ONLINE ONLY: Hasta la vista, Terminator?

One of the most important moments of my childhood was when I saw “Terminator 2.” Many might have found it too graphic for someone my age to be watching, but I couldn’t have cared less. I had all the action figures, including a huge talking T-101, the character Arnold Schwarzenegger made famous. The character, in all its bloody, half-man half-machine glory, was on my 5th birthday cake. \nThe Terminator saga has been an obsession of mine for a long time. I use the word “saga” because I believe the films to be so epic that the word “series” doesn’t deliver them justice. So my eyes widened last week when it was announced that the fourth film that sets up a new trilogy of films dealing with the future war is set to being production. Then I read further to find that McG is in talks to direct and Vin Diesel is in talks to star. \nAfter a short rage blackout, I calmed down, really thought about it and came to a shocking conclusion: I think it can work.\nThe diehards are going to have to get over the fact that Rick Pitino, Schwarzenegger or James Cameron “(are) not walking through that door.” The Governator is busy trying to amend the Constitution and J.C. is in preproduction on a movie about cats in the future. For many, even “T3” was a letdown, so how do the producers expect audiences to accept this?\nI assume they’ve been working on a scenario without Arnie since the last film ended. “T3” did a marvelous job of getting to what people have been waiting for since 1984: the war between humans and machines. There doesn’t have to be a Terminator that looks like Arnold; the Terminators can be the endoskeletons seen previously. Save money in the budget for effects. The fans want to see two things: John Connor becoming a badass, and at least 65 minutes of Terminators blowing up the world.\nNeither of the talents attached are inspiring, but this film doesn’t need them to be. McG works for “T4” because he’s a decent director – not Cameron-good by any means, but good enough. This film only needs someone to point and shoot the action. Diesel needs something to jump-start his career, so why shouldn’t he take that action-film throne of Arnie’s like everyone said he was going to a few years back? Diesel gets a lot of flack, but the man’s acting talents are underrated and he has a presence on screen. \nThe thing that will be most influential to the success of this film is the script. The guys who wrote “T3” are writing this one, and although it had some rough parts, they made up for it with the ending. They wrote John Connor really well, and if they continue to do that, as well as flesh out some new characters, they’ll be on their way. The action writes itself; it’s the quieter moments that made the first and second films so amazing. \nIf “T4” doesn’t deliver on the aforementioned, it will sadly confirm what many said after the third film: “Hasta la vista.”