Terminator Salvation: Review Central

[Carnotaur3]

Haggis isn't credited for the rewrite because his script was "unusable". This we know.

But we have no idea about Ryan, Nolan, or Zuiker's absense.

We do know, however, that both Ryan and Nolan spent a few weeks on the script. And Ryan said he rewrote as much as he could.

I wonder what the arbitration rules for writers when it comes to "length of time of writing"?

 

[FCEEVIPER]

Well, if there's a T5, maybe a new director and also MGM helming it?

..with J'Nolan with actual writing credits!

 

[batmop]

Bale went something along the lines:

"my friend Jonah who wrote TDK, was on board for a few weeks" and "I wish he could have stayed on longer".

More to the point, what does McG have to lose by acknowledging the studio gave him the running time issue? If this is true, sure then we will know where the blame lay, but he is pretty specific in saying why he cut out certain scenes. AND he is quite open about the ratings issue, and threw in (jokingly) a few swear words. It's not the first time a director ever acknowledge this type of issue either.

At this point I think we all agree that we can't really trust McG's word that much, since he has oversold the movie.

Adding to what Bale said, Nolan's comments last year were roughly "I did quite a bit of revising for a couple of weeks on the Terminator Salvation screenplay".

McG's explanation for cutting out the nude Moon scene, along with the gory scenes contradict with some of his previous words, so I am suspicious of believing him in this case. It has been confirmed McG and crew consulted a lot of experts to make the movie realistic, so cutting out gory scenes completely contradicts the time and effort spent on it being realistic. If a scene is gruesome, and they wanted it to be realistic than gore should remain in that specific scene. Also McG stated that he cut the Moon nude scene to basically be politically correct, and so that the general audience would not criticize the movie for that scene. A really weak explanation, considering McG also said he liked that scene, and Moon really loved that scene as well.

Basically at this point I look at other evidence out there, and try and read between the lines of what McG says.

Since it has been proven McG is nervous and insecure when it comes to proving himself to Terminator fans, we can assume that it is unlikely he would openly admit to being pressured by studio executives to cut the movie's running time and more controversial scenes.

 

[Paradoxium]

You need 51% to get credit.

So McG at the bare minimum retained 51% of John Brancato & Michael Ferris' material in the final cut. My guess it has a lot to do with the Marcus storyline.

 

[thejon93]

I'm still a sucker for anything ILM actually does a good job in. Even if the movie has its directional and narrative flaws all the reviewers have praised the CGI. The "post apocalyptic" scenery looks pretty great from the footage I've seen.

So they at least got my money for a matinee screening.

Well, I'm seeing this film either this Thursday night, or during a Matinee screening. Either way, critics aren't going to make a difference on how I feel about the movie. Whether I like it or not, it's all going to be from the heart.

 

[batmop]

You need 51% to get credit.

So McG at the bare minimum retained 51% of John Brancato & Michael Ferris' material in the final cut. My guess it has a lot to do with the Marcus storyline.

Agreed, likely related to some pressure from Halcyon, since that was the storyline they wanted to focus on.

 

[craigdbfan]

Here's an article from /film that might clear up some confusion on the entire Nolan rewrite discussion.

Earlier this week, we noticed that screenwriter Jonathan Nolan was not credited on the official “Written By” credits on the Terminator Salvation website. This seemed odd considering how much director McG played up the Dark Knight screenwriter’s role in the film (even referred to Jonathan as “the lead writer of the film.”) When asked at Comic Con if Nolan would receive screenwriting credit for his work, McG responded “I don’t know how the WGA rules work but honest to goodness, we did the heaviest lifting with Jonah.” The Playlist has noticed that the official standee for the film (seen partly above) includes Nolan in the list of credits. So is he in or out?

I called the Writers Guild of America to find out, and they told me that the FINAL “Written By” credits for the film list only John Brancato and Michael Ferris, the duo that wrote Terminator 3: Rise Of The Machines and the original script for Terminator Salvation. The WGA told me that the credits are not currently in arbitration, and that Jonathan Nolan is NOT listed on the final credits.

Update: Apparently Amy from Box Office asked McG about the screenwriter credits, and the director admitted that he had “never met Michael Ferris and John D. Brancato” and credited Nolan as “the architect of the picture,” insisting that he is “certain Christian feels the same way.”

“I thought we changed the script a great deal. But Jonah did some, Shawn Ryan [The Shield] did some, Anthony Zuiker [CSI] did some and Paul Haggis [Casino Royale] did some. I guess they can only credit so many people, but it’s not like the Ferris and Brancato draft deserved that writing credit. That’s a decision of the WGA which I have no part in.”

Of course, this doesn’t mean that Nolan didn’t have a large contribution to the film. Changes in dialogue, character, mood and tone can mean the difference between a good movie and a bad movie. But WGA arbitration is a strange, often disputed and sometimes political process. It is my understanding that Nolan would have had to change 51% or more of the story to earn a credit.

Seeing as this all happened behind doors we will never really get a certain answer on whether or not Nolan contributed as much as McG claims. But judging from his escapades and previous acts of foolery and exaggeration, I'll just classify this as more McG boasting.

 

[FCEEVIPER]

Posted yet?

Terminator Salvation begs us to save ourselves, but really, just save your $10

 

[TheVileOne]

Again I think its just more of McG trying to make himself look credible to fans instead of the hack that did Charlie's Angels.

 

[Doctor Jones]

I. Don't. Care.

 

[thejon93]

I. Don't. Care.

Spoiler

*Thank God, 'Star Trek' got over 90% on the Tomatometer*

 

[TheVileOne]

I'm glad you don't care. But we have this review thread set up so . . . whatever.

 

[Bunker]

27% Fresh!

 

[Nivek]

I really, really have a hard time grasping that this is THAT much worse than Star Trek to some of these critics.

 

[Anita18]

But there's a difference between being proud of your work and boasting unwarrantedly.

He over exaggerated Nolan's revision work on the script.
Started pointless feuds with Michael Bay.
The R-Rating "guarantee" (but not really) and his "struggle" with WB to get the rating.
Trying to sell the movie with Bloodgood breast's (which won't be included in the theatrical cut because of the PG-13 rating).

I'm sure I missed something.

That feud was friggin hilarious.

I felt worst for poor Moon, though. Nobody should be talking publicly about her breasts, let alone the director!

The trailer with the NIN song was just really well edited and made me believe that this movie wasn't only going to be about explosions and CGI but rather a blend of that and exploring the "Man/Machine complex" but that doesn't seem to be the case. Kudos to the trailer editor.

Indeed. I think WB has the best in the biz now.

I really, really have a hard time grasping that this is THAT much worse than Star Trek to some of these critics.

Well, what I'm having a hard time grasping is that it's apparently on par with Wolverine.

 

[Fanticon]

27% Fresh!

out of only 5...doesn't look good now but they'll roll in.t: Stay positve.

 

[Scarlet Spider]

Here's Jett's review from Batman-On-Film:

http://www.batman-on-film.com/on-film_moviereview_terminatorsalvation_jett_5-19-09.html

 

[FaT_tONle]

People need to stop laying blame ONLY on McG. People need to understand that it was Halcyon Company that approached McG to direct Salvation, and not the other way around.

Yeah that's true. I got worried when I saw this.



Two clowns that have no concept of film making pick up the rights to a beloved franchise to make some extra cash. The perfect formula for a successful film...

 

[Nivek]

Well, what I'm having a hard time grasping is that it's apparently on par with Wolverine.

That would have to be an accomplishment in turd polishing. I mean, Punisher: War Zone is a 26%.

Like I said, this Tomato-meter is a ****ty scale to judge any film on.

 

[craigdbfan]

out of only 5...doesn't look good now but they'll roll in.t: Stay positve.

Out of 15 actually.

But agreed, its still to early to really tell exactly where this movie score is going to settle. Although its looking like this movie's journey through critics will be as grim as the TS setting.

 

[livrule]

Again, why does it matter what he thinks? It's like banging your head against the wall with some people.

It matters very little what he thinks ....

But as this thread is based on reviews I think its worth bringing up.

Its getting VERY defensive in here ... more so with every luke-warm review that rolls in ..... maybe we should just limit it to positive stuff then everybody will be happy?

 

[Nivek]

"Boy, bashing an unreleased antisipated film in it's forum upsets all the stupid fanboys that post there. You know what, let me drag up another negative review from a local paper to stir things up more".

Not rocket science here...

 

[Chewy]

So now people are complaining that other people are posting reviews..... in the review thread

 

[Upset Spideyfan]

I honestly always get a little kick out of when I see the "I don't care about critics and their opinions" remark.

When films like Trek, TDK and Iron Man come out and are well reviewed fanboys sure as hell seem to care but when the opposite happens all of a sudden critics are idiots and they don't get these films despite evidence to the contrary.

I'm not saying the movie is going to be bad but when critical opinion is THIS low chances are something's going to be wrong with the film.

 

[livrule]

I honestly always get a little kick out of when I see the "I don't care about critics and their opinions" remark.

When films like Trek, TDK and Iron Man come out and are well reviewed fanboys sure as hell seem to care but when the opposite happens all of a sudden critics are idiots and they don't get these films despite evidence to the contrary.

I'm not saying the movie is going to be bad but when critical opinion is THIS low chances are something's going to be wrong with the film.

Exactly ... Well said.