Master Nabeshin
05-06-2008, 07:04 AM
Ain't It Cool News Article (http://www.aintitcool.com/node/36618)
Oh, what a sad, sad day for we Terminator die-hards. When announced, I knew Terminator 4 was going to suck. Then news started trickling out about it, like Christian Bale as John Connor. I started to think it had a chance...no, it DID have a chance at regaining respect for the series after the debacle that was Terminator 3. But then I read this today. As if I wasn't already having a bad day, then I had to go and read this.
Now you may say that it might still be a good movie, just less violent. I say to you: They're making the movie AROUND the rating for merchandising reasons. When you make a movie around a rating, you're finished. Any DECENT director will make a film for what it is and let it earn a rating. Usually they'll tone a movie down from NC-17 or try and shoot for a certain rating, but if the movie is good at R, then they leave it at R. If the movie is good at PG-13, leave it there.
Terminator pretty much needs to be R. Imagine, a future war where man and machine clash...like the beginning of Terminator 2 except 2 hours long and with hugely improved special effects. Oh, except you won't see the Hunter-Killers mow down human resistance soldiers. You'll see the machines fire in the general, off-screen direction of the soldiers, maybe hear a few screams, or see an explosion where some guys get sent flying into the air. You won't see bursts of plasma exploding through some schmuck's chest, or see a Terminator rip someone's heart out. Heck, if there are T-800s in the movie, we probably won't even have the thrill of the horror and gore of chunks of flesh rotting away on the metal endoskeleton. We'll probably get some cheesy makeup like on the Sarah Connor Chronicles (which I did like, btw).
Now, I'm not an ultraviolent guy. Nor am I a gore or horror guy. But I am a die-hard Terminator fanatic. Just imagine if James Cameron had decided to make The Terminator PG-13 so that the kids could see it (without parents or if the ticket teller gave a crap at all). He wouldn't have Arnold or Michael enter the world naked (which was a visual metaphor used to contrast the power and strength of the Terminator vs.the weakness and vulnerability of Kyle Reese), he wouldn't have the Terminator rip that punk's heart out, there would be no massacre at the police station, the love scene between Kyle and Sarah would be very much toned down, and the whole atmosphere of the film would be much less mature, and much less provocative all in the name of merchandising. It would just be another b-movie, faded and lost to time and obscurity.
Don't even get me started on how badly Terminator 2 would have been affected.
But of course, as pointed out in the article above, the R rating didn't stop anyone from merchandising the hell out of Terminator 2, or stop the film itself from breaking box office records. A good movie will sell itself regardless of rating. I'm seriously considering writing letters, making phone calls at all hours of the day, etc to try and convince them they're making a horrible mistake.
By the way, if you've actually read through all this, thank you and congratulations (
).
Oh, what a sad, sad day for we Terminator die-hards. When announced, I knew Terminator 4 was going to suck. Then news started trickling out about it, like Christian Bale as John Connor. I started to think it had a chance...no, it DID have a chance at regaining respect for the series after the debacle that was Terminator 3. But then I read this today. As if I wasn't already having a bad day, then I had to go and read this.
Now you may say that it might still be a good movie, just less violent. I say to you: They're making the movie AROUND the rating for merchandising reasons. When you make a movie around a rating, you're finished. Any DECENT director will make a film for what it is and let it earn a rating. Usually they'll tone a movie down from NC-17 or try and shoot for a certain rating, but if the movie is good at R, then they leave it at R. If the movie is good at PG-13, leave it there.
Terminator pretty much needs to be R. Imagine, a future war where man and machine clash...like the beginning of Terminator 2 except 2 hours long and with hugely improved special effects. Oh, except you won't see the Hunter-Killers mow down human resistance soldiers. You'll see the machines fire in the general, off-screen direction of the soldiers, maybe hear a few screams, or see an explosion where some guys get sent flying into the air. You won't see bursts of plasma exploding through some schmuck's chest, or see a Terminator rip someone's heart out. Heck, if there are T-800s in the movie, we probably won't even have the thrill of the horror and gore of chunks of flesh rotting away on the metal endoskeleton. We'll probably get some cheesy makeup like on the Sarah Connor Chronicles (which I did like, btw).
Now, I'm not an ultraviolent guy. Nor am I a gore or horror guy. But I am a die-hard Terminator fanatic. Just imagine if James Cameron had decided to make The Terminator PG-13 so that the kids could see it (without parents or if the ticket teller gave a crap at all). He wouldn't have Arnold or Michael enter the world naked (which was a visual metaphor used to contrast the power and strength of the Terminator vs.the weakness and vulnerability of Kyle Reese), he wouldn't have the Terminator rip that punk's heart out, there would be no massacre at the police station, the love scene between Kyle and Sarah would be very much toned down, and the whole atmosphere of the film would be much less mature, and much less provocative all in the name of merchandising. It would just be another b-movie, faded and lost to time and obscurity.
Don't even get me started on how badly Terminator 2 would have been affected.
But of course, as pointed out in the article above, the R rating didn't stop anyone from merchandising the hell out of Terminator 2, or stop the film itself from breaking box office records. A good movie will sell itself regardless of rating. I'm seriously considering writing letters, making phone calls at all hours of the day, etc to try and convince them they're making a horrible mistake.
By the way, if you've actually read through all this, thank you and congratulations (
).