I had a chance this week to check out 15 minutes of early footage from one of this summer's most-anticipated films, "Terminator Salvation." Director McG took point on the Terminator traveling roadshow, and the charismatic helmer did a fine job promoting his picture. Seriously, this guy could sell the proverbial ice to the eskimo.
The presentation, a growing part of the business of building buzz for big-budget franchises with equally sizable fan expectations, was held at Time-Warner's screening room in Manhattan. And if getting people excited to see the film was the goal, then the Warners marketing folks should be thrilled.
So what did we learn? Lots actually, including major plot points and one doozy of a spoiler that could turn the entire Terminator mythology as we know it, on its ear.
Nearly all the footage screened for a few dozen TV/print/online journalists was incomplete. Stunt wires and harnesses were visible, computer animated terminators took the place of the actual robots we'll see at the theater, and there was no soundtrack.
[side note: McG confirmed that prolific composer Danny Elfman will handle the score for the fourth Terminator movie]
McG says this film is meant to fulfill the promise of all those tantalizing - and way too brief - glimpses into the future from the first three Terminator movies. The director's vision of a post-apocalyptic world couldn't be more different from his brightly-colored "Charlie's Angels." Picture a blend of the ragged survivalist culture of "The Road Warrior" and the neo-fascist machinery of "Starship Troopers," and you have an idea of what Earth in 2018 looks like.
One scene featured a violent chase on a desert highway. A young Kyle Reese (Anton Yelchin, looking much tougher than he did in "Charlie Bartlett") and a mystery man named Marcus (Sam Worthington) are on the run from a gigantic Terminator. And by gigantic I mean a Transformer-sized machine, with numerous guns and that comes equipped with detachable Terminator bikes.
We also get a glimpse of Skynet's flying transport ship, a Harvester, which is used to carry human prisoners. Skynet, you see, is using people as research, developing the human tissue that will be used to create the T-800 (Arnold Schwarzenegger's model from the 1984 movie).
The storyline falls in line with the mythology established in "Terminator" and "Terminator: Judgement Day." But the scenes previewed indicated that the future Sarah Connor told her son about, has been altered. That's where Marcus comes into play.
It's not clear if Marcus comes from the past or the future, or even what his true motives are, but his arrival in 2018 may have caused a major time paradox. Great Scott! I feel like Marty Mcfly trying to figure out Doc's explanation of the time-travel continuum.
HUGE SPOILER ALERT!!!
SERIOUSLY, STOP READING NOW IF YOU DON'T WANT TO GET MORE INFORMATION!!!!
John Connor doesn't trust Marcus, because Marcus is a machine! One of the scenes they showed us finds John and Marcus facing off after fending off an attack from robotic tentacles that can swim underwater. While saving John, Marcus' skin was damaged, and we see his metallic skeleton.
Having been raised his entire life to not trust machines, it's perfectly understandable that John Connor doesn't trust Marcus. But the footage we viewed seems to indicate that they share two goals: Uncovering the truth about the future that may or may not come to pass, and bringing down Skynet.
Outside of the Terminator bikes, and the big reveal about Marcus, I was most pleased to see veteran movie tough guy Michael Ironside pop up. He plays the current leader of the resistance. Keep in mind, in 2018 the humans are not an organized bunch. There are pocket resistance fighters across the globe. John Connor is more an underground legend than leader at this point, and he butts head with the old-school military man.
The climax of the film appears to be an all-out assault by humans on Skynet's headquarters. The disruption in the timeline has apparently put the machines years ahead of schedule in the creation of their big breakthrough, the T-800 (that's the killing machine they will send back in time to 1984 to try and kill Sarah Connor and prevent her from giving birth to the future leader of the human resistance, John. Pay attention. We'll have a quiz later).
Another story wrinkle we learned is that Kyle Reese and John Connor have no idea that they are father and son.
McG took questions after the screening, and when we asked how the production team tackled the tricky continuity issues, the director said they went to great lengths to maintain consistency. He also said the 'Kyle is John's dad' problem is addressed at some point in the movie.
McG also said Christian Bale was the biggest continuity policeman on the set. He badgered them with questions because he felt it was important to stay true to the original mythology.
Bale, who broke his hand during filming a fight scene with one of the Terminators, signed on to the project after McG visited him on the set of "The Dark Knight." McG also suggested that his decision to have 'TDK' co-screenwriter Jonah Nolan (christopher's brother) punch up the 'Terminator 4' script helped convince Bale to take the lead role in the franchise reboot.
From the scenes we viewed, Bale looks to be everything Terminator fans could want from their John Connor. Rugged, dirty, intense. But you know Bale always delivers the goods. What about the others?
I can't comment on the female co-stars, Bryce Dallas Howard and Moon Bloodgood, because we barely saw them in the clips, but Worthington and Yelchin looked like they were up to the challenge. And any futuristic sci-fi movie is made better with Michael Ironside in it!
McG says he's showing a rough cut of the film to Terminator creator James Cameron in two weeks, hoping to get his blessing. Whether that happens is anyone's guess, but Terminator fans should be encouraged by the footage. Action packed, and full of plot twists, this could be one of the year's biggest surprises.
And we didn't even discuss those much-rumored cameos by Arnold and Linda Hamilton actually happen (McG would neither confirm or deny that Hamilton and the original Terminator would be back...but he did it with a smile on his face).
All in all, a risky move by Warner Bros. to preview unfinished footage appears to have paid off. The pessimism surrounding McG being put in charge of the franchise should diminish as people see the man's passion for the mythology and his grasp of the material. And having Christian Bale as your lead never hurts.
