The first three movies I reviewed, I thought were either okay (Daredevil) or sucked (Supes Returns, Texas Chainsaw remake). This is the first one I genuinely liked and don't get the anger towards at all. There's a few arguments about Terminator: Salvation being trash and for the record, I don't really agree with any of them. Let's delve a little deeper.
In 1984, The Terminator was released and really helped solidify Arnold Schwarzenegger as a top box-office draw. Seven years later, the movie almost everyone cites as being the best in the series, T2 was released. Featuring revolutionary effects, pop-culture moments galore, memorable action pieces and a great plot, this movie was a slicker and less gritty sequel to the original. Twelve years later, T3 came to theatres and while it was not beloved as #1 and #2, it seems to have gotten pretty much a free pass. Then, 6 years later, the shortest amount of time we got for a Terminator movie, Salvation hits. Building on the events in the first three films, we finally got the actual war between the machines and the humans, with everyone's (at least the bandwagon jumpers) favorite Batman, Christian Bale as John Conner. It had action, an interesting storyline, intensity and effects...much like the other 3 movies. So, why the angst?
I'm guessing one of the reasons is the director. McG directed the Charlie's Angels movies before T4 and I think just based on his name (he sounds like something you order off the McDonalds menu...yes, I would like a McG!), the fact he made a somewhat brainless pair of action movies revolving around hot women and he just hadn't established himself as a SERIOUS FILMMAKER (or seemed to pretend to want to), that was enough for the elitists to start crying into their soups. Then there was the infamous blowup on the set of T4 (apparently Christian Bale is sensitive about lighting guys) that was parodied and ridiculed ad nauseum, but all joking aside, it started things on a bad foot, because as soon as something like that comes out, it seems people just don't ridicule the event, they're getting ready to ridicule the whole damned show and to me, that is grossly unfair.
The the elitists who made the 50 most hated movies of all time would tell you that no one really wanted another Terminator movie and too much time had elapsed between movies for people to care. For the record, as stated previously, this was the shortest time period between Terminator movies. Secondly, no one wanted to see another Terminator movie? How about the television show that lasted 2 years? Let's also look at the worldwide box office for the movies.
Terminator: $78.371 million T2: $519.843 million T3: $433.371 million Terminator: Salvation: $371.353 million
Keep in mind too, these are profits without 3D adding another $20-40 million in take. So, yes, even though Terminator Salvation made in the same range as the other far "superior" Terminator movies, no one wanted to see it. Sure, sure. What is more explainable is the pompous idiocy that reigns supreme in garbage websites like Total Film that dreamed up this list in the first place, or the same sort of trashy, stupid commentating in sites like JoBlo that promotes this garbage, spouting from personal opinion instead of fact. The fact is, people still went to see Terminator 4 and would go to see Terminator 5, whenever they make it, so it hardly makes a movie like Terminator: Salvation hated, does it?
Wrestlemania XXVIII is 2 days away, baby!! Yeah, I could have posted the latest forgettable "official" Wrestlemania XXVIII song -- but was it written specifically for Wrestlemania? No! Does it have Wrestlers blabbing at you? No! Does it have Mean Gene asking "Who will survive?" in his epic voice? No! So the '93 song wins.
Wrestlemania XXVIII, please be worth my $54.99, even though I can buy you in a few months for $15 less on DVD with extra features...
What do a beaver, a nun and the Queen of England all have in common? Chances are, Michael Bay has ruined all of their childhoods. But, while the man who told TMNT fans to "chill" and managed to make the single worst Transformers movie it was possible to make (at least, in my opinion), there has also been a sub-genre of films where he has managed to anger the fans. Namely, fans of 70's and 80's horror classics. Starting with this one and including The Amityville Horror (okay, maybe the original wasn't a classic, it seemed pretty boring to me), The Hitcher, Friday the 13th, A Nightmare on Elm Street and oh no, he's also got his mitts on The Monster Squad to remake at a theatre near you, Michael Bay under his Platinum Dunes aegis, has managed to annoy fans of these films with his pointless remakes of them. However, we're here to talk about one specifically, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, the one that started it all.
Now, I did not see the original Texas film, so me comparing it to the original, isn't going to happen. Everyone seems to agree the original was and still is, a classic, so that's as far as we're going with that discussion. However, I do not necessarily agree with this being on the list...not because it shouldn't be hated, but because I don't believe it is hated.
Here's a number for you: $80, 571.655. No, this isn't my salary for writing this post, it's actually much lower than that. This number represents the North American Box Office for the Texas Chainsaw Massacre Remake. Add in another $26.5 mil overseas (hey, it seems the folks over there realized there was no point to this remake, at least) and you have $107, 071,655 for a film that cost under $10 million to make. So, quite simply, if this movie is hated, it would not have made this type of box office, Platinum Dunes would not have gone on to remake every frigging horror film made in the 70's/80's, maybe the other yahoos wouldn't have done so either and you're moral outrage would have been quelled. However, that didn't happen. This movie was popular enough that they not only made all those remakes, but they made a sequel as well. So, there you go.
Yeah, the movie wasn't good, in my opinion and whatever the original was, it had to be better than this, but the plain truth is, I don't think this movie is hated because if it was, they wouldn't have done all the remakes and CONTINUE to do all the remakes. So, despite the fact that true fans of the original probably aren't happy with this watered-down clanker and despite the fact when Platinum Dunes announces another remake, there's a collective series of groans across the 'Net, the fact is, none of this is possible without the first film being the success it was.
Rating: Worth the hate? Probably, as it never should have been done on a remake, but the fact is, it wasn't, so it probably shouldn't even be on the list.
Who doesn't love Master of the Universe? Here's a count of the amount of baddies Dolph Lundgren kills in the 1987 film (which unfortunately discounts the disintegration of that snake dude at the hands of Skeletor). Even though the movie was made for kids, it was the 80's, so the hero had to be a bad-ass beating the crap out of bad guys. It's hilarious to see just how many dudes Dolph mows through in that film. And no shakey-cam.
