View:
Connections, in both directions
Sure, a movie doesn’t need to fully reflect the taste of its time or characters, but there’s a weird disconnect throughout this film, in part because the references are so non-stop that they’re impossible to ignore—when a character went from a “Forrest Gump” nod to a Tommy Tutone shout-out in the same line , I thought maybe I was being punked.
Sure, some may get the callbacks to Terminator 2: Judgement Day (1991), but will the target audience understand who Vanilla Ice was or what “Hammer Time” is? What’s the purpose of referencing Jenny from Forrest Gump (1994)?
Terminator: Salvation does not seem like a Terminator movie, at least when compared to what we have experienced from filmmakers James Cameron ( The Terminator , Terminator 2: Judgment Day ) and Jonathan Mostow ( Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines ).
Reese will, alas, grow up to be as humorless as John Connor, but James Cameron sensibly didn�t ask Reese to anchor The Terminator.
Even charismatic leading man Christian Bale -- whose expletive-riddled rant at "Salvation" cinematographer Shane Hurlbut became an Internet hit -- can't rescue the film from its own destructive disposition.The year is 2018, and the hopeless, war-torn future Sarah Connor so aggressively tried to alter (in "The Terminator" and "Terminator 2: Judgment Day") has come to pass.
“Terminator Salvation,” directed by McG and written by John D. Brancato and Michael Ferris, mines the mythology of James Cameron’s original 1984 “The Terminator” by indifferently hacking away at it with a virtual remote-controlled backhoe.
War of the Worlds (2005)
Directed by Steven Spielberg
influenced Terminator Salvation (2009)
Visuals Music
Like the sentinels from The Matrix, the plucked-up people and cattle calls from Spielberg�s War of the Worlds, General Grievous from Revenge of the Sith the "you arrogant ass, you've killed us" moment from The Hunt for Red October and about another half-dozen lifted derivatives.
It was reminiscent of the scary sound made by the Tripods in Spielberg’s “War of the Worlds.”
While it’s true that there is a staleness to some of the action scenes in “Salvation,” such as when humans are violently plucked and collected for study by towering robots (think Steven Spielberg’s version of “ War of the Worlds ”), other scenes are fresh and exciting, such as when snake-like robots swarm in for a feast and then find themselves writhing for their undead lives.
Then we could follow the Predators as they do their work, expanding the limited conception that the writers gave him (one of the few creative elements that was carried over from the first Predator film to the second was that Jim and John Thomas wrote both scripts).
Aquaman (2018)
Directed by James Wan
influenced by Charlie's Angels (2000), Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle (2003)
Visuals
At some points I was strongly reminded of Charlie’s Angels with Cameron Diaz and Lucy Liu but with better special effects.
More tedious slo-mo than Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle .
Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) (2020)
Directed by Cathy Yan
influenced by Charlie's Angels (2000)
Themes
And Birds of Prey is an enjoyably loopy piece of comic book movie escapism, underscored by an unobtrusive, all-gender friendly girl-power message that doesn’t stick out like Goliath’s big toe, the way it did in Charlie’s Angels .
Still, at its best, Birds of Prey is the movie the recent Charlie’s Angels remake wished it could be.
"Birds of Prey" enthuses just the sort of energy moviegoers were hoping for from -- but found lacking -- in "Charlie's Angels."
True Lies (1994)
Directed by James Cameron
influenced 3 Days to Kill (2014), This Means War (2012)
Plot Themes
I picture Besson fondling dusty VHS copies of “The Sopranos” and “True Lies” gloating, “No one will ever discover my secret sources of inspiration!”
It worked in films released 10 or 20 years ago (see True Lies or Mr. and Mrs. Smith), but here it feels played out, clichéd.
"True Lies" seems to be the clear template, at least as far as Besson and co-writer Adi Hasak's script is concerned, although there is a whole bunch of Besson's own "Taken" in the mix as well, particularly during a sequence where Costner rescues his young daughter from a potential gang rape situation at a local Parisian nightclub.
The conflict between the finesse Ethan demonstrates in his professional duties and the complete incompetence with which he approaches parenting is meant to be comedic, although the film doesn’t have the light touch of similar spy-family action-laffers like “Mr. and Mrs. Smith,” “True Lies” or McG’s own “This Means War.” Instead, “3 Days to Kill” proves surprisingly po-faced about trying to build the bond between Ethan and Zooey, even in the midst of moments as goofy as Dad consoling his daughter on a bad hair day, teaching her to dance or buying her a purple bicycle just because that was her favorite color as a kid.
The movie bites from "True Lies" and many others (really, enough with the generic Russian villains, please), and director McG ("Charlie's Angels") always will favor the stylized explosion over the quiet moment.
Nearly two decades after James Cameron all but invented the "action romantic comedy" genre with "True Lies," mediocre action auteur McG tries to pull the same thing off again with the bottom-feeding mess "This Means War."
Terminator Genisys (2015)
Directed by Alan Taylor
influenced by Terminator Salvation (2009)
Characters
Hollywood’s latest effort to reinvigorate a cash cow ransacks James Cameron’s lean landmark actioners Terminator and its sequel Terminator 2: Judgment Day, lifting all the obvious touchstones from the franchise (yes, even Terminator Salvation) while rewriting Terminator history and fundamentally altering not only key characters, but the rules of the world.
You’d think Terminator Salvation would have followed suit, but for whatever reason it held onto that sub-par entry if only through the character of Kate Brewster, otherwise known as Mr. Savior of Humanity John Connor’s wife.
Arnold Schwarzenegger has returned, however, after skipping 2009's Terminator Salvation since he was busy running California (some say into the ground).
It’s a little bit Girl Next Door , a dash of Home Alone , and a sprinkle of familiar horror films like Friday the 13th and I Know What You Did Last Summer, which the meta movie both subtly and overtly references.
And so we’re off on a horrific Home Alone riff (the film even openly acknowledges the debt via dialogue at one point), with Cole trying to stay out of the cult’s clutches as the body count rises and the claret is spilled with gusto.
For here is a movie with a screenplay by Brian Duffield that puts more effort into explaining why Bella Thorne is in a cheerleader outfit than it does into rationalizing why young Cole would run back in the house to Home Alone the Devil worshippers after already escaping; it is ultimately a case study in half-hearted banality.
Handed off to Disney in their Fox acquisition, it was presumably finally released now in order to ride the K-Stew Blockbuster coattails of “Charlie’s Angels.”
One of Underwater ’s only novelties is the sight of Stewart in her first action-heroine role (like a tree falling in the forest, Charlie’s Angels didn’t happen and you can’t prove it).
Ripley Energy: While the role of Norah is more emotionally grounded and sombre than Stewart’s ass-kicking performance in Elizabeth Banks’ Charlie’s Angels , Stewart is undeniably sympathetic and winsome here.
After starring in the 2019 comedy reboot fiasco of Columbia Pictures’ “Charlie’s Angels,” Stewart (who’s been making mostly arty indie films for the past several years) has taken another step into major-studio action fare—but in 20th Century Fox’s “Underwater,” she’s going for scares instead of laughs.
It’s a little bit Girl Next Door , a dash of Home Alone , and a sprinkle of familiar horror films like Friday the 13th and I Know What You Did Last Summer, which the meta movie both subtly and overtly references.
For another, she’s the kind of “cool girl” who can go answer for answer at sci-fi trivia games and quote along to a cult movie like Billy Jack (screenwriter Brian Duffield might be indulging in a little wish fulfillment here, bless him).
Bee and Cole are special friends who giddily (and cloyingly) discuss Predator and Aliens , and watch Billy Jack projected onto the back of Cole’s shed.
"Charlie's Angels" does what "The Brady Bunch Movie" did in 1995, in that it brings to the big screen whatever good things the TV show had to offer, and openly mocks all the bad things.
Cole and Bree chat about who they’d pick for their Intergalactic Dream Team (Jeff Goldblum from Independence Day , my girl) and nosh on homemade pizza.
Kingsman: The Secret Service (2015)
Directed by Matthew Vaughn
influenced by Charlie's Angels (2000)
Plot
It was the premise for not only the aforementioned " Alex Rider ," but also 2000's " Charlie's Angels ," 2003's " Agent Cody Banks ," and just about every superhero and sports movie in existence.
It was also an L.A. crime series where the law enforcers wore spandex swimwear; a cheeseball star vehicle that revamped the camp-stud Ken-doll mystique of the former “Knight Rider” hero David Hasselhoff; and, yes, an entry in the oxymoronic genre that started a decade before with “Charlie’s Angels” — the prime-time jigglefest.
Viewed as what it also is?a fleet-footed action-mystery, one part "Scooby-Doo" and another part "Charlie's Angels"?there are plenty of pleasures to be had.
The comedy follows the formula of many other films based on TV procedurals (think “Starsky & Hutch,” “Charlie’s Angels” and “21 Jump Street”) by taking a winking approach to the original show’s signature moments.
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
Directed by Peter Jackson
influenced by Charlie's Angels (2000)
Please see my Tomb Raider and Charlie's Angels reviews for further interpretation of these types of horrific line readings.
Where Ti West took VHS horror and emulated it via style and tone replication with The House of the Devil, McG seems to be filtering that same brand of lo-fi genre freak out though his own bubblegum lens, and the results are borderline unwatchable.
With its big-budget flash and style, Miami Vice charted new ground for episodic television dramas in the 1980s, changing the way such shows were conceived and staged, and no doubt laying the groundwork for the directorial careers of folks like, let’s say, Charlie’s Angels’ McG.
Lest this all start to sound campy, let's be clear: In returning to his own Miami Vice series for source material, Mann isn't mining the vein of '70s and '80s TV nostalgia that brought us movie versions of Starsky and Hutch, Charlie's Angels, and The Brady Bunch.
The Old Guard (2020)
Directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood
influenced by Charlie's Angels (2000)
Characters
In some respects, The Old Guard feels like a return to action thrillers, but there are so few with women in charge of a group, we’ve only seen it in movies like Charlie’s Angels or another Theron vehicle, Mad Max: Fury Road .
Theron’s world-weary Andy is clearly modelled on the Alien franchise’s Ellen Ripley and Terminator ’s Sarah Connor, while the “newbie guide to a mysterious organisation” is straight out of last year’s Charlie’s Angels and countless other flicks.