Terminator Salvation story line in films
Thursday, May 21st, 2009“Terminator Salvation” sticks to the story line established in the three feature films. McG didn’t ignore the Fox TV series, but he didn’t let it get in the way of his movie.
McG explained: If the first “Terminator” movie was about saving Sarah Connor and the second was about saving John Connor, this one is about saving Kyle Reese. “Terminator” fans know Reese is sent back through time by John Connor to save Sarah Connor. That trip proves to have an even more personal affect on John Connor’s life.
McG cast Anton Yelchin in the film’s pivotal role. The young actor, who played Pavel Chekov in the recent updated film version of “Star Trek,” is the latest Reese; Jonathan Jackson was Reese in the Fox Network series “Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles.” Michael Biehn played him in the original 1984 film. Yelchin prefers the Biehn version.
“Being a huge fan of ‘Terminator,’ there was no way I was going into this movie and not have that Kyle Reese in this film,” he says of Biehn’s work. “I think there is a tendency in stories about heroes when they are younger, to see them start off weak and get stronger. I just thought that was (expletive deleted). You can’t do that with this character.
“You can’t have a weak Kyle Reese who then becomes the hero. He’s got to be a hero from the start.”
Yelchin approached the part of Reese much as he did the Chekov role. He kept familiar elements and added new layers: youthful enthusiasm for Chekov and anger and a fragile nature for Reese.
