Terminator 4

[McLaren]

I have not seen the 4th installment, but I think I may be able to clear up some of the points you addressed.

Spoiler

"Mkay, time for some odd points that may not make any sense...

So, Cyberdine Systems wasn't destroyed after T2? They were allowed to keep their robotics division, and a genetics division? Okay, yeah I see that they got bought out by the USAF, and consequently that all got gobbled-up by Skynet, but really?"
Cyberdine was never bought out.

After Miles Dyson blows up Cyberdine Systems, the government comes in and seizes the companies' patents & builds Skynet for a completely different purpose.

"Where exactly does the time travel portion of all of this come in? I've yet to figure out how Skynet knows about Kyle Reese and John Connor when in theory none of the actual "war" had happened yet."
I have not seen Salvation yet, but surely Skynet knows of its sworn enemy John Connor in the war.

It's knowledge of Reese may come from when Reese was enslaved in a concentration camp before Connor saved him.

"Furthermore, who exactly is coming up with the time travel thing? Most of Skynet was destroyed, at least in San Francisco anyway (no word on what happens globally), so what exactly develops the time machine? How are the humans going to get it to send Reese back and create the current time line they're already on?"
The idea is that sometime during the war, Skynet had developed a time machine. Right before Skynet realizes it is going to be destroyed by Conner, it sends T-800 back. Connor realized the attempt, and sends Reese back to stop it. It's an ironic twist that Skynet's final attempt would become its ultimate downfall.


"The problem I have with this movie is that it doesn't answer questions. All it really does is complicate current ones, and create more. That is a big problem for people who are already committed to the rather "solid" nature of T1 and T2. While I understand that they want to make an entirely new franchise off of this movie, it just seems more destructive than an actual opportunity to create something entirely new. There is a lot of potential, particularly with the Kyle Reese character... But that's about it.

Thinking about the leaked ideas for the next Terminator, my mind has been completely blown out attempting to rationalize it. If Skynet is desperate and is sending machines back to our time (ie 2009) to disrupt the timeline...

*KABOOM!!!!!*"
I think you're being confused by a time paradox the Terminator series seems to create. Thankfully, this theory is supposedly a way to help understand why Skynet sees where it's failing and re-attempting its previous action.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Novikov_self-consistency_principle

"Something that kept bothering me while watching the movie too... Was that a Soviet emblem on the Russian guy's hat?"
Again, given that I have not seen Salvation, I can only guess that it is a reference to the first movie where Skynet knew the Russians would retaliate when it sent a nuke towards them.

 

[nobuffalo]

Complete disappointment. Sorry, no time for a review, I probably wouldn't give one anyways.

 

[prisonermonkeys]

I have't seen it yet since it hasn't arrived in Australia, but I do have to point one thing out: John Connor makes it pretty clear that something has changed, that the future he was warned about has not manifested. This is because the characters postponed the original Judgment Day in T2; Judgemen Day itsel did not come about until RISE OF THE MACHINES. As Kyle Reese tells Sarah, the future is not set, so evidently the actions of the characters have changed the way future events play out, which is why TERMINATOR SALVATION is able to retcon certain things about the franchise.

 

[YSSMAN]

Well, yes. They can make up whatever the hell they want to because time travel ultimately creates infinite Earths upon which they would be able to exist. Problem is, between T2, T3 and the television show, things just get royally screwed up. According to T3, Judgement day happens in 2003. On the television show, Judgement day happens in 2011. Now, I believe T:S goes on after T3, which I believe makes a bit more sense.

Nevertheless, reading other reviews on the internet continues to affirm my origional position. There was a lot of potential for this movie, much of it is evident with the special effects and some of the acting (particularly by Yelchin)... But as one pointed out, the entire story of this movie was never fully focused, thus never developed, and ultimately completely unnecessary to fill out this new (presumably) trilogy.

 

[Giancarlo]

Does it really matter? Looking over the wiki pages for the various installations, these films don't have a very strong connecting storyline anyway.

 

[McLaren]

Well, yes. They can make up whatever the hell they want to because time travel ultimately creates infinite Earths upon which they would be able to exist. Problem is, between T2, T3 and the television show, things just get royally screwed up. According to T3, Judgement day happens in 2003. On the television show, Judgement day happens in 2011. Now, I believe T:S goes on after T3, which I believe makes a bit more sense.

Nevertheless, reading other reviews on the internet continues to affirm my origional position. There was a lot of potential for this movie, much of it is evident with the special effects and some of the acting (particularly by Yelchin)... But as one pointed out, the entire story of this movie was never fully focused, thus never developed, and ultimately completely unnecessary to fill out this new (presumably) trilogy.

That's because, according to fans, the Sarah Connor Chronicles do not happen on the same timeline as T3. According to them, after T2, the timeline splits in one with T3 & one with SC:C.

There is absolutely no way & no point to try to figure out how T3 & SC:C co-exist.

Anyways, saw the movie tonight. Not bad at all, but Worthington stole the show.

 

[Robin]

I saw the trailer when I went to see Star Trek and I was seriously dissapointed, it looked gritty and all about the action... like there was no story whatsoever. Probably wont go and see it.

Atleast with Sarah Conner Chronicles it actually is more about the dialogue and building the story (although I still dont get totally how it fits in with the overall story). I also enjoyed the other 3 movies.

Robin.

 

[YSSMAN]

...it looked gritty and all about the action... like there was no story whatsoever...

There is a story, but it isn't very good - or very compelling - one. The action is top-notch in many sequences, and lives up to its full potential in places. Get rid of some of the "story telling" in the center of the piece, it would work just fine.

 

[Syntax error]

I watched this over the weekend. I have to say, I really enjoyed it and I am a little surprised/disappointed that so many people are ragging on it. I think a vast majority of people are expecting The Shawshank Redemption type masterpiece when in reality it is simply an action movie. If anything, the story has evolved into something more than just people being chased by machines, which is basically what the premise has always been.

The movie felt plausible enough (well as far as the terminator series goes) and the future looks very bleak. John Connor’s character did not get much development I guess, but then again majority of movie goers will have a good idea, who and what he is. I thought Christian Bale played a decent enough role. He wasn’t the star of the show, but he delivered a solid performance. I think going forward, if a sequel does eventuate, he’d be in more of a lead role.

Marcus Wright (Sam Worthington) was definitely the star of the movie. The story is really his and he delivers. Kyle Reese was also good being the out of his depth teenager who is true to the cause.

It did leave a lot of questions unanswered but at the same time I am happy it didn’t try and tackle everything at once as I feel that the movie might have suffered the same fate so many other movie do, which is cramming scenes for the sake of it. I don’t think they forgot to answer all the questions, I certainly got the impression that they are leaving these things to be answered at a later date.

YSSMAN's Take

Spoiler Talk:

Spoiler

Mkay, time for some odd points that may not make any sense...

Where exactly does the time travel portion of all of this come in? I've yet to figure out how Skynet knows about Kyle Reese and John Connor when in theory none of the actual "war" had happened yet. Furthermore, who exactly is coming up with the time travel thing? Most of Skynet was destroyed, at least in San Francisco anyway (no word on what happens globally), so what exactly develops the time machine? How are the humans going to get it to send Reese back and create the current time line they're already on? My understanding is that San Fran was only a factory for the T-800's. The attack that did not go ahead or did not get coordinated properly to succeed as the command post (Sub) was destroyed before the attack commenced. Now why does Skynet know that John Conner & Kyle Reese are people of importance? This one has multiple explanations. The one I think would be the most plausible would be that Skynet being a computer program residing in the US govt (USAF) system, would have access to all sorts of records which include Sarah's hospital records, police records, surveillance camera's recordings which would have the T-800 mentioned or recorded ( T2 shows both e T-1000 & T-800 on surveillance records). The targets are pretty evident and would indicate to Skynet that since a few attempts have been made to eliminate them, they must be of importance in the future. Mind you my take on all of this could be entirely wrong.

Oh and a quick mention about T-101.... that was by far the coolest part of this flick. It was a nice nod to all the fans and Arnie as well as a damn good fight scene.

 

[YSSMAN]

Post-post reviews, generally speaking, I still am uneasy about it. There is just so much potential in the entire movie to make something good - but it was the ultimate lack of direction that made it so bad. You either make a movie about John Connor, or you make it about Markus Right. Or... You make it about Kyle Reese (would have been my pick). The feeling I get after reading more of the interviews done on the internet and in magazines is that a lot of the story was changed to bring in more of John Connor, something I don't see as a particularly good idea in the first film. It was all changed to make Bale happy, and that really takes away from what could have been an awesome movie.

As I've said before, its a pretty solid base for a decent trilogy of movies, but compared to what it likely should have been... It ultimately comes up as a disappointment.