Terminator Salvation

Chances are you have no clue who Sam Worthington is, but come this time next year you won’t be able to get enough of him. Not only is he starring in James Cameron’s ten-years-in-the-making-industry-changing-superepic Avatar, but he’s also been cast as the lead in the too-cool-to-be-true remake of Clash of the Titans. And as if that wasn’t enough, rumour has it he’ll also be suiting up as the Green Lantern.

But before all that, Mr. Worthington will be appearing in Terminator Salvation as a new character named Marcus Wright.

And Marcus Wright looks like a pretty cool addition to the team. From the trailers we can gather that Wright is a Terminator who, for one reason or another, truly believes he’s a human being (and is rather unpleased when he learns otherwise). What’s more, Wright may or may not be jumping around through time on some kind of mission… but if he’s working for Skynet or a future John Connor or some third party is anybody’s guess.

From what I’ve seen, this character has a lot of potential. First off, his ambiguous identity (Is he a machine? Is he a human? Is he something else entirely?) gets to the heart of what the Terminator franchise is all about. It would be a shame if Salvation was simply humans good, robots bad. Wright, however, gives us the possibility for something in between. And if he is indeed a time traveler (and I think I may be jumping to conclusions on this one), well that’s just icing on the cake… but I’ll be talking about time paradoxes next week, so I won’t elaborate just yet.

Now in the interests of journalistic integrity (and surely I must have some…) I’ll admit that I haven’t seen a single movie that Worthington has been in (aside from Hart’s War, but I can’t for the life of me remember who he played), so I can’t really comment on his acting chops.

What I have seen, however, is Worthington’s ten-second appearance in the Terminator Salvation trailers. And from those ten seconds, I’ve compiled the top three reasons why Worthington belongs in this movie:

1. He nails the intentionally monotone robot performance

There’s a very fine line between acting that’s wooden and acting that’s supposed to be wooden. Worthington definitely falls into the latter category. I’m totally buying this guy as a robot that wants to be human. Sort of a killing machine Pinocchio, if you will.

2. Lots of intense man-screaming

Absolutely necessary for a “who am I?” performance. Also necessary for playing a role opposite Christian Bale. (You knew that joke was coming eventually…)

3. He’s not trying to be Schwarzenegger

This is an important one for me. As the first man to really step into Arnie’s very big shoes as resident robot badass, it would be easy for Worthington to offer up a poor imitation. And that would be disappointing. I don’t want to see the Diet Coke of Terminators (in fact, that was one of my problems with the TV show). But it looks like Worthington is doing his own thing and making this specific Terminator unique. And if there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that you can never have too much diversity in your robot assassin arsenal.

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Today we kick off the Terminator debate with a look at a fairly recent addition to the robot-smashing team.

Kate Connor (née Brewster) first appeared in Terminator 3 as a veterinarian who wakes up one day to learn that she’s destined to marry the soon-to-be-legendary war hero John Connor. Kate, who barely even knows John, finds herself sucked into some time-travelling robot antics and eventually realizes that when the nukes start flying, you pretty much have no choice but to marry the guy you’re standing next to. And so Terminator 3 ends with Kate and John riding out the apocalypse in a fallout shelter as they begin to organize the resistance.

Originally played by Claire Danes, Kate was one of the better parts of the otherwise disappointing Terminator 3. It was fun to watch the awkwardness that ensues as her prewritten relationship with John unfolds (even if the suggestion that everyone is destined to end up with their one true love was just a little too romantic for a Schwarzenegger movie) and Kate’s incredulity and ambivalence towards robots and destiny wars nicely balances out some of the colder, battle-hardened characters.

So, all in all, I was pleased to hear that they were bringing back this character (who, by the way, is now working as a medic for the resistance and is pregnant with her first child). It seemed highly likely that she could get scrapped with the other forgettable parts of Terminator 3, and that would have been unfortunate, because there’s a lot of potential here… Especially considering that this time around Kate’s being played by Bryce Dallas Howard, who you probably know as the tragically misused Gwen Stacey in Spider-Man 3, or as the lady in Lady in the Water.

Howard is one of the more interesting casting choices in Salvation. She’s cultivated somewhat of a “sweet and innocent” image for herself, and she seems out of place in a gritty sci-fi war movie populated by the likes of Christian Bale and Common. Which is exactly the point, I guess. As the doctor (and a pregnant doctor at that) amidst a group of soldiers, Kate Connor is charged with the task of keeping the hope alive. (Symbolism!) She’s the optimism in the middle of an unwinnable war. Howard, with her cute and bubbly persona, is well suited for the role and I look forward to seeing what she brings to the table.

My one hope for Kate Connor? That McG and the screenwriters spend some time giving her an identity of her own. In Terminator 3 Kate was defined as little more than John’s wife, and that seems unfair for a character and actor with such potential. In other words, I’d like to see Kate Connor become more than John’s baby mama. 

But I’m wondering… is anyone else better suited to play Kate Connor? If you could cast the role, who would you pick?

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