(Thanks, Arnold!) 

Well, I guess it’s as good a time as ever to note that when I first heard Arnold was doing another Terminator flick, I think I broke something laughing. Of course, we’re at the point in visual effects tech that the best and brightest can make anything or anyone real look like a CG effect and here’s living proof of that coming to a theater near you next year. Actually, the plot makes it sound like a reboot that’s burning the candle at both ends with the return of Kyle Reese, Sarah Conner and a few other elements from James Cameron’s original two flicks. Of course, the film should benefit from Alan Taylor‘s direction, as his Game of Thrones work is pretty strong.

Granted, other than more plastics and metals there’s not much of a difference between the gritty filth of Westeros and the gritty radioactive filth of the future setting here (and the gritty filthy present the characters will end up in). But if the film can capture all that made the first two Terminator movies so special, this one may do well outside the blockbuster-fed crowds that will rush out to see it when it finally opens next July.

On the other hand, if this flick slips up in any way, shape or form in the plot or tosses in too much for the modern “Wait, what just happened?” crowd who need stuff constantly explained to them, it may tank out after a month because word of mouth hit it harder than a T-1000 slapping Arnold with a sledgehammer. Balance is the key to success, I’m betting. And I’m also betting the home video version will pack in scenes that get left on the cutting room floor because that’s the trend these days. Anyway, that’s two formerly successful franchises making a comeback in 2015, so between this reboot/remake with a twist and Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens, it’s the 1980’s all over again.

And yeah – that’s both a good thing and a not so good thing…