Despite having finally (after years of pontifications, hype and lead up) finished the scripts for all of those ‘Avatar’ sequels, it seems James Cameron has also taken some time to think about one of his older franchises and ruminate on how he would resurrect the premise to reflect modern times. The franchise at hand is ‘Terminator,’ which as many people know has the potential to come back under his control fairly soon, which is why there is all of this talk about Tim Miller stepping up and directing a new ‘Terminator’ film.
Of course, if Cameron did regain control of the franchise, there is little chance he would even have time to directly work on the beloved franchise because of ‘Avatar,’ but that does not mean he does not have an idea or two for the series. During a recent conversation with The Daily Beast, Cameron had the following thoughts to share about the kind of ‘Terminator’ film he would make nowadays:
“I think it’s possible to tell a great Terminator story now, and it’s relevant. We live in a digital age, and Terminator ultimately, if you can slow it down, is about our relationship with our own technology, and how our technology can reflect back to us—and in the movie, literally, in a human form that is a nemesis and a threat. But also in those movies, in the two that I did, it’s about how we dehumanize ourselves. In a time when people are being absorbed by their virtual-social world, I mean, just look around. I always say: if Terminator was about the war between the humans and the machines, look around any restaurant or airport lounge and tell me the machines haven’t won when every human you see is enslaved to their device. So could you make a relevant Terminator film now? Absolutely.”
Personally, I do not really see where a ‘Terminator’ movie springs from the comments he is making, but I’m not James Cameron. I just have to hope if he does have a good idea he is willing to pass it on to whoever is writing the next ‘Terminator’ and that the writer not only listens, but understands the concept and is able to work with it, because we have had enough sub-par ‘Terminator’ sequels to last a life-time. If the franchise is going to keep going, it better be with something worth going to the movies for.
Nick is a freelance writer based in Los Angeles, who belongs to the privileged few who enjoyed the ending to ‘Lost.’ For more of Nick’s thoughts and articles, follow him on Twitter.
