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Etherdave's Replies
Well, the poster has their opinions, held by pretty much by nearly nobody. I guarantee Mr. Carpenter et al. have no intention of taking this film off their resumes any time soon.
The apparent explanation is that the spaceship was incredibly cold on the outside from outer space, and did not heat from atmospheric friction. The landing was either extremely slow, indicating some sort of anti-gravity propulsion, or it had some kind of shielding protecting it from the atmosphere. Its displacement of the surrounding air increased air pressure, condensing water molecules out of the air, and then freezing them into snow. Arizona may have been chosen to minimize this effect, but don't count out the crater, which just nicely fits the spaceship, protecting the main characters underneath it, while holding military vehicles at bay by sheer size.
The Ben Kingsley mecha explained merely creating a clone body was not the problem; the problem was re-creating the personality and memories of the body, for which no real science exists today, and the mechas themselves seemed to think belonged to the realm of quantum mechanics, and represented a technological brick wall they themselves could not breach. This aspect of what is already a 'science-fiction fairytale' does not bother me.
To be fair we don't know the actual passage of time. Remember Kubrick was attached to this project, he of the 'Bone that turns into a Spaceship' segue that covers millions of years in a few seconds. In this film 2000 years passes within a few phrases of a Ben Kingsley narration, and when it is over Humanity is extinct, and all that it ever was is now entombed in ice. It could very well have been a few years, or even a decade, that Monica loved David. It doesn't really matter, David proved that part of the experiment when Monica started the imprinting protocol. And then Martin showed up again to screw everything up.
I have long thought that the actual story of the movie is the demise of humanity and the rise of its eventual successor species, mecha-based intelligent creatures that are descendants of artificially-intelligent, human-engineered, robots. Thus, the movie is saying, even before the apocalyptic events described at the film's beginning, that humanity is doomed. The principal characters of this drama act out a story of an artificially-intelligent android boy, who, to gain the love of the human mother upon whom he is imprinted, forms the desire to become more human ('real'). His descendants, who exist in a future after the extinction of humanity, are still carrying out this program, attempting to gain insight into the 'human spirit' in an effort to learn more about their 'parent' species, and perhaps to incorporate their findings into themselves. The movie ends with the successor species demonstrating compassion, understanding, and kindness towards the android boy, aspects of humanity in which they seem to be interested.
The movie was an adaptation of a non-fiction novel about J. Robert Oppenheimer, and his fall from grace during the McCarthy Era. There are plenty of pictures about big explosions.
If you didn't like the movie you don't have to be afraid to say so, just brave enough to admit that it's about you and not the movie. I guarantee you nobody involved in this film is taking it off their resumes anytime soon.
Teller and his obsession with doomsday devices, the only thing on Earth that could make him a bigger star than Oppenheimer. Second Law of Thermodynamics says it can't happen. And once they did the math they realized that was so. This is why Teller flew into a rage whenever someone mentioned Dr. Strangelove in his presence. Because that's who he was.
The film intended to depict a peacetime American army composed of misfits, nitwits, and incompetents, with the odd career soldier (Warren Oates, who actually served 2 years in the Marines) thrown in for contrast.
You miss the point. This is a deliberately overblown, wildly hyperbolic, insanely insane film about people who led their lives like Greek or Norse gods, or at least like the heroes those gods favoured. Incest? What of it? Consenting adults, right? 5 times?, JUST 5 times? No wonder she killed herself... she just wasn't trying! How about Samuel's heart in a messkit? Or fighting a bear? Twice! The SAME BEAR!! I'm afraid you're simply supposed to pour yourself another one of whatever you've got in your hand, sit back, and just enjoy the ride. Premise? PREMISE?? This is for lesser films. This is 'Legends Of The Fall', the most overheated film in cinematic history. In the words of Jay Gatsby, 'It's all in fun, Old Sport'!
In the absence of time-displacement apparatus, I think he did a good impression of 1984 Michael Biehn.
The series establishes many models of Terminators, some of which are designed as infiltrators, some as mere one-off assassins, and some of which are clearly 'grunt' models designed as cannon-fodder; the Terminators are clearly becoming more capable of independant thought, and may come to resent their in-designed subservience to Skynet. Cameron is clearly designed off a lighter, less rugged chassis than other models; nevertheless, she is most heavily damaged by explosives, just as the original motion picture Terminator was.
Cromartie. This is Garrett Dillahunt's masterpiece, a Terminator whose great intelligence is undermined by his slavery under Skynet. As John Henry, Dillahunt plays an innocent child... who may not be that innocent.
There are numerous references to chess and chess theory in this series. Bobby Fischer was an American chess prodigy, with an uneasy relationship with his past and ethnic heritage, so he is perfect as a cultural reference in this series, which is as much about cultural divides as it is about malevolent computers trying to exterminate the Human Race. Fischer is famous for sacrificing his Queen in order to unleash an attack on an opponent, the so-called 'Game Of The Century'; he was 13. Fischer is also famous for his Openings, which were considered unpredictable and challenging to opponents; many described his play as that of a chess computer. The series is predicated by the development of a chess-playing machine called The Turk, which may ultimately become the malevolent AI Skynet. There are two characters introduced in the series: Andy Goode, creator of The Turk, who takes the name William Wisher to hide his identity in the future, and Charles Fischer, a watch repairman who colludes with Skynet and is branded a war criminal. John Henry, a childlike AI, enjoys chess-like games, as a means of learning; he is being developed in the present day by an advanced Terminator, ostensibly as an opposite to Skynet; he may or may not have benefited from the programming of The Turk, as well as a Terminator named Cromartie. The War between Humanity and Skynet is described as a chess-match, especially as prosecuted by the Future John Connor; Connor has been trained as an adolescent to empathize with the Terminators, possibly to encourage a negotiated peace, where both intelligences may survive. William Wisher is killed by Derek Reese, who travels back in time to murder Andy Goode before Wisher can exist. Charles Fischer is executed for his crimes, after fleeing to the past to ensure the survival of his younger self. Bobby Fischer died January 17, 2008, 4 days after the airing of the first episode of 'Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles'. Bobby Fischer is dead.
Sorry. The present owners of the franchise have no interest in continuing the television series. Personally, I smell a reboot.
You forget Cameron was programmed and sent to John by his older self from the future. Any such activity would have been anticipated and programmed by Future John. If your 15 year old self had his own female terminator, it's likely any interaction would be based on this principle. Advantage would not enter into the equation.
I'm pretty sure Catherine Weaver / T-1001 was investigating the possibility of reproduction, and whether or not Terminators could actually raise and nurture young, not simply simulate it as a means of infiltration. I'm pretty sure her 'pet' was part of that investigation, as well as Savannah Weaver.
Chinese opera is highly stylized, emphasizing enunciation, emphasis, and order in its delivery. Listen to English oratorio and chamber music of the Jacobean era, I think you'll see many similarities. Now, according to the original novella on which this film is based, Songlian and Feipu may be the only true intellectuals in the Chen household. Maybe Meishan really is a borderline singing talent (though it seems unlikely), and this simply makes no difference in the end run, since the household thinks whatever Chen thinks. He thinks she's a diva, and that's really all that matters.
It was posted all over the Internet when the film was released, six years ago. You can watch it on YouTube.
Yes, I enjoyed it, too, not so much Ben Kingsley, because he's always great in everything he does, but I really was impressed by the performances of the younger cast, especially Theo James. I don't understand the critics' complaints about the storyline, unless, of course, they were ordered to write the criticisms; you just can't rule it out, I guess.