same bloodtype. I'll stop here.
3. If you couldn't have the real Arnold, what purpose did it serve to have a CGI Arnold Model T-800 fight John Connor? I get it. It's a wink at the film's history. But it served absolutely no purpose. Any Terminator model would have easily replaced Arnold. A simple and more understated wink, such as a 5 second background cameo would have sufficed.
4. So after a time jump from 2003 to 2018, we get a quick glimpse of Marcus laying on medical slab (seemingly dead or powered down) at one of the Skynet Annex's which is bombed ten minutes later leaving no trace of survivors. Yet, Marcus walks away. Well, wakes up first. Then, walks away unscathed.
5. Skynet builds Marcus, and deems him the ultimate Cybernetic creation but somehow neglects to send him to the past to kill John Connor. Instead they send a T-800, a T-1000 and a T-X.

I'm sure there are a few more holes to this Swiss Cheese. These are the ones that stood out to me. Anyone out there care to share their thoughts?