Two Terminators from different timelines struggle to kill or
protect a young woman vital to humanity's future.
This story begins in 1998 for the intro, then jumps ahead 22
years to 2020.
The "young" Model 101 Terminator (young Arnold Schwarzenegger)
was played by bodybuilder Brett Azar, who has a similar build to
that of Schwarzenegger at the time The
Terminator was filmed (1984). He also played the
young Model 101 Terminator with Arnold's face in
Genisys.
This film was not successful at the box office and fans generally did not respond well
to the new storyline. The production studios involved in the
film have since stated that no further films in the series
are planned.
Dr. Silberman (in video footage only)
Didja Notice?
The Paramount Pictures and 20th Century Fox logos that
appear in the film leader are made to look like they are
playing on an old VHS tape and both logos also flash to
their 1995 versions for split second.
The film opens with the video footage of Sarah Connor in
therapy with Dr. Silberman seen in
Judgment Day. The footage seen here is extended a
bit.
The Terminators in the opening future war scene carry the
fictitious
Westinghouse M95A1 Phased Plasma Rifle as also
seen in
Judgment Day and episodes of
The Sarah Connor
Chronicles.
A T-101 (later to become known as Carl), tracks Sarah and
John down in Livingston, Guatemala. This is an actual town
in Guatemala.
At 2:49 on the Blu-ray, the small boat seen on the beach is
named El Cipollo. In Spanish this roughly translates to
"fool" or "dunce".
Actor Edward Furlong reprised his role as John Connor at the
beginning of the film with the help of de-aging CGI to make
him appear to be a teenager. Furlong has said his shoot on
the film lasted only one day for his cameo.
The T-101 uses a
Serbu
Super Shorty shotgun to kill John in 1998. Later, in 2020,
Sarah is seen to have in her possession what may be the same
shotgun that killed her son (notice the Terminator drops the
shotgun in 1998 once it confirms the kill).
Sarah pulls a
Beretta
92FS handgun when the Terminator shoots John.
After the Livingston 1998 introductory scene, the film jumps
to Mexico
City 2020.
The car on top of which Maria and her boyfriend are making out is
a 1988 Pontiac Bonneville. Grace steals it from them minutes
later.
At 4:33 on the Blu-ray, ice begins to form on a spot on the
bridge just before the time displacement bubble delivering
Grace appears. Ice also appears at the apartment complex when the Rev-9 appears from
the future. This ice effect has not been seen previously when time
displacement occurs in the Terminator series. Maybe
it's a nod to the icing effect on the DeLorean time machine
in Back to the Future! It might also suggest that
Legion's displacement technology works slightly differently
from the one that had been developed by Skynet.
At 4:59 on the Blu-ray, the SUV that almost runs into
Grace's time bubble as it materializes on the bridge is a
1990
Toyota
Land Cruiser...and it's Sarah Connor, even though we are not
re-introduced to her at this point! Sarah shows up the next
day to intercept the Rev-9 when it's chasing Dani and the
others on the freeway. Sarah later explains that she has
been receiving text messages from an unknown informant (soon
revealed to be Carl) whenever a Terminator arrives from the
past. Although not explicitly stated, it seems logical to
assume she received a text about the time incursion that
brought Grace and Sarah was on her way to intercept what she
assumed was a Terminator when her near-collision with the
time bubble side-tracked it. |
 |
The Mexican police cars that drive up after the appearance
of Grace under the bridge are 2009
Chevrolet
Cruze models. They do not really look like actual current
day Mexico City police cruisers.
At 6:32 on the Blu-ray, a liquid storage
tank in the background has Grupopacifico painted on it. As
far as I can tell, this is a fictitious company.
Also, a hand-painted sign on the chain
link fence around the lot reads,
"PROHIBIDO EL PASO". This is Spanish for "NO TRESPASSING".
At 6:34 on the Blu-ray, the police officer's name badge
reads "Ramirez". He wields a Beretta 92FS handgun.
At 8:44 on the Blu-ray, Diego mentions Bruno Mars.
Bruno Mars is a popular American singer, songwriter, and
instrumentalist.
At 9:04 on the Blu-ray, the bare-chested Diego puts on a
button-up shirt. At 9:23, he suddenly has a t-shirt on under
it.
At 11:15 on the Blu-ray, a store called Nuevo Siglo is seen
in Mexico City. As far as I can tell, this is a fictitious
business.
Nuevo Siglo is Spanish for "New Century".
Dani and Diego work at the factory of Arius Motors. This is
a fictitious company.
The industrial robot that takes over Diego's job at the
factory is made by
KUKA.
At 14:29 on the Blu-ray, a
Quiss
industrial machine is seen in the background at the factory.
The Rev-9 uses a
Browning
Hi-Power pistol in its attempt to kill Dani at the factory.
Grace uses a
Winchester 1300 shotgun and a Beretta 92FS handgun
against the Rev-9 at the factory.
The Rev-9 has similar abilities as the T-X from
Rise of the Machines,
but with the added ability of being able to split into two
forms at once, its metal endoskeleton and its mimetic
polyalloy sheath.
The pick-up truck in which Grace and the Ramos' escape from the factory
is a 1989 Ford
F-Series.
The police cruiser chasing the fleeing Ramos's is a 2006
Dodge
Charger.
The industrial dump truck in which the Rev-9 pursues the Ramos's
is a Volvo N 10.
At 18:16 on the Blu-ray, a business called Petroquimica
Tlechemex is seen in the background. As far as I can tell,
this is a fictitious company.
At 18:20 on the Blu-ray, the Rev-9's truck wipes out a Super
Taco stand. There are a number of independent Super Taco
eating establishments throughout the Americas.
Most of the vehicle license plates seen in the Mexico City
scenes are for the state of Chihuahua, even though Mexico City is far south
of there.
Throughout the movie, the viewer can spot seam-like, long
white scars across Grace's body (even fine lines on her
face), indicative of the surgery she underwent to become
augmented with cybernetic parts. Her augmentations make her
similar to cybernetically-enhanced humans seen in the
New John Connor Chronicles series of novels
of Timeline JD-3.
At 20:31 in the Blu-ray, a freeway sign indicates an exit
for
Nextlalpan and
Jaltenco.
At 21:12, we see an exit for two other towns, Lecheria
and Texcoco.
These are all towns in the Mexican state of Mexico.
At
23:12, a sign for the exit for
Querétaro,
Toluca,
and
Tultitlan is seen.
When
Sarah arrives at the bridge, her Toyota Land Cruiser
is seen to have
Yokohama Geolandar tires on it. Also, the headrests are
missing from the front seats of the vehicle; headrests are often
removed in film productions to make it easier to shoot
scenes
of the driver and passenger
from the backseat.
Sarah wields a
Fostech Origin-12 automatic shotgun against the Rev-9
liquid metal Terminator as she steps out of her Land
Cruiser. After blowing the liquid metal Terminator off the
bridge, she exchanges the Origin-12 for an M72 LAW anti-tank
weapon against the endoskeleton.
After taking care of the two forms of the Rev-9 Terminator
(at least temporarily), Sarah tells Grace, "I'll be back."
At 29:24 on the Blu-ray, Grace and Dani enter the Gomez Pamo
Antigua Farmacia (Old Pharmacy). As far as I can tell, this
is a fictitious pharmacy for Mexico, but there was a
business by that name in Madrid, Spain, where much of the
film was shot.
Sarah steals a Toyota Corolla station wagon (looks like late
1980s vintage) to go after Grace and Dani when they take off
in her Land Cruiser.
Grace states that she uses a thorium micro reactor as her
power source as an Augment. Thorium is
a weakly radioactive element.
Sarah is not sure she, Grace, and Dani will be able to cross
the border into the United States considering Dani is Mexian
national and she (Sarah) herself was on an episode of
America's Most Wanted.
America's Most Wanted
was
an American television news/crime program which ran
1988-2012 and presented real life cases of wanted criminal
suspects.
At the motel room, a distrusting Sarah pulls a
Heckler & Koch P30 pistol on Grace, but Grace quickly
disarms her.
Grace tells Sarah and Dani that she is from 2042.
Sarah remarks to Grace, "Clearly, you don’t know
everything about this time. Now anyone with phones is a
walking sensor platform. How every intersection, or a gas
station and
7-Eleven
has cameras. Nobody walks in this world without leaving a
digital trail a mile wide. And my guess is that Terminator,
hunting her, can access that data anytime. You two won’t
last ten hours."
In this version of the Terminator timeline, Sarah
and John's actions in
Judgment Day prevented the rise of Skynet. But
Grace reveals that another AI developed for cyber warfare
called Legion rose to prominence and attempted to wipe out
humanity later in the timeline.
Carl and his family live outside of
Laredo, Texas.
The Rev-9 makes a data raid at Rathium Data Center in Mexico
City. This appears to be a fictitious compound. Here, the
Rev-9 learns that Dani and her companions are hopping a
train for a journey from Los Heroes, Tecámac to Laredo,
Texas. Los Heroes is a neighborhood in the
Tecámac
municipality of the state of Mexico in the country of
Mexico.
The jet passenger plane that crashes in Grace's remembrances
of the future is a Fifty States Air plane.
Fifty States Air is a fictitious airline.
Sarah thinks of herself as Mother Mary for being the mother
of John Connor and assumes that Dani is the new Mother Mary
to a savior in the new future. It's ironic for Sarah to
think of herself as
Mother Mary (the Biblical mother of Jesus Christ) for, as
pointed out in previous Terminator studies on
PopApostle,
John Connor has been something of a messiah and savior of
humanity; notice that his initials are J.C., frequently used
in fictional stories featuring protagonists that are meant
to be symbolic or satirical stand-ins for Jesus Christ (the
novelization of
Judgment Day
even has Sarah realizing that one of the reasons she's
thought of as crazy by the doctors at Pescadero
State Hospital is that she has named her son to have those
initials and has claimed he will save humanity).
And Hour of the Wolf
has Cyberdyne executive Oscar Cruz thinking of John Connor's
resemblance, and possible connection to, the returned
Messiah.
After getting off the train, Grace and her crew hitch a ride
in the back of a 1988 Chevrolet C/K-Series Regular Cab
pick-up truck.
As Grace's crew attempts to cross the border on foot, she
and Sarah are armed with
Olympic
Arms K23B Tactical carbines.
The Rev-9 broadcasts to the border patrol that Grace and the
others are known members of the Sinaloa cartel. The
Sinaloa cartel is an international crime syndicate based in
Mexico.
At 55:45 on the Blu-ray, graffiti painted on the Mexican
side of the border wall reads "NO MUROS". This is Spanish
for "no walls".
The border patrol agents who arrest Grace and friends are
armed with M16 rifles.
At 1:00:04
on the Blu-ray, the Rev-9 checks in his
Glock 17
pistol at the border detention facility. This seems to be a
standard issue pistol for the
U.S. Border Patrol agents, as Dani later picks one up in
the border patrol helicopter.
At 1:05:40 on the Blu-ray, a 2010
Gamma RDO-3921 Komondor BORTAC (Border Patrol Tactical
Unit) vehicle is seen.
Carl owns a business called Carl's
Draperies ("We'll never leave you hanging!"). This is, of
course, a fictitious business.
The phone number of the business is
800-555-0199. The 555 prefix of the phone number is a
long-time convention in Hollywood TV and film.
The Carl's Draperies van is a 2014
Mercedes-Benz Vito with Texas license plate LKH 12U.
When Carl first answers the door and Sarah sees he is a
Model 101, she tries to bring her
Remington 870 Police Combat shotgun to bear on him, but
Grace stops her.
Carl serves Brockman Pale Ale beer to his guests.
Brockman is a fictitious beer brand, one previously seen in
episodes of the sitcom television series It's Always
Sunny in Philadelphia. Carl (and, later, his wife
Alicia) serves the beer with a lime
wedge.
At 1:09:42 on the Blu-ray, we see that a
picture of the Virgin Mary hangs in the kitchen of Carl's
home, probably placed by his wife, Alicia.
On the kitchen counter can be seen a jar of
La
Costeña mole.
Alicia's car is a
Volvo
V70 with
Texas license plate P5H 9D3.
From 1:13:16-1:14:13 on the Blu-ray, a bottle of beer keeps
moving back-and-forth from Dani's hand to the table from shot-to-shot.
Notice that the family dog likes Carl as well, even though
dogs usually bristle at Terminators.
Dani is wearing a "New Mexico" t-shirt while at Carl's house.
Presumably this is a shirt that belongs to Alicia.
At 1:17:05 on the Blu-ray, Sarah hands Dani a
Standard
Manufacturing DP-12 shotgun to take out some watermelons
for target practice.
At 1:21:20 on the Blu-ray, a note from Mateo to his mom is
seen on the refrigerator door asking for more
M&Ms.
The group meets with one of Sarah's contacts, Major Dean.
Dean is said to be from Bingham air base, but there is no
such base in the U.S.
Major Dean says Chinooks and Blackhawks fly out of Bingham.
These are actual model series of military aircraft used by
the USAF.
Our heroes hijack a
Lockheed C-5M Super Galaxy transport aircraft from
Bingham.
At 1:23:39 on the Blu-ray, Carl fires a Beretta ARX-160
rifle at the Rev-9's helicopter. The rifle has a Beretta
GLX-160 grenade launcher fitted under it.
When the Rev-9 pursues our heroes to the Bingham air base,
he is wearing an
El
Paso
police uniform and flying an El
Paso police helicopter.
At 1:25:49 on the Blu-ray, Sarah fires an M4A1 carbine from
the transport at the Rev-9's helicopter. When she runs out
of ammo, Dani tosses her a
Benelli
M4 Super 90 shotgun. Carl is armed with a M249 Paratrooper
machine gun.
At 1:27:15 on the Blu-ray, the song playing over the
speakers at the backyard barbecue the Rev-9 crashes into is
Dwight Yoakam's 1986 song "Guitars, Cadillacs", the same
song that was playing at the Corral bar in
Judgment Day
when the protector Terminator first walks into it at the
beginning of the film.
Grace seems to suggest that the day Legion rebelled against
humanity is called Judgment Day, just as it was when Skynet
did it in earlier timelines.
In the flashback of Grace's rescue by Dani as a child, Dani
refers to HKs (Hunter-Killers) flying overhead, indicating
that much of the terminology has remained the same in the
Legion timeline as it was in the Skynet timelines.
During the aerial chase through the final confrontation, the Rev-9 is seen to be wearing the air force uniform of
R.M. Wilson.
The Humvee our heroes parachute out of the transport plane
in is an
AM General HMMWV M1025.
The Humvee lands on the edge of an unnamed dam in Texas or
another nearby state. The scenes were shot at Aldeadávila
Dam in Spain.
When the Rev-9 remarks to Sarah and Carl about their charge,
Dani, "I know she's a stranger to you. Why not just let me
have her?" Sarah responds, "Because we're not machines, you
metal motherfucker!" It seems she is referring to Carl as well,
whether she consciously meant to say it that way or not. Has
she finally accepted that he has become human in spirit? When Carl is
destroyed stopping the Rev-9 at the end of the movie, Sarah
even seems to have tears welling up in her eyes.
The car Dani and Sarah drive away in at the end of the movie
is a Jeep
CJ-7 with
BFGoodrich tires and a Washington state license plate.
Unanswered Questions
If Sarah was receiving texts from Carl about every
Terminator arrival so she could intercept and destroy each
unit, why is she not present for the Rev-9's arrival at the
apartment complex?
How was the T-800 that becomes known as Carl able to "learn"
how to be human? In the extended version of
Judgment Day, it was
stated that Skynet
sends independent units out with the learning function
deactivated so it won't think too much. The T-800 in
that
extended version of the
film could only start learning when John and Sarah
removed its CPU and toggled a switch to put it into learning
mode. Did Carl find someone to remove his CPU and do the
same?
It seems unlikely that Carl would be able to live a life on
his own, run a drapery business, etc. given that his
likeness is attached to that of the Terminator in The
Terminator who killed 17 police officers in Los
Angeles, the protector Terminator in
Judgment Day
who helped destroy Cyberdyne and injure numerous cops, and
the man who murdered John Connor in Guatemala early in this
film. How is it
that Carl has not been pursued by U.S. law enforcement
agencies for the past 22 years?
Why is Sarah's contact, Major Dean of the U.S. Air Force, so
willing to help her, even engaging in what could be
considered traitorous acts against his nation? Does he know
about the machine war of the future? Even if Sarah told him
about it, why would he believe it without incontrovertible
evidence?
Memorable Dialog
I am
terminated.mp3
I'll be
back.mp3
stop a Terminator in the first few minutes.mp3
I'm wanted in a couple of states.mp3
funerals don't help them, goodbyes don't help you.mp3
my name is Sarah Connor.mp3
a future that never happened.mp3
I
hunt Terminators.mp3
those assholes never learn.mp3
for John.mp3
America's Most Wanted.mp3
Mother
Mary.mp3
now I'm forgetting his face.mp3
you don't get to say his name.mp3
without purpose we are nothing.mp3
you grew a conscience.mp3
how to become a human.mp3
this will be very hard to explain to Alicia.mp3
I choose
to.mp3
I'm never gonna fucking call you Carl.mp3
they
don't know.mp3
this is
Texas.mp3
I won't
be back.mp3
I am going to kill you.mp3
don't do
it.mp3
no fate but what we make.mp3
you
are the future.mp3
I came from a future like that.mp3
we're
not machines.mp3
for John
2.mp3
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