Terminator 5 Story Revealed, New Terminator Details

In The Rundown Arnold Schwarzenegger had a cameo where he passed the ‘action hero’ mantle to The Rock and now it seems they will do battle on the big screen as Dwayne ‘The Rock Johnson’ takes on one of his darkest and most significant roles yet.

That is right it would seem as Chris reported earlier in the week that The Rock is the new Terminator in the upcoming Terminator 5 movie. As much as I love Dwayne Johnson I am not remotely a fan of this idea. The Rock has definitely lined himself up as the action star of the new generation and my issue is not with him as much as the fact we simply do not need a big name actor to star as the next Terminator.

Casting Dwayne Johnson as the Terminator in Terminator 5 will put too much emphasis on the person and not enough on a great script and a great character. The sheer fact that the writers are reportedly writing the story to accommodate The Rock makes my point exactly.

Being big, muscle bound and popular with Fast and the Furious fans should not be the criteria for the next Terminator. It should be about making a good movie not about trying to draw in new fans by casting a fan favorite. We saw how poorly this worked out in Terminator Salvation when Christian Bale fresh from playing Batman was cast as John Conner in Terminator Salvation. Did it work? Sure it was ok but in my opinion it could have been truly spectacular had they of chosen a better lead instead of trying to cash in on Batman’s popularity.

I will also go as far as to say I also feel that its time for Schwarzenegger to give up his role as the Terminator. Arnold Schwarzenegger will always be the original killing machine from the future but he is simply not capable of carrying the role anymore in Terminator 5. With respect to him he is too old. I am however not saying Arnold should not be in the film since I think his involvement is critical just not as a Terminator.

Spoilers from this point on. So don’t read if you don’t want to hear what Terminator 5 is rumored to be about and my own personal speculation on how it will unfold.

A few months back I had a lengthy conversation about the future of Terminator 5 and I pitched to my friend Chris my idea on how the Terminator 5 movie could work without Arnold as the Terminator but still including him while accommodating his age.

We know based off various comments made by Arnold that the upcoming Terminator movie will have a twist as big as Terminator 2 if not bigger. You all know in the first film Arnold was the villain and in the second film he was the hero. Well I predicted a few months ago that in Terminator 5 Arnold will play the human that inspired the creation of the machine.

Seems the writers Patrick Lussier ( Drive Angry 3D) and Laeta Kalogridis ( Avatar ) are thinking along the same lines. The Examiner somehow managed to get details on the script and outlines what they know about the story;

Incredibly, Arnold Schwarzenegger may not play the role of a machine in the next film, but a potentially heroic human figure in or close to the Connor family. One theory is that Schwarzenegger’s remarkable ability to protect the Connor family in the 1940s or 1950s with antiquated weaponry by today’s standards ultimately inspired the machines to develop a terminator in his likeness that was eventually sent to 1984 when Sarah Connor was first targeted for termination.

We know that John Conner sent the machine back to the past but we also know that Sarah Conner was terrified of it. So whatever connection Arnold’s human character has to the Conner’s it has to either be in the past or in the future after Sarah Conner’s death to keep the timeline straight. Sarah Conner had no involvement and Conner may have but only in the distant future.

My thinking is Terminator 5 should pick up right after Terminator 3 where Conner is in the bunker where he is rescued by a survivalist who takes him from the bunker and teaches him how to survive and wage war against the machines. Simply put Arnold’s character would be the first member of the resistance turning John Conner into the leader he becomes. 

Doing so keeps the continuity of the timeline and allows Arnold to be in the movie without a CGI body double. Arnold as a tough as nails survivalist who ‘saw the end coming’ and prepared for it would to me work wonders and would without question be a solid twist of events.

As far as The Rock and how he works into this timeline I say with respect we don’t need him. As far as the ‘based in the 1950s versus a futuristic full on war I say give us the war.  What do you think of Terminator 5? Are you excited to see it happen or could you care less? How would you make the timeline work? Hit the comments below.