Recently we were asked by one of our followers on Facebook if we would look over a short fan film he and his friends had made. Initially we were apprehensive at the request; fan films are not the best movies in the world, with many being made by fans with plenty of devotion and ego but very little actual filmmaking ability. Yet with Rick Kingerski's Terminator: Final Transmission John Connor we were genuinely amazed at what we saw...
To be as fair and as honest as possible our revew of Terminator: Final Transmission will be split in two - one part reviewing the movie as a movie and nothing more, and another part reviewing the movie as part of the Terminator franchise.
REVIEW: AS A MOVIE
The production values and special effects in Terminator: Final Transmission are, when considering the movie was only made for $400, quite frankly amazing and astonishing. The shots in the movie are all framed well, much better in fact than most shots filmed in most movies. While never reaching the heights of Ridley Scott or Christopher Nolan, the framing of the shots helps sell the locations, sets, special VFX and actors to great effect. As a viewer you forget this film was most likely shot on the location of a derelict building and actually begin to see the landscape as that of a post apocalyptic battlefield between man and machine. Even experienced director McG struggled with this when filming Terminator: Salvation. Kudos in terms of production value to these guys - it makes one wonder what they could achieve with a million dollar budget, nevermind a multi-million dollar one.
The acting, while above the standard one comes to expect from fan films, is still a little wooden, a little un-dramatic. The expression and drama one puts into their performance is quartered when caught on camera. this is why the best actors are the best performers - one needs to overact to the appropriate level for the camera to pick up the performance. Take Tom Hardy's performance as Bane in the Dark Knight Rises, his eyebrows are all over the place and his voice is OTT, but in the context of the film his performance comes across as that of a moderate mannered revolutionary. But as said earlier, this is far from the worst and is probably one of the best acted fan films.
Finally in terms of enjoyment... lets just say we would have liked to have seen more of this - more time with the characters, the vfx. While, as is with the nature of fan films, where characters tend to talk too much, they didn't just rabble on in Final Transmission; it just would have been nice to enjoy the views, the music, the action a bit more without having to listen to the characters talking. Which pretty much somes up our feelings on Terminator: Final Transmission - its a fan film yes, but its a damn well made one, especially on such a tight budget and certainly sets the bar high for fellow fans to try and beat.
REVIEW: AS A TERMINATOR MOVIE
Firstly, minus the lack of a few acting lessons, kudos to Rick and his team on casting Chris Golovchenko as John Connor circa 2032. Not only does he look the part, but he looks like a good merging of Christian Bale and Michael Edwards (T2 Future War intro). Also, presumably Rick's brother, Robert Kingerski makes for a very passable Kyle Reese. In fact we would say the casting choices, while limited, for these roles are better than those currently being employed by the Ellison twins in their hotly debated re-quel.
While visually the movie has been made to match the look of Terminator: Salvation, it would have been better, and possibly easier had the scenes been filmed a la The Terminator and Terminator 2: Judgment Day. While the VFX are impressive for their price, being fimed in bright daylight only serves to magnify their inaccuracies and low cost, using night footage, with blue lights as James Cameron did with the first two instalments would have helped to hide the less satisfactory elements of the VFX and other effects, thus magnifying the final product - less is more, more is less.
Now finally, while we acknowedge the awesomeness of the achievement of this fan film and encourage each and all to support these guys however you can, some inaccuracies in the script, to fans do however stand out; these are...
- [SPOILER] In Final Transmission, John Connor dies on a beach in 2032 due to a gunshot to the stomach. Unfortunately this is incorrect - John Connor was terminated by a T-850 on the 4th July 2032, that same T-850 was then sent back to 2004 to ensure John and Kate survived Judgment Day - ergo John Connor woud have died within the vicinity of the TDE used to send back the T-X and the T-850 to 2004,and furtermore Kate, his wife, woud have been present.
- After John Connor dies Kyle Reese picks up the photograph of Sarah Connor and heads, presumably, towards the facility housing the TDE. Again, this is incorrect. As stated in the Terminator, Kyle Reese was sent back to May 12th 1984 from 11th July, 2029. Furthermore, John Connor was present when Kyle Reese used the TDE, as straight afterward he reprogrammed a T-800 before sending it back to 1994.
- Final inaccuracy. In this fan film, John Connor states that he sent the Terminator back in time to murder his mother, because of the hatred he feels for the way in which he was raised. While an interested concept, it is again clearly stated in the Terminator that John, Kyle and the Tech-Comm team entered the TDE lab just as the T-800 was zapped back to 1984. For reasons obvious Connor would not have left Reeses side on the mission until Reese had entered the TDE, so Reese's statement is gospel truth.
What are your opinions of Rick Kingerski's Terminator: Final Transmission John Connor? Let us know below.
