Tag Archives: Arnold Schwarzenegger

The Predator, A Review & My Hopes for a Shared Universe

19 Sep

By Ed Sum
(The Vintage Tempest)

  • Spoiler Alert

Ever since Arnold Schwarzenegger put the smackdown on a lone alien hunter Predator on screen, this creature left a huge mark in the world of sci-fi and pop culture. After countless crossovers into comic book universes, I find leaving him in 21st Century Fox‘s own shared universe makes for better tales. Throughout many millennia, this hunter species took down dinosaurs, strange aliens, primeval man and elite fighting units. Ultimately, the movies are about who is this galaxy’s apex warrior.

No sequel or followup will ever surpass the testosterone pool from the original film. The Predator tries, but without the widespread recognition of the actors, some people may ask who are these stars? Those performers whose career shone brightly the 80’s are very well known and they still are to this day.  The talents from this decade are only recognizable if fans have seen their work. From Chuck to Hatfields & McCoys to Game of Thrones, thankfully the roster is decently represented. The characters these performers played represent the best of the best for that division of the military; quite often, they are in a situation where the fight is about the survival of the fittest.

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Meet Genisys not Skynet, in Terminator 5

8 Jul

By Ed Sum (The Vintage Tempest)

Terminator_GenisysSPOILER ALERT

You can’t fight fate in the Terminator films and nor can you change it. No matter how hard the heroes try the outcome will more or less be the same. In the latest outing, Terminator Genisys is out to redefine the world and nag this modern society about the dangers of continuously being connected to the Internet. I like these points being made. They serve to remind viewers about how reliant humanity has become with cell phones, tablets, smart homes and social media. There’s a time where technology should be put away. If there is supposed to be an underlying message in this film, it’s not being hammered home.

Instead, this movie gets timey wimey in its attempt to satisfy longtime fans like me (I even enjoyed Dark Horse Comics treatment of the franchise) and create new ones. The first act pays homage to the past Terminator films and does a great job at it. In the world of the future, where the resistance is set to make its final stand and raid Skynet’s center of operations, the terrible terminator twosome that gets introduced is with establishing the protagonists: John Connor (Jason Clarke) is the leader of the resistance and he just happens to know everything that has yet to come. Kyle Reese (Jai Courtney) is the clueless grunt who does not realize he has a greater destiny. He volunteers to go back in time to save Connor’s mom, Sarah (Emilia Clarke). They meet and no sparks fly between them at all, especially when there’s a T-800 that’s taken over being Sarah’s father. That’s all well and dandy, but little do they know is that a paradox is made because in this movie, everybody lives.

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