The movie wasn't great but wasn't awful. And it's easily could've respected the past while moving forward.
Change #1: John doesn't die. While I understand that Jimmy Cams made this franchise his idea to kill John was super fucking dumb and kind of disrespectful to the fans that have built this connection to a character. Instead I'd have the scene we get play out but John is just happy. And eventually he moves on. He meets a girl. He builds a life. Sure he'd like to be a hero but he always kind of hoped he'd just get to be a kid or a regular guy. This also pays respect to the unused T2 ending. Don't worry. John isn't done forever. But hang tight for that.
Sarah however couldn't shake the paranoia of her past and always will expects the apocalypse. So she builds herself a cabin in the woods and becomes a recluse. Only coming out to hunt Terminators when given coordinates by am unknown source. Which brings us to change number duece.
#2 Swap Sarah & the T-800. Nothing against Linda. She killed it. She's amazing. I wish I could give her and Arnold both my young health to keep them around longer. But the Terminator is an iconic design and character. I'd have it where the T-800 was sent back. But before he could walk up and blast Johnny boy he realized that Skynet was defeated. We know in the canon that the T-800 could detect when someone would be sent back by Legion so why not acknowlede that he failed his task and wanders into nowhere to die. But instead he hunts the other Terminators sent back by both Skynet and any other alternative future AI.
You still have someone save the underprepared Dani & Grace. But we all know people wanted more Arnold on DF. You still have the Sarah trying to kill Carl. Maybe the drape van is his cover vehicle. It's not a huge change. But it also is. All of this leads to the final change up.
#3 Sarah's Sacrifice. At the end of the real movie Grace and the T-800 die to save Dani. But I'd like to see Sarah's arc completed. Both because her character deserves to feel safe and happy and Linda not being as big on making modern movies as Arnold. Also, if Carl doesn't brutally murder John he has nothing to make amends for. So keep him around. Grace still dies because we need her for future war exposition but we already have an enhanced protector character in Carl. I'd flesh her past out more. She was cool.
And when Sarah dies it saves Dani. But that still leaves the question of where the hell does Legion get made and how do we stop it? Great questions for future movies. And without Grace they won't have answers readily available. Hell you could send her back again in a sequel and say that due to time bullshit she was never sent back to the first movie and is instead showing up here. Fuck it. The paradox in Terminator movies is bullshit anyway. But when they need to go forth and kick cyber ass they need all hands on deck.
So they get John. Who is sad to hear his mother passed but doesn't want to go back to that life. He's married. Maybe his wife is pregnant. Maybe he never told her about the apocalypse he stopped as a kid. Giving him a reason to both right and refuse the call to action. I imagine Norman Reedus as adult JC. He looks like what rad as fuck T2 John would grow up to be if Sarah had been is still instructor of a mother figure. And the T-800 was so badly damaged that he has to hide most of his face and body because the flesh hasn't grown back yet. Explore that shit some more. Dress him up like MrX with a trench coat and fedora. Whatever.
Also I'd recast Dani. The actress just didn't do a great job. I'm sure she's good in other things but she fucking hammed it up in this movie. Also she's like 3 foot tall. Having been in the military I can tell you that you can hide behind cover better and drive military vehicles more comfortably but running and gunning is going to be a bitch with baby legs. I also have a bias having met badass men and women. So I can tell when a drama school kid doesn't fit. Even Sarah felt tough in the original and she was thrown into it all head first.
I'd also try to do more new things with the characters. Not just reprwat T1&T2 gimmicks. The Rev-9 interfacing with drones and cell phones was rad as fuck. His serial killer charm was amazing. And the way he fought was badass. But do more new things. New environments to fight in. New weapons. Different camera angles. Something to make it feel fresh and take it up a notch. I'd probably scrap the plane sequence. It didn't add a ton. And Genisys just that with helicopters last time. An underwater fist fight between two heavy machines is cool. Or the gang trying to stop and hold back both the skeleton and the goop rev parts from reaching Dani would be sick. Very tense survival shit.
Anyway that's what I'd do. Simple changes with a much better end result for both the story and the threshold needed to recoup costs on the movie.
No comments:
Post a Comment