Before you read further, know this: I make no promises that potential spoilers do not lay in this article, or that this entire thing wasn't a waste of time. The movie isn't out yet, but rumors are flying – so let's dive in.
Ok, now that we have that out of the way..
Terminator 5 has unofficially been given the proverbial "green light" by Paramount Pictures, with Laeta Kalogridis (Producer: Avatar/Shutter Island) and Patrick Lussier (Drive Angry, Dracula 2000, and edited more movies than I want to list.) writing the script. So far, things could be worse for Terminator lovers, Drive angry wasn't entirely terrible… so, there's that. We all know Justin Lin was supposed to direct Terminator 5 when it was first announced, but he decided to do Fast 6 instead, and that worked out well for him, he did mention that if T5 were to be delayed he would remain open to coming back to the Terminator project, delayed it was – and this is where things get interesting.
According to an article on The Examiner, via WWE Insider – Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson is in talks to sign on to T5.
Let that soak in.
Suddenly Justin Lin doesn't sound like a long shot, after working with The Rock on Fast5 and Fast 6, it would make the transition that much easier.
But, The Rock?
I feel the same. On one hand we have possibly my favorite franchise of all time. On the other cybernetic hand we have Dwayne Johnson, who can – and has – lifted up every franchise he has touched (Editor's note: Except the Mummy and the whole Scorpion King thing, but we'll blame that on Brendan Fraiser – cause he sucks). If there is one franchise that is screaming "HELP ME OBI WAN KENOBI, YOU'RE MY ONLY HOPE" it is regrettably The Terminator franchise. After the apocalyptic pooch-screw that McG bestowed upon Terminator Salvation, and the hypnotherapy bills I racked up trying to forget it, a 5th installment seemed like it was never going to happen and if it somehow did make it.. well… the word flaccid comes to mind.
Queue: The Rock. This guy can easily turn any ugly duckling into a magical vein splitting swan. Need proof?
The Fast and The Furious franchise.
Skip forward to Fast & Furious (That's part four..) – It was OK, and a good turnaround point for the series. Now add The Rock opposite Vin Diesel, and you have a gold mine. Fast & Furious 6 just cruised by $500 million at the worldwide box office.
So, following the same formula:
We take one part Arnold Schwarzenegger
one part Dwayne Johnson
a dash of Justin Lin
shake over ice and serve in a solid metal goblet.
But, one of the unfortunate parts of all this; Arnold is old. It pains me to even type that. At 65 he is still in semi-great shape, but not to the level we expect The Terminator to be. This leaves us with The Rock being The Terminator, and Arnold being a human. There is no other logical way to do it without some cheesy CGI that the public will hate. The Rock fits the build 100%, I can't deny that at all. If he chooses to sign on (he will if it's presented to him) it could be the crown jewel of his career, and the cap to Schwarzenegger's amazing entertainment history at the same time. Editor's note: It is scary that he may be the next Arnold? I accept it, but reluctantly.
Right about now you are probably curious as to what the story will be in this case, and luckily for you, I have some ideas. Or at least an idea.
T3 ended with John held up in Crystal Peak, as he assumes command of the scattered bits of the human resistance Skynet didn't exterminate in the initial strike.. Now, a system like Skynet will surely have its critics in any real world scenario, and even more likely a critic within the military itself. Enter Arnold, a higher up military officer/general/special ops – maybe even retired, maybe he retired because he didn't approve of the Skynet program in the first place.. When the time came, and his suspicions are confirmed, he leads a militia against the first generation of terminators and Skynet itself. Joining forces with John Connor they form The Resistance and John get's to see the whole father figure idea come full circle at the same time. Naturally The Rock will be the first generation of the Terminator, a prototype unit built to infiltrate and destroy The Resistance. When that ultimately fails, Skynet builds the Arnold T-101 and models it after the Arnold human who is close to John already, and succeeds in killing him. This hardens John and turns him into the badass leader he is supposed to be in the future, and ties the entire time travel Arnold father figure thing together.
What's great about this is that once the current time Arnold is killed, The Rock can be the Terminator all he wants. The T-101 was only used because of the connection to John; it's not like the T-101 is the best Terminator Skynet had up it's sleeve. Liquid Metal, bro, Liquid Metal.
I feel it is only right to tell you about another idea other people have come up with, according to The Examiner:
" A source close to the project says one idea being considered for the film could throw fans of the Terminator franchise for a loop. According to the scenario outlined, T5 may be a prequel set in the days of Sarah Connor's parents, marking the first time terminators have been sent back in time to kill a character that existed before both John and Sarah Connor.
Incredibly, Schwarzenegger may not play the role of a machine in the next film, but a potentially heroic human figure in or close to the Connor family. One theory is that Schwarzenegger's remarkable ability to protect the Connor family in the 1940s or 1950s with antiquated weaponry by today's standards ultimately inspired the machines to develop a terminator in his likeness that was eventually sent to 1984 when Sarah Connor was first targeted for termination."
That is a tricky road to take, I personally don't want to see a period set Terminator movie and I really don't want to see Nazi Terminators, and on the flip side of that – isn't The Rock Samoan and African Canadian? I don't imagine the 40's or 50's to be very tolerant, even if he is a terminator. Just too much crap to deal with in my opinion.
The current time sequel is a much more stable idea, and moves the story forward for Dwayne Johnson to launch it into a 6th installment about the future wars and we can all keep on forgetting about Terminator: Salvation, which is basically the Tokyo Drift stepchild of the bunch anyway.
It's sad that this will surely be the last Terminator movie with Arnold Schwarzenegger, but we do have a new Conan, Twins (Triplets), A zombie movie called Maggie, and The Expendables 3 to hold us over for the next couple years.
As I said this entire thing could be a waste of time, and maybe The Rock is just a reverse engineered T-101 that the humans have made into a bodyguard for John and Katherine's children. "Robo Baby Sitter X980…?"
One thing's for certain, keep McG the hell away from it, and I promise you my money. Twice.
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