Let It Die: The Terminator

[TMC]

https://lebeauleblog.com/2019/11/22/...he-terminator/

Terminator fans have waited for years for their favorite science fiction franchise to get it right. After several disappointing attempts to reboot the man-vs-robot series, they pinned their hopes on the most recent entry, Terminator: Dark Fate.

There was reason to be optimistic. Series creator James Cameron was back (albeit as a producer). The back-to-basics approach ignored inferior sequels and returned Linda Hamilton to her iconic role as Sarah Connor. Unfortunately, Dark Fate tanked at the box office possibly killing The Terminator once and for all.

I say, let it die!

Regular readers may be familiar with my stance on the Terminator series. Things got a little heated around here when the last movie (Terminator Genisys) was released in 2015. I ruffles the feathers of at least one longtime reader when I suggested that the franchise had gone beyond its natural lifespan four years ago. My opinion hasn’t changed.

Most movie sequels are inessential from a creative standpoint. But some franchises are more extendable than others. A character like James Bond can go on one cinematic mission after another. Sure, they can be repetitive, but audiences show no signs of losing interest in the formula.

The 007 movies are an elusive ideal. Few other movie franchises can approach its infinite potential. A lot of ongoing series are tied to their star. You can’t recast Rocky or Axel Foley. You could make a Die Hard movie without Bruce Willis, but I wouldn’t advise trying. What distinguishes John McClain from every other movie cop other than the actor playing him?

Other franchises have built-in limitations. The Jurassic Park movies have never really figured out a good way to deal with the problem of why anyone would ever go back to an island full of dangerous dinosaurs. The Terminator movies have an even bigger obstacle to overcome.

To get the full picture, let’s go back to the beginning. When the first Terminator movie was released in 1984, Arnold Schwarzenegger was still primarily known as a competitive body builder. He had already starred in a couple of Conan movies, but he was still grappling with the English language. Sylvester Stallone was still the king of the box office action-wise and no one took Schwarzenegger seriously as a challenger to the crown… yet.

Terminator didn’t exactly change that dynamic. With a domestic gross of just under $40 million dollars, The Terminator was a low budget hit. But it wasn’t the smash you might think it would have been. Most audiences didn’t see The Terminator in theaters. They caught up with it later when it was released on video.

The Terminator didn’t catapult its cast to stardom. Linda Hamilton was still a few years away from the project that would make her a household name; the cult TV show Beauty and the Beast. Schwarzenegger and James Cameron saw the biggest career boosts. For Schwarzenegger, that meant he didn’t have to play Conan anymore. Cameron earned enough clout to get out of the B-movie ghetto.

Cameron came up through Roger Corman’s organization. His early credits include Corman productions like Rock ‘n’ Roll High School and Battle Beyond the Stars. Cameron made his directorial debut on a sequel, Piranha II: The Spawning. From the beginning, Cameron showed an innate understanding of what made sequels work. A Cameron sequel would maintain what worked in the original movie while raising the stakes in a dramatic way. Cameron’s killer fish could fly.