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The End of Terminator Salvation will Divide Audiences

Posted on Wednesday, April 15th, 2009 by Peter Sciretta

terminator salvation marcus wright's head

When a fourth Terminator film was first announced, it was revealed that the film would be the first of a planned three-film story arc, or trilogy. Halcyon has already announced the development of Terminator 5. All that is needed before they get the official green light is a nice opening weekend box office, which at this point, is pretty much expected.

There has been a lot of internet chatter about the ending of Terminator Salvation. An early internet leak of the film’s finale angered fans enough to warrant a rewrite. But how does the film end? Obviously the war is far from over by the time the credits role. So does the movie end on a high-note like A New Hope, or more of a dark cliffhanger like Empire Strikes Back?

“The ending is indeed elliptical,” McG tells MTV . “And it challenges the audience. It’s not a happy little bow of an ending at all. The ending is tough and requires reflection, and in some degrees it bifurcates the audience. You walk back to the car and one person thinks it means this, and the other person thinks it means that.”

One thing is for sure, this is not the ending that Sarah Connor told us about.

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  • eazy p
    John Conner was a bot all along...
  • hahahaha...he rips off his mask and it's really Arnold.
  • "I told you I'd be back."
  • eazy p
    and by conner, i mean connOR
  • [A]
    good. you were just about to get shot
  • PapaSmurf
    Ending: A T-800 runs for office in California. And wins!
  • If people already know there is going to be a Part 5, will people really be disappointed? It isn't really the ending of Terminator.
  • exactly. I don't know if I like the fact that we already know about a sequel. The ending may not mean as much to me knowing they will clear it up in a following film.
  • Exactly!
  • Name
    What they should try to capture in T5 or whatever comes after is the identity crisis that John Connor would suffer. Nomatter what theory of time travel you prefer, it makes sense that the first time (time loop version 1) that Judgement Day happened, Sarah Connor was pregnant with a child that she called John, but who was not fathered by Kyle Reese. This is John Connor Mk1. He probably grew up with a father, for a while at least, with no expectations of being a messiah, and he turned out to be a great hero. Every John Connor we see in the films is NOT this first version. They're the son / versions of the sons of Kyle Reese. This man is very different; he's been born to a crazy woman, dragged around his whole life, no real father figure except some man from the future, crushing expectations, and no hope for the future. This John Connor (Mk2 and beyond) would not necessarily be a great leader. He might be more like a messianic leader, cripled by self-doubt, who realizes that he is not John Connor Mk 1. That man would either have to stand on hos own feet, or live in the shadow of John Connor Mk 1 his whole life.
  • I don't think the studio cares about the audience's feelings. They just want to make money off the franchise.
  • [A]
    maybe that's why it's dissapointing?
  • hahahahah makes sense
  • Miguel
    I think the ending that people have "chattered" about is a brilliant idea. Reminds me a little bit of the ending of "El Cid".
  • A T1000 replace Molder on the Xfiles!
  • cvxdfsdfdsff
    no wait, they'll blame the 'nookular strikes on Iran'
  • John Connor will be saved from a nuclear blast by a fridge.
  • Mr. X
    BAHAHHAHAAHAH!!
  • c-dub
    i wish this movie leaked on the internet instead of the crappy wolverine
  • HRG
    The end will show that Dick Chaney is still alive and is the owner of Skynet
  • Machoo
    I think you mean Dick Chaney IS Skynet
  • Tap Zepol
    The end will be a sudden cut to "Never Gonna Give You Up", which will be the largest Rick Roll of all time and end the depraved act once and for all. The rick roll to end all Rick Rolls so to speak.
  • As hilarious as that is, I would hunt down and kill McG.
  • I was hoping that it would end on a high not like Charlie's Angels Full Throttle...
  • Brett
    It will probably end with Kyle Reese going back in time... Then Hollywood will go ahead and remake the originals with the new characters, thus creating a never-ending cycle of Terminator movies until the end of time!
  • Justin Craig
    I would be so pissed and so would the rest of the fans resulting in the untimely death of McG.
  • Brett Anderson
    kyle still should leave in 2029 and at least kyle will be capture. John may also find plans of a time machine blueprints and in the next one spend time trying to find it. Remember in the 1st terminator he has a bar code on his arm because he was prison by the machines. That might be a part of the ending. I do agree the terminator thing does not seem to have an ending and when they get so crapy they will get a reboot like batman and star track (which both really needed thank god for batman finally someone shows the real batman.)
  • dumbo
    Oh, is Bale's rant the ending? That seemed to devide the internet. "You're fucking amature man!" DUN UH DUN UH DUN UH...DUN UH DUN UH DUN UH
  • freemachine
    One possible mind-bending ending that will screw with people would involve some kind of time travel loop with multiple John Connors, some dead and others alive. Think along the lines of Time Crimes and Primer. In all of the Terminator films they've always downplayed the time travel aspect in order to make room for the carnage. Why can't we have our cake and eat it too? I hope they up the ante with respect to time travel in this one.
  • freemachine
    Ha! You'd have to get in line.
  • me!
    did mcg actually say "bifurcate?"
  • Django
    Hilarious double entendre!
    Yes, he apparently did. Thouigh I'm not sure he knows what it means. I'm thinking he meant "bifurcate" all over the audiences Face, as in: Porn ending.
  • Biff Bronson
    From what I've read (even on /film), the ending wasn't changed because of "angered fans," but because the ending leaked in the first place. I and my friends thought the leaked ending sounded interesting and unexpected.
  • jason B
    as i've said before, i didn't wait 20 years to see connor die in the first fucking film. i'm still on board, but if they've put jonah nolan's name on a film that is gonna kick us in the nuts & flip us off, i'll never forgive them.

    i'm completely into a 'downer' ending, but not a contrived one where connor dies.
  • INS
    this ending is going to be worse than the The Happening

    gaaaaaaaaaaaaarbage
  • Really? You took it that far?
  • mikeyclt
    I think the episode of Seinfeld where Jerry is bootlegging movies for Brody and they tape over the end of Cry Cry again with Elaine doing her thumb kick dance was a better ending then the Happening. So as long as they put Elaine dancing at the end of Terminator Salvation it will still be better. "...so you cry then you see the girl dancing and you cry again"
  • edc
    what horse should I bet on the cup stakes tomorrow, future man?
  • Brilliant!
  • That ending was actually something original and creative I thought would have made this a cool movie. Now it's just another apocalypse movie. It looks like its trying to be more than it is. This one is gonna suck.
  • INS
    original and creative turd
  • The original ending was bold, risky, interesting, and a terrible idea. You can't... can't can't can't kill the main character of a beloved franchise and replace him with a robot for shock value. Connor is a symbol, whether he's alive or dead. There's no reason to kill him to make him a symbol. Besides, it makes a better story for the 'hero' to be human fighting against insurmountable odds, and NOT make him a super machine putting him on level ground. It should be Connor's humanity that beats the robots, not his image. I write all this, having not really followed the franchise all that strongly. I've never really sat down and watched a Terminator movie all the way through, but I'm familiar with the story and the characters. I look at this purely from a literary standpoint, and it wouldn't have worked.
  • Justin Craig
    Did you come up with that literary standpoint while you were playing Dungeons and Dragons in your grandmother's basement? Imprinting Connor's image on a machine would the ultimate twist and the only way to explain why that little twerp with no formal military/law enforcement training and no formal education would be able to lead the human race in a war against machines. It was perfect, but you wouldn't have been able to know that since you've never even seen a Terminator film all the way through. We're Fucking done professionally man!
  • I saw T3 in theatres, the second two thirds of T2, and enough of T1 to get the gist. I've heard of Dungeons and Dragons, but have no idea what it looks like or how to play it. I think my viewpoint was not uncommon amongst the die hard terminator fans as well. Again, as a relatively impartial viewer, I think most people would agree it's better if John Connor isnt a robot...
    How is it plausible that, in Terminator, the 'regular humans' bested the machine? Human determination. Yes John Connor will have bad ass weapons, yes there will be powerful robots created to fight with the humans, but Connor's determination should stay grounded in human nature, not cyborg strength.
  • The ending will be John sending the half human half terminator back in time to make some drastic change that we never thought of. I'm just guessing here of course.
  • Seth
    Agreed.
  • erik
    I will be ubber pissed if they kill him off in the first film. God knows its going to be something at the end of this film and not resolved until the end of the sixth file when he is killed by the T-800 that was referenced in the last film. That's when we find out if he is man or machine
  • > > > > chocolate rain!!!
  • Think the whole movie will divide people not jus the end soo..
  • gahhh
    Who really gives a shit? It's PG-13, just how dark and gritty can it get? Just the usual, run of the mill action bore filled with explosions. Yawn..
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