State of Body	Innards ripped out and replaced with machinery that is tougher, louder and more futuristic, but ultimately non-functional.
Detail of Inspection	Inspected once.
Forensic Investigator	Shishberg
Comments	Impressive in some ways, but not any of the ways that made T1 and T2 great.

The Terminator franchise is at its best when it sticks to the formula. Enemy machine goes back in time to disrupt the Connor family; good guy (possibly also a machine) goes back to protect them, and inadvertently forms relationships with them while they’re on the run. It’s survival horror with a sci-fi sheen.

Actually, that’s not entirely right – the characters’ goal in survival horror is just to get out alive. A good Terminator movie plays out as survival horror until the third act. The Connors and the time-travelling good guy face off against the machine, manage to escape, and run like hell… only to realise that they can’t stay on the run forever with this Thing out there, and decide that they have to fight back. This relies on the fact that, although the Terminator is cold, determined and very, very tough, it’s possible to both run from it and fight it. The fight-or-flight instinct has to sit right on the tipping point between the two.

This balance is all off in Terminator Salvation.

Now, before I say too many bad things about Salvation, I want to mention that, as a pure plot-light exercise in CG robots, explsions, and Terminator in-jokes, I probably still would have paid money to see it. What it did, it did reasonably well. It’s just that what it did well wasn’t Terminator.

First of all, let’s look at where it left the formula. There was no time travel – a petty complaint, maybe, but it meant that protagonists and antagonists alike were already in their element. Apart from reducing the sense of isolation, this removed the excuse that the Terminator couldn’t (for T1 and T2 at least) bring weapons along, which raised any number of questions about why they didn’t Just Shoot Him When They Had The Chance. It also meant that the plot exposition job had to be given to someone other than the time-travelling protector, which didn’t always work.

The usual protector and Terminator were sort of collapsed into the single character of Marcus Wright. I can almost see the logic behind this – T2 introduced the idea that the good guy was a former bad guy, and T3 extended this (in passing) to John’s protector being his future killer, so why not actually combine them into one all-purpose cyborg for T4? The problem is that you can’t simultaneously run from and build a relationship in the trenches with the same guy, so for a large portion of the movie there wasn’t a proper single unambiguous threat or ally, and Arnie had to appear out of nowhere to provide the obligatory Fight in a Steel Mill at the end.

The worst deviation is maybe the hardest to avoid in a film set after Judgment Day. Instead of having one machine against one protector and a couple of Connors, we have the Skynet’s machine army against the whole remnant of humanity. This turns the whole thing from a tragedy into a statistic. Any attachment we have to John Connor is left over from the previous films drilling into us that he’s the saviour of mankind; if anything, this film makes us wonder whether they might fare just as well without him.

The scale of the conflict also means that we lose the on-the-fly feel of the pre-Judgment Day conflicts. In T1 to T3, we see the whole sequence of events through the arrival of the opposing sides, the Connors’ initial disbelief and steep learning curve, the frantic escape, the regrouping, and the showdown. In the process, everyone goes through some battle-hardening and comes out the other side a more mature character. (The change to Sarah between T1 and T2 is one of my favourite character development notes of all time.) In Salvation, we enter the conflict with the battle-lines already drawn. The Resistance already knows their enemy. They have well-defended bases to retreat to, full of people who are already on their side. And John makes the transition from a battle-hardened warrior to… a battle-hardened warrior with a few scars and a heart transplant.

So. Where do we start?

First of all, we’ll drop Marcus’ backstory. Salvation seemed unable to decide whether Marcus being a machine was a big reveal or not – if we hadn’t seen him die in the first few minutes, and then appear fifteen years later without aging, it might have been a bit more of a surprise. But then they seemed to make a big deal out of revealing his metal parts. It would have been better if they’d decided on one or the other – either we have no idea he’s a machine at all (including not showing that in the trailer, thank you), or we know – and he knows – that he’s a machine from very early on. I think we’ll go with the former.

Let’s move the main story a few years earlier. The Resistance hasn’t found its feet yet. John (and pregnant Kate Brewster, why not) are part of a small group survivors on the run from systematically widening Skynet search-and-destroy missions. John has started doing his radio broadcasts, but the people with him are skeptical about who he claims to be – lots of people have lost their minds a bit in the last few years, and John’s delusions of prophecy aren’t anything out of the ordinary. This will let us play out John’s Cassandra complex, which was a good note in Salvation but could have been expanded a bit.

If we stick to the formula, we need a Terminator and a protector. We can, of course, twist the formula; we just need enough of it to tie it in to the franchise and possibly lull the audience into thinking they know what’s going on.

Let’s take a step back and look at what’s happened to the Connor-Skynet relationship over the years. There was a passing comment in T3 to the effect that the T-850, before he was reprogrammed and sent back in time, successfully completed a mission to kill John Connor in the future. He was chosen for that mission – despite being an obsolete model by then – because of John’s prior relationship with that model. Presumably being an Arnie-lookalie made future-John hesitate long enough for Arnie to get in close for the kill.

This means that Skynet knows what happened in the earlier missions to the past. At least, it knows that the T-1000’s mission in T2 failed because of a reprogrammed T-800 that formed a relationship with the Connors. Either the T-1000 left status reports for Skynet while it was in the past, or John told the story to people in the future who were interrogated or spied on by Skynet, or whatever… somehow Skynet knows that John has allied with reprogrammed Terminators before.

Let’s say that the T-1000 somehow left status reports behind about its mission in T2 that Skynet would discover later. It makes sense that the T-X in T3 would do the same thing. In fact, since the T-X will be interacting with Skynet directly in the no-longer-Cyberdyne Air Force headquarters, it makes sense for it to bring all kinds of information back that will give Skynet the edge in the upcoming war. Outcomes of future battles, future Resistance strategies, key pieces of technology…

…blueprints for future models of Terminators…

…time displacement equipment…

We’ll assume that it’s not possible for Skynet to bootstrap the kind of production processes it needs to build flesh-covered or liquid-metal Terminators and time machines immediately. It will take several years to do that. But the T-X can bring back enough information to shortcut the process, produce Terminators ahead of schedule (Salvation mentioned this already, didn’t it? I don’t remember it giving a reason though), and prepare for the fact that John Connor expects them to be reprogrammable, and that he’s comfortable with the idea of someone coming back in time to protect him.

A lot of double-bluffing opportunities present themselves here. The most obvious, for the single goal of killing John, is to redesign Terminators to appear reprogrammable, but revert to their original mission if they have a clear shot at John of any age. Or, for the broader goal of bringing down the Resistance, simultaneously revert at a particular time on a particular date, or after a signal from Skynet Central, when enough “reprogrammed” double agents have made their way into Resistance ranks.

That has some resonance with (and is arguably more sensible than) the “off switch” subplot of the movie. However, I prefer a slightly different idea. (Maybe we can save that plot for a sequel, where we actually see Resistance fighers trying to reprogram machines.)

In the new version, Skynet keeps the Terminator models on track according to the timeline that John knows about – so the bulky-looking rubber-skinned T-600 is still the state of the art at the time of the film. However, given a head-start on Terminator technology and the details of what John is expecting, it secretly develops the technology to put a robot CPU into a human body. Not the Marcus Wright split personality deal with metallic body parts, but a purely organic Terminator that weighs the same as a human, doesn’t smell different to dogs, doesn’t set off magnetic mines (sheesh), and is completely under Skynet’s control. It also takes the time to develop a more convincing personality.

Because of the tradeoff in terms of brute strength, this new Terminator’s purpose would be deep infiltration – it wouldn’t try to kill its target itself, but would try to lure them out of hiding, plant false information, or relay their location to Skynet which could send Hunter-Killers or simply nuke them. It would be undetectable by any of the means John is prepared for, would do a much better job of infiltration, and would probably still be played by Sam Worthington.

Skynet also gets some of the way towards developing a time machine. It doesn’t quite have it right yet, but it’s at the point where it can, with a huge amount of energy (i.e. it can’t do it very often), teleport organic matter. (It’s likely that the future version can transport through space as well as time, since the time travellers from the earlier movies all arrived in different places.)

So. Back to the story.

John and his group of survivors are resting, having narrowly escaped a patrol or something. At some point in the middle of the night – possibly while John is doing his radio show – the trademark crackling blue sphere appears and out stumbles a naked Marcus Wright. Most of the people around react with suspicion and shouted challenges at gunpoint, but John has experience with this. After satisfying himself that Marcus is on their side (let’s say they have a dog with them), he gives him clothes and asks him what’s going on.

If we really wanted to mess with John’s head, Marcus could claim to be John and Kate’s unborn child. Maybe that’s overkill.

Either way, according to Marcus Wright/Connor, Skynet of the future has finally figured out the identity of John’s father – Kyle Reese. Since earlier missions to the past fared pretty badly, it’s decided to send a Terminator back to kill Reese after Judgment Day, where it can collaborate with other Skynet forces, but before the Resistance gets serious and would be able to protect him. Whether this plan would actually work involves a few loops around the predestination paradox wheel, but as we’ll see it doesn’t actually matter. It just has to sound plausible. And turning Kyle from the protector into the target is a satisfying callback to T1.

Marcus tells them that he knows where Kyle was hiding before he joined the Resistance. At this point, we cut to Kyle himself, who is doing more or less what he was doing at the start of Salvation – trying to stay alive, hanging out with Star. He knows how to stay out of trouble, but he’s inexperienced and not capable of fighting back. Yet. He’ll be our battle-hardening project in this movie. (Salvation sorta kinda tried to do this with the red armband thing, but from memory, Kyle didn’t actually do a lot other than get himself captured.)

We see Kyle on the run. He’s competent in getting away from the T-600s, which are slow and have obvious blind spots. Possibly he even crushes one of them (as in Salvation). But then (this may be a few scenes later) he runs into a squad of T-600s led by a more advanced, futuristic, calm Terminator. It’d be nice if Arnie could play this Terminator, but we’ll need more than a few seconds of CG, so let’s throw in an extra twist and offer the role to Robert Patrick. Kyle tries his usual tricks to get away, but the new Terminator is too quick. We see him cornered, possibly with a knife-finger through his shoulder… and then cut back to John and Marcus.

They have, of course, been working their way towards Kyle. John’s companions have left them, deciding that the new plan of moving towards Skynet was not an improvement over the previous plan of moving away. Kate has gone with the rest of the group, giving us the opportunity for an “I won’t leave you”, “You must, you have to raise our child, this is my destiny” scene. It’s okay if this is a bit cheesy. Anyway, John and Marcus are going it alone, which gives a better sense of isolation and not having anywhere to fall back to.

On the way, Marcus should start telling John about his role as Messiah in the future. People are drawn to his leadership qualities. They look to him for guidance. He gives them hope. He turns water into wine. Blah blah blah. The topic turns to John’s radio broadcast. John is starting to doubt that it’s having any effect, since the people he’s on the run with don’t even believe him. Marcus tells him that there are people out there for whom John’s voice is the only thing keeping them going, and in the years to come they’ll join the Resistance and follow him into battle willingly. After this conversation, John sets up his radio gear (which he’s brought with him) and does another show.

Yeah, I’ll explain why in a minute.

Cut to the next day. John and Marcus have reached the place where Kyle Reese is supposedly hiding – a largely intact building in a city that’s mostly rubble. But there are T-600s patrolling the entrance, and there’s general activity around the place – scaffolding, large machine parts being carried into the building, the sound of industrial equipment. They briefly discuss the possibility that Kyle has moved on or already been killed. John decides that he needs to be sure, so they find a way into the building – which isn’t too hard, given the state of disrepair of the surrounding area. And they find Kyle, inexplicably still alive.

At this point we need to find a way to do some plot exposition. At all costs, we should avoid any Bond villain “before I kill you, let me explain my master plan” shenanigans – Terminators don’t say anything they don’t have to. Everything we discover has to be pieced together by the human characters. Kyle has worked out the purpose of some of the equipment that’s being set up around him. John comes across a computer terminal (like at the start of Salvation) while he’s got a moment out of sight of anything trying to kill him. When they’re together, they have a few rushed “that can’t be right… oh my god” sort of conversations. Maybe there are a couple of flashbacks to suspicious things John saw earlier. Possibly they don’t work out all of it on the spot, and some of it is explained in the epilogue voiceover (a bit cheap, but not too bad if it’s short). Whatever works. Anyway, this is the plot they piece together:

Marcus is, of course, a fleshy Terminator. He and the Robert Patrick Terminator are both from the present, a result of Skynet’s advanced development schedule from the T-X’s information. Marcus was teleported to John Connor’s location to make it appear to John that he came from the future. Their mission was to capture both John and Kyle alive (which explains why they haven’t just shot and/or nuked them yet, given many, many opportunities). Kyle had to stay alive so that John doesn’t disappear in a puff of paradox. (The Terminator series is a bit inconsistent on which model of time travel they use; but it’s sufficient that Skynet doesn’t know what will happen to John if Kyle dies, and isn’t willing to take the risk.)

John had to stay in one piece because they’re going to turn him into a Terminator. The plan is to replace John with a robot after he’s started to gather followers (hence Marcus encouraging him to keep up the radio broadcast). He’ll go on to infiltrate and lead the Resistance, and once everyone trusts him unconditionally he’ll order an all-out attack that turns out to be a trap. Resistance loses, Skynet wins and… goes on to… what does a self-aware machine that sees humans as a threat do after it’s actually wiped out humanity? Does it settle down and retire?

Anyway.

The complicated machinery they’re setting up is for the purpose of Terminator-conversion. They’re setting it up in the field instead of using the labs at Skynet Headquarters because Marcus had to lead John to a place that Kyle could plausibly be hiding, and that’s defended but not so much that John won’t think he can get in. There’s a slight question mark over why they didn’t capture John in the field and bring him back to HQ, but… well it’s minor compared to the plot holes in Salvation, and I’m sure there’s a way around it. The point is that the makeshift setup is isolated and not heavily guarded to the same degree as HQ, so John and Kyle can plausibly blow it up, escape from it and have a head start before the HKs come swooping in.

So. They get inside, find Kyle, and look for a way out. At this point Robert Patrick shows up. Marcus is programmed to stay in character until the braun half of the team appears, which is now; his personality immediately switches off and he wanders over unemotionally (maybe with a slight smirk) to stand behind the metal man. John loses it and starts screaming at him; Kyle correctly realises that this isn’t going to achieve anything and drags him away just before the T-1000 manages to catch them. (Skynet still needs both of them alive, so nobody’s going to shoot at them or injure them lethally. But a knife through the shoulder wouldn’t be a problem.)

Somehow they manage to destroy the facility, possibly still using power cells. Marcus, the T-600 support and all of the machinery are destroyed. John has a moment of inner conflict about having killed Marcus – their friendship over the last couple of days still feels real to him even though he knows logically that it wasn’t; he has a complicated history of emotional attachment to machines in earlier movies; and whatever Marcus’ motives at the time, he did restore John’s confidence about his role in the Resistance. We shouldn’t make too much of a big deal about this, but the camera can linger on his face for a moment after the explosion.

The T-1000 is blown to pieces but manages to pull himself together (ha ha). This brings us to the formula’s climactic battle – a showdown with a single Terminator. Kyle points out that they can’t just run away, because the T-1000 has sampled both of them now and can mimic them – a liquid metal John Connor clone isn’t quite as dangerous as an undetectable flesh one, but could still cause chaos. So they have to destroy it. They also have time pressure now – Skynet will send reinforcements, and now that the primary mission has failed they’ll probably just shoot to kill.

Exactly how the final battle will play out is left as an exercise to the reader. At the end of it, Kyle should have learnt a few combat tricks and be ready to fight back rather than staying on the run. John should learn something about his role as prophet to the Resistance – if they come to rely on any one person as their saviour, then they’re being set up for a fall, regardless of whether that person is a Skynet agent or just a human who won’t get everything right on their own. To lead the Resistance, he needs to encourage each of them to find the strength within themselves.

(I’ll hire a writer who can cover over the clichés a bit.)

This entry was posted on Friday, July 24th, 2009 at 12:41 pm and is filed under Action, Forensic Analysis, Science Fiction, Shishberg, T. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.