1. The savior of narcissism
The biggest difference between this "Terminator" and the previous ones is not that the past ones are the "now" and this one is the "future", but that John has changed his identity. In the past few movies, someone kept chatting in John Connor's ear: "You are very important", "You are very important" and "You are very important", and John himself was confused about this. In "Terminator 2", young John complained that his mother always told him that he was important, and he felt a little overwhelmed; John in the TV series also had similar confusion; in "Terminator 3", the youth John has grown into a pustule, and it is not important at all to prove himself physically.
And by this fourth part, it’s been a long time since the old lady of nerves, Schwarzenegger has not yet mass-produced, and the people who used to talk about "you are important" are all dead, but now John himself is not confused anymore. Suddenly Believing that oneself is undoubtedly the savior of mankind. It used to be a nervous old lady who was afraid of something wrong with her son and finished the game. This time it was John who considered his life more important than anything else. Therefore, John's first priority is not to save mankind, but to ensure the smooth continuation of his life.
Incidentally, John’s father’s life became extremely important: "Without my father, there is no such thing as me. If you don’t save my father, mankind will have no future!! (The main plot of this movie is'John Save dad')"
Of course, there is no problem with logic, but John himself introduced these logics and said them himself. This is a bit embarrassing.
"You are very important!" "You are very important!" "You are very important!" -it's nothing.
"I am important!" "I am important!" "I am important!" -This is a bit awkward. Although everyone knows that you are indeed important, can you not be so explicit?
Because he has to follow the logic of "I am important", some of John's behaviors seem to be very awkward. For example, the generous speech of "we're all dead" that everyone has seen in the trailer, puts it in the trailer, but it is not so upright in the film.
The purpose of this speech was to call on the rebels to boycott the orders of their superiors to launch an attack on Skynet, so as to give John a chance to save the human beings locked in Skynet's headquarters. Although John has raised the goal of salvation to the height of "humanity vs. machine," in fact, his most important goal is still to rescue his dad who is trapped there.
Of course, this very selfish decision did finally save the main resistance force, but it was a blind cat and a dead mouse. John's temperament that can be the most human leader seems to be his good luck.
There is another example: the scene where Marcus decides to save John with his heart at the end, logically speaking, this is the most sensational passage that the director should focus on. But the director let this paragraph pass lightly. Don't say a few words of refusal from John, he didn't even say thank you, and even the expression in his thankful eyes was not very obvious.
At first, I thought it was probably because the director was as bad as the screenwriter, and he couldn't even shoot sensational passages. Later I figured it out: According to the logic of "I am important", John would not refuse someone to change his heart. The whole film has spent so much effort to keep oneself alive, and it is impossible to explode humanity until the end, and leave the hope of life to others. So it's better to just be cheeky and get down, and even avoid guilt. Therefore, it is logical for this scene to be so warm. It's not that the director is not sensational, but that the script writes John into this deadly virtue.
Second, the brain-dead Skynet
In the previous "Terminator", Skynet was frightening; in this one, Skynet was brain-disabled.
For example, when the Motorcycle Terminator debuted (although the firepower was terrible): There was a scene of a lot of car fragments flying in front of the highway during the speeding process (copy the Michael Bay’s signature scene), and the Motorcycle Terminator calculated in an instant The debris running trajectory, use a sliding on the ground that can only appear in a big turn in a motorcycle race to avoid debris. It seems that the IQ of the Motorcycle Terminator is pretty good. However, when it debuted for the second time, John just pulled a rope in front of it and tripped it in the air and turned many times. And it wasn't when it was approaching that it suddenly pulled up a rope, and when there was a long distance away, the rope was already pulled and waiting. For some reason, the Motorcycle Terminator was suddenly mentally disabled this time, the fragments of the car flying at high speed were clear, and a rope that had been pulled long ago turned black under the lights.
If Skynet's use of false weaknesses to lure humans into attack is considered a bit of IQ, its Marcus plan is a 100% brain-dead plan.
First of all, the plan was actually over when John and his father was arrested. Skynet clearly ranked John Tad at the top of the kill list, and after catching John Tad, there were a thousand chances to kill him, but he didn't know why he still didn't do it. It doesn't make sense to say it was to use his dad as a bait to lure John into the net. Because in the first three parts, Skynet's approach to John was to go back in time to destroy John or eliminate the conditions that gave him birth. In other words, although the concept of time and space shuttle in the "Terminator" series has always lacked a positive explanation, it is undoubtedly "Butterfly Effect" style. That is to say-as long as the past is changed, the future will follow. It doesn't matter whether John is dead or alive in the future. Kill the one in the past, and now this one doesn't exist anymore. If the elimination of the John of the past has no effect on the John of the present, did they send robots back in the first three episodes to go on vacation? So it is not logical to use his father to booby John. Taking a step back, even if he wanted to booby John, Skynet would secretly execute his dad first. Anyway, there was no news after he was caught, and John was going to come to his rescue anyway. Apart from Marcus, Skynet has no other traitors. Is it still afraid of leaking the news?
Taking a step back, even if John was finally lured in, Skynet hadn't prepared enough troops for this "thought-out" plan in the trap! In the end, John and Marcus only encountered a very limited number of T-600 and T-800 attacks. This is Skynet's San Francisco headquarters! Are all the T-600s that have appeared before playing cards outside at this time?
Take a step back. Even if Skynet has confidence in the T-600 and T-800 inside the base, then after Marcus and Skynet are connected and the message is sent to John, Marcus’s mission will always be possible at this time. Is it done? At this time, it should be turned off while Marcus is connected. But at this time Skynet actually told Marcus the whole plan. Marcus was still in the dark and didn't know where to go. As a result, this stimulus directly led to Marcus' defection. Moreover, Skynet had no control over this self-made product, so it had to watch it save John.
I have never seen such a cheap computer.
After watching this film, I am full of hope for the future of mankind. It is strange that such a silly robot can't beat it.
Three, other
Finally, let's talk about a little bit of thoughts.
About the details:
Judging from the boring publicity before the release, this film makes people feel that they are very careful in details. From the beginning of the mysterious announcement of the robot design drawings and scene concept drawings, it left this impression on people. But in fact, the meticulousness of the film is probably reflected in some of the art design, and the more critical plot design is actually extremely sloppy. In addition to the motorcycle terminator example mentioned earlier, there is another example: when John finally rescued the hostages held in the headquarters, he actually asked them to go directly outside to board the car. But at this time, robots like T-600 with fierce firepower are guarding them. And he obviously got in on a motorcycle single-handedly. When he came in, it took a lot of effort to avoid the robots patrolling outside. What kind of car did he come from? Isn't pushing others out at this time to die?
Regarding Tribute:
Like the third, this one pays tribute to the first two "Terminator".
The classic line "I'll be back" was spoken through John this time. It's a little deliberate, with a laugh, but it's better than the ridiculous "she'll be back" in the third part.
Papa's line "Fate is not destined" also reappeared, and it was also said by John himself. This sentence appears at the end of the film, and it actually means: "We have to make a sequel." But in fact, after shooting so many sequels, in the end they just repeatedly proved the immortality of "Terminator 2".
In addition, I don't believe that this film was not inspired by "Transformers". Needless to say, the "Reaper" looks like a Transformer. The leech robot copied the tail of the Giant Sack, and the scene of the motorcycle terminator sliding down from the Reaper's leg is exactly the same as the scene of the Giant Sack popping out of Vertigo. So after reading it, I think the "Transformers Terminator" spoofed by netizens on the Internet not long ago is very interesting. Now that there is "AVP", it shouldn't be too much to make a "TVT" in the future.
(Revised on April 30, 2020)
Text: Wei Zhichao
A little bit of private goods, my new book published in 2020:
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