Well, after yesterday’s sales emofest, I took myself off to the movies to cheer up. Caught Terminator Salvation, which confounds me with its lack of title colon, but was a solid effort none the less.
Yes, I liked it. I liked it as a post-apocalyptic story dealing with the nature of man, and of fathers and sons. I did not care for it as an entry into the Terminator franchise.
Okay, here’s the thing:
Say what you want about James Cameron, but there was a time when he made fantastic feminist SF. Terminator 2 and Aliens remain two of my favorite films ever, full stop. These were the movies that showed me, as a little girl, that women could be strong and fully realized, both leaders and mothers, and that the two were not mutually exclusive. And that if you wanted something done, by Steve, you strapped on a shotgun and did it yourself. Sarah Connor was a major formative influence on my adult self.
Terminator Salvation is not Sarah Connor’s story, it’s John’s. It’s not a feminist film by any stretch of the imagination (the female characters pretty much just served to have babies, fall in love with robots, and piss me off.) But I still liked it. I like the story of John and Kyle, and the the complex and not altogether comfortable relationship John has with his eventual father. I like the story of John finding his feet in a future that is not the future Sarah told him about. I like robot-on-robot violence. Really, for all of the stuff the film did wrong, it did a lot more right. Viewed as a standalone SF story, it succeeds. Veiwed as an entry into established canon, it fails, largely because the story can’t decide how much John knows about the future from Sarah and his own experiences and what sort of person he is–mercenary or savior? Chosen one or false prophet?
So no, it’s no Judgement Day and it’s certainly no Aliens, but if one doesn’t walk in expecting empowerment, one can be entertained.
I just sort of wish the soul of the first two films had breathed a little more life into this one.
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And today I went with the lovely Miss Cherie to see Angels and Demons, which was an exercise in stupidity and cheerleading the Catholic church that I found roaringly hilarious. I never thought I’d be thanking Dan Brown for anything, but I laughed my little ass off.
The CEM calls, so I’m done here.
I write speculative fiction, including but not limited to books about mages, werewolves, superheroes, steampunk monsters, fairies and demons. I have partially purple hair, collect comic books, do pinup modeling and photography in my copious spare time, and keep the music up way too loud.
I totally thought John and Marcus were going to make out at the end. My friend leaned over and said, “It’s a bromance!” and I nearly died.
Great blog as usual. Very insightful review of the new Terminator movie. Thank you for sharing.
Love from Canada
xoxo
Totally agreed on Terminator Salvation, though, I have read “plans” for the next film in the franchise and the hopes of bringing Hamilton back to showcase how age shouldn’t have anything to do with ability to kick ass. (I’m paraphrasing here.) Not that it really excuses my gripes for this one, but I do hope that if there’s future films they are more in tune with the first two. But I’ve learned to never go into a theater expecting to get my money’s worth in terms of what I want in a film (you know, expect it to suck and then it’s not so bad even when it is bad). I tend to be less depressed that way. Hehe.
After nearly a week and a half of stalking BAM bookshelves for Street Magic I finally found it last night. I loved it! I can’t wait until Demon Bound. =]