The future of war is already upon us. We deal with it on a daily basis in the Middle East. It’s composed mainly of a war against terrorism. They are the new villains we face. The weapons used are all state-of-the-art, but there’s a constant fear of falling behind in the arms race. Companies spend every waking moment developing newer technologies to help destroy its fellow man. No matter where we are in the present, the future is firmly in our grasp. However, at the moment, our wars are fought man versus man. The future depicted in Terminator Salvation is man versus machine, in which man fights all on the same side.

Throughout the Terminator franchise, the moment of “judgment day,” in which a nuclear holocaust wipes out the vast majority of human civilization, leaving Earth to be ruled by machines, has been seen only briefly. It’s mentioned in The Terminator, shown very briefly in a futuristic vision in Terminator 2: Judgment Day and is the backdrop for the end of Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, as John Connor along with other important world leaders are stowed in a fallout shelter while the rest of the world endures nuclear annihilation. The future after judgment day has always been shown briefly throughout the series and with the present day storyline pretty much all visualized, the next logical step is to venture into that future when man is at war with the Skynet machines as humanity attempts to stay afloat.

In 2003, a man names Marcus Wright sits on death row. He’s a murderer and no longer redeemable to fit into society. Just before his execution, he’s met by Dr. Serena Kogan. Dr. Kogan requests that Marcus donates his organs after he’s killed. He signs a waiver and is executed via lethal injection. The film flash-forwards to 2018. Judgment day has occurred and left the planet a vast wasteland. Humans are scarce and only scattered throughout. Skynet machines have become self-aware and want to rule the planet for themselves. Their only course of action in order to do so is to eliminate the human race.

John Connor is the leader of the resistance. He is the prophesized individual to help the humans win the ongoing war with the machines. He is tasked with finding and saving his father who years later had traveled back in time to conceive him, Kyle Reese. Reese is only a teenager. He heads the “L.A. branch” of the resistance, which consists of him and a mute five-year-old girl. While performing his life’s work, battling machines, Reese comes across an individual resembling a human, but is not part of the resistance. He seems unaware of his being. He is Marcus Wright. Marcus is revealed to be a terminator, but is adamant he’s human. The question is whether he is friend or foe to the humans and is his objective to help or hurt them.

Scar tissue that I wish you saw..,

Terminator 2: Judgment Day used to be known as the action piece of the franchise. Indeed it is, as it’s one of the greatest pure action films ever made. What made it a great film though, is over and above the great set pieces, there was a rush of adrenaline with some substance to it. Terminator Salvation aims to give T2 a run for its money action-wise, but what it forgets is to make it mean something. Sure there are huge robots equipped with incendiary devices of all sorts blowing up what remains of the Earth in attempt to eradicate humans, but isn’t much beyond that and the subtle trust/mistrust of Marcus. The bleak, post-apocalyptic atmosphere created by director McG looks great, but the whole script is predicated upon making sure nothing really happens. The whole point of the film is to make sure it sets itself up for another sequel. It ultimately ends exactly where it began, like a non-serialized TV episode.

McG had to convince Christian Bale to take a chance on him. Take a chance the director of slick-looking fare like the Charlie’s Angels series could reinvent himself with a more gritty style. The look of it is certainly there and the action scenes are well-executed. For that, he should be commended, but most human interaction seems void of any real emotion. The script by John Brancato & Michael Ferris (Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines) just doesn’t go anywhere. The concept of the human/terminator, Marcus, is an interesting one, but doesn’t lead to any emotionally-relevant state. It’s a stagnant film with no real arc and it seems as if somebody involved in the production just wanted to tread water instead of diving in.

Christian Bale certainly has the intensity necessary as John Connor to carry the fate of the world on his shoulders, but it doesn’t seem to translate when he shares the screen with Aussie actor, Sam Worthington, as Marcus. They’re both worthy actors, but don’t generate the type of heat needed for the on-the-brink-of-extinction premise, especially if compared with the charisma of the Arnold Schwarzenegger-headlined parts of the franchise. Speaking of Schwarzenegger, his “cameo” as a CGI-face on the body of another actor as a T-800 model terminator is plainly awful. The CGI looks waxy and expressionless and the whole occurrence made no sense in the context of the film. It would have been far better if it were excised, especially since it happens during the climax of the film. Once Alfred Hitchcock became such a recognizable face, he continued to do cameo’s in his films, but only toward the beginning, as he knew the audience was waiting for his presence and he didn’t want it to overtake the narrative. This is a lesson Terminator Salvation should have learned.

It’s definitely a positive that the human existence hasn’t stared elimination in the face, even with the current rapid-rate production of WMD’s. It’d be nice if the state of the world can remain that way for while instead of facing mass takeover by the machines we’ve created, ala HAL 9000. Although it looks good and the action sequences are all visually stunning, there isn’t much glue holding this film together. It’s all fairly mindless. What makes matters more saddening is the knowledge that this isn’t the end. In fact, in shows no signs of stopping and sometimes you just need to know when to quit. It will entertain throughout its runtime, but when the credits roll you will have wished for something more.

The Terminator, which was first released in 1984, established the notion of man trying to stop machines from taking over the world. When the sequel Terminator 2: Judgment Day (often considered the best movie of the series) was released in 1991, it launched the franchise into the popular incarnation of what it is now. Since then, another Terminator film has appeared (Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, 2003), a television series (“Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles”), video games and comic books. It also placed Arnold Schwarzenegger in his iconic role. Along with X-Men Origins: Wolverine and Star Trek, the upcoming sequel, Terminator Salvation, the fourth of the series, will be one of the most anticipated films of 2009.

"Walk in my line of vision again! I dare you!"

Christian Bale (freshly removed from his classic rant on the Terminator set) will take over the reigns from Arnold as the leading man. He plays John Connor, the leader of the human rebellion against the machines. Unlike the first three films where most of stories involved time travel to the present day, this one focuses solely on the war in the future, 2018 to be exact.  Bale, who no doubt was last year’s biggest star with The Dark Knight, will be the fifth actor to portray Connor. The others being Edward Furlong (young) and Michael Edwards (old) from T2, Nick Stahl from T3 and Thomas Dekker from the TV show. The story takes place after T3, where man is struggling in a bloody war to stop machines from destroying mankind. The machines, led by an artificial intelligence computer network named Skynet, first tried to alter the future by killing John’s mother, Sarah (Linda Hamilton, who will narrate some of this movie). They then made the attempt to kill John and failed. The machines, however, succeed by taking over the world’s computers and launched nuclear missiles to eradicate man. By 2018, the world is a desolate wasteland of war, death and destruction. Skynet uses “endoskeleton” large metallic robots shaped in the mold of the human skeletal system, to eradicate the last of the human resistance. John, who’s not yet the great leader, is struggling to find his place with the resistance. He has alienated some of his contemporaries by having a wide familiarity of Skynet. He informs people that Skynet is taking human prisoners and replicating them with flesh-covered endoskeletons. When the resistance meets fellow soldier Marcus Wright (Sam Worthington), they are shocked to find out he has memories of being human, but is actually a machine.  When John is confused whether Wright is from the past of future, he uses his help to fight Skynet and hopefully take it offline for good.

Mastering the art of walking on hot coals is much easier with boots on.

The film also stars Bryce Dallas Howard as John’s wife, Kate Connor, Anton Yelchin as Kyle Reese (who’s character, played by Michael Biehn, went back in time in the first film to father John), rapper Common as Barnes, Moon Bloodgood as Blair Williams and Helena Bonham Carter as Serena Korgen. Yes, Arnold Schwarzenegger does make an appearance as well, but only provides his voice while his features will be digitized onto actor Roland Kickinger. A lot of this movie will also hinge on its director, McG. He has done some very different work with the Charlie’s Angels movies and We Are Marshall, so hopefully he succeeds in changing his style. Michael Ferris and John D. Brancato wrote the screenplay and they have collaborated on garbage like Catwoman and Primeval. Hopefully they’re writing skills (or lack thereof) won’t transfer to this film, but I am hopeful since they also wrote T3 and The Game (for David Fincher), and both of those ended up positive.

I will definitely see this one and I’m sure everyone else will too. This movie will be huge and it may break some kind of box office record. However, I wouldn’t imagine it’s about to challenge Bale’s other franchise.

Terminator Salvation opens May 21^st.

This Tuesday (as opposed to last Tuesday) reveals the following in film news from around the web:

Who do you have for your lead in Captain America? [Splash Page] says it is Channing Tatum, who in turn thinks Big Willie Style, Will Smith would be perfect.  I love the Fresh Prince but not sure I want either of them as Captain A.  We’ll see.  Is it just me or is Tatum’s hype like the second-coming of Colin Farrell without the acting chops?

Tina Fey’s Date Night cast is growing into the absurd.  Mark Wahlberg and James Franco are the latest additions to the cast that already includes Common, Steve Carell, Taraji P. Henson and more. [First Showing]

The successful horror/torture Saw franchise will get the ultimate honor by being turned into a video game for your next-gen game systems.  [ShockTillYouDrop] It’s akin to a ballplayer getting a bust in Cooperstown…I think.

Rachel  McAdams talks about her possible blockbusters in State of Play and Sherlock Holmes with El Toro at [Latino Review].

Elisabeth Shue(!) lives but might not in her next film, Pirahna 3-D.  A remake of the cult horror film from the 80’s only with Pirahna you can reach out and touch.  Scary. [Cinema Blend]

Sly Stallone’s The Expendables has its first set pics [Spoiler TV] while [Film School Rejects] has first fiery image from the film.  Hint: It doesn’t look like Stone Cold dies in this pic.  Damn!

Robert Venditti, author of The Surrogates, Bruce Willis’ Sc-Fi movie currently filming has a long discussion with [UGO Movies] about the book and a prequel “The Surrogates: Flesh and Bone.” No BTNH reference though, sorry.

Terminator:  Salvation director McG is opting for a Spring Awakening, planning to adapt the Broadway musical. [The Guardian]

And finally, since you can’t seem to get enough of Zac Efron (you’ve been beating down the walls wanting more news on him!), I bequeath you with [Moviehole]’s breakdown of Efron’s desire to play Marty McFly in a Back To the Future remake.  At least he has the Delorean for starters.

So, while the plethora of yesterday’s April Fools jokes were primarily meaningless and pointless exercises in stupidity, there were a few that were funny (still pointless, mind you) and yet I’m still not entirely sure we are out of the dark yet.  The latest movie news is below.

The full list of Transformers robots that will appear in Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen is officially made public. [USA Today] has the entire list.

More Megan Fox news drops  as she is “a slender beauty with wings” in Passion  Plays, opposite Mickey Rourke. [Risky Business Blog] Might this be the perfect woman opposite Mickey?  How happy is he?  I am sure he will do everything he can to get in her pants too.

[The One Ring] claims that there might be a third Hobbit film, meaning the original two planned by Del Toro need expansion.  Not sure if this is a joke or not, but other sites have also reported on it, so we’ll leave the guesswork to you.

[Spike] has thoughts on Robert Patrick’s involvement in Terminator 5, which has already been green-lit.  McG and T2’s Patrick are tight but nothing is confirmed yet.

Ellen Page, Marion Cotillard and Cillian Murphy join Christopher Nolan’s Inception.  Leonardo DiCaprio is the lead in the sci-fi/psychological film. [Cinematical]

It’s a little older, but [IESB] breaks down a planned Vin Diesel The Chronicles of Riddick sequel.  Pitch Black was pretty well done, but Riddick bombed hard, leaving Fast & Furious to prove Diesel still has clout.

[UGO] interviews Quantum of Solace Director Marc Forster to discuss that film, World War Z, and his other films and interests well.

The “Mount Rushmore of Forgettable Actors” is conceived at [MCN] and while I disagree with some of the names on the list, it is a mildly intriguing concept at least.

Since almost everybody knows about this by now, I went straight to the source [Variety] for the news that X-Men Origins: Wolverine has been leaked online.  Check the torrent sites to see it early.  But I don’t advocate that.  I’ll tell you what’s up but leave the ethical/moral part to you.

The Oscar-winning writer of Traffic, and writer/director of Syriana, Stephen Gaghan, has been tapped to adapt a forthcoming espionage novel, entitled “Dead Spy Running.”

“The Hollywood Reporter” tells us Dead Spy Running is “based on a book by British author Jon Stock, the film is meant to be the first in a trilogy and aims to reinvent the spy genre by telling the origin story of a newly trained spy in a tone that mixes the grittiness of “The Bourne Identity” with the wittiness of John Le Carre’s oeuvre.”

“‘Spy,’ to be published in June, begins with the protagonist running the London Marathon, where a fellow racer is strapped with explosives. The scenario leads to a globe-trotting adventure to clear the name of the man’s father.

Finding a runner in a marathon with explosives is "like trying to find a needle in a stack of needles"

McG is slated to direct the first installment of this trilogy.

I have to say, I’m completely onboard with this. Certainly the spy genre has been getting increasingly exposed and it can get oh so tired, but Gaghan’s involvement gives a me a lot of hope. Reinvention is a term I’ve heard myself say a lot recently, although only in conjecture with the sad state of rap music, the dream is someone comes along and reinvents the sagging genre for the better. Therefore, positive connotations all around for “reinvention.” Gaghan is a great writer and I think he’s a perfect choice to carry out this task.

McG on the other hand…I don’t know. However, the guy has so many projects in the fold, he’ll have a chance to reinvent (the word of the day) himself from the candy-coated Charlie’s Angels films to a director more suited for this type of work. Like the clean version of the Black Eyed Peas’ hit: “Let’s get it started!”

Any “Entourage” fans will remember Gaghan’s quick, but memorable turn as himself as a writer hired to re-write the fictitious Medellin script, only to be turned away, finding out his work was already done, but still gets paid. Of course I couldn’t actually find a clip of that moment, but here is a string of clips from that episode. Check it out, below:

It was just a month ago, that we brought you the news about a forthcoming McG-directed remake of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, and that he wanted to bring Will Smith along to be his Captain Nemo. At this stage, no casting has begun and thus no word on the Fresh Prince. However, the project is in full “go” mode as Disney has hired a screenwriter to rewrite an initial draft of the remake task.

“The Hollywood Reporter” tells us writer, Justin Marks (Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li), will undertake the rewrite of Bill Marsilii’s (Deva Vu) draft.

“Marks has been hired as a ‘world builder’ to fill out the deep-sea universe in this action-adventure based on the 1954 film 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, which was an adaptation of Jules Verne’s classic novel. As the new Leagues moves toward pre-production, Marks has four weeks to work with McG and craft designers to expand the film’s world to the scale of a tent-pole extravaganza.”

This thing is definitely full-bore at the moment, and I would imagine same casting names will be thrown about pretty soon, maybe even before this four-week window is up.

What do you think of Smith as Captain Nemo? Any other faces you have in mind?

Casting Droppings was a fairly new idea (just yesterday), to bring you a round-up of all current casting news. Yesterday, we brought you what was new with the Nick Fury character and the Karate Kid remake. This edition, brings you two sequel updates, a remake and a new comic book adaptation.

Iron Man 2 casting is clearly underway, as we’ve mentioned Mickey Rourke and Sam Rockwell as possible characters in the impending sequel. A new addition to the film could be British import Emily Blunt. She’s been slowly blowing up since The Devil Wears Prada and will be seen on screens multiple times before this big release. Blunt is said to be portraying the role of Natalia Romanova a.k.a. The Black Widow. The Black Widow is a Soviet Spy antagonist to Tony Stark. That means, “a villain.”

After the Rourke and Rockwell baddies, Blunt would make three. The last trifecta of villains in a comic book movie didn’t fare so well (see: Spiderman 3). There’s no need to get inundated with enemies. You’ll have plenty of sequels to do that. It’s difficult to fit so many characters into one film and even more so in a comic book film where everybody has their favorites. Nobody wants to be short-shrifted. We’ll see what happens, but it’s going to take some work to make a coherent puzzle out of so many pieces. Do you like the move of adding another villain? How about Blunt as Black Widow?

From Latino Review comes the news that Disney is clamoring for a remake of their 1954 film, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, and they’ve tapped McG to direct. Geezy is sure to be coming off his biggest film to date (Terminator: Salvation) and appears to already have another one in the pipeline. He’s reaching toward even higher heights as he’s clamoring for Will Smith to take the lead role of Captain Nemo (played by James Mason in the ‘54 version).

It’s the hat that makes the man.

It’s been a long time since I’ve seen 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. So long, in fact, my memory can’t harken back that far. Big Willie’s streak of $100+ million dollar films has finally been broken with Seven Pounds, but I’m sure the combination of him and McG can start a new one.  It’ll definitely be interesting to see if this pans out.

The definition of a rumor is something that has yet to be proven to be true. Thus is the case with High School Musical star, Vanessa Hudgens, NOT being attached to the Twilight sequel, New Moon, as was widely reported (in addition to here) earlier this week. Confimation of the misinformation was reported by Hollywood Insider. Twilight fans: Does this make you happy or sad? My reaction? I’ll pass along this classic exchange from “The Simpsons.”

 Bart: Nothing you say can upset us.  We're the MTV generation.
 Lisa: We feel neither highs or lows.
Homer: Really?  What's it like?
 Lisa: Ehh.  [shrugs]

No Moon for you.

Finally, from Aint It Cool News, we bring you word of a casting decision for the new Edgar Wright (Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz) film, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. The most gainfully employed Culkin, Kieran is set to play Pilgrim’s gay former roommate, Wallace.

Scott Pilgrim is an adaptation of the comic book series of the same name by Bryan Lee O’Malley, about a wannabe rockstar who falls in love with a girl, Ramona Flowers, and must defeat her seven evil exes to be able to date her. Michael Cera is already signed on to play the title character and Mary Elizabeth Winstead is slated to be the love interest. I really like Wright’s direction in his aforementioned films and I can dig this cast. You?

I was just talking about Schwarzenegger taking a cigarette to the chest this morning, and up pops this very tight motion poster for the new “Terminator: Salvation” film. I’m not the hugest fan of the Terminator franchise. I love T2, but don’t have much of an affinity toward the other two films. I’ve never seen “The Sarah Conner Chronicles,” either. So, there’s not much anticipation for this new installment. That being said, the poster is dope. If you haven’t seen the Teaser Trailer, check that, too.

There is sound attached, so turn up your speakers to get the full effect.

Thanks to JoBlo for the heads-up.