Robert Patrick has a very simple take on why Terminator movies have never lived up to the promise of the 1984 original or its 1991 sequel. Patrick took on the role of the T-1000 in Terminator 2: Judgment Day, a movie widely regarded as one of the greatest action movie sequels of all time, and there is one simple ingredient that he says subsequent movies and shows just did not have: James Cameron.
The Terminator was released in 1984 and immediately set a new benchmark for sci-fi action movies. The film still holds a 100% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes, something even its superior sequel doesn’t have, although it does hold a higher audience score of 95% against the original’s 91%. However, both movies have far higher scores than anything that followed, and box office numbers were never quite the same either. For Patrick, Cameron’s position as one of the greatest movie directors in Hollywood is the reason. He told ComicBook’s Chris Killian:
“I really think [Terminator 2: Judgment Day]’s one of the greatest films of all time. It’s action, it’s sci-fi, it’s a family story… It’s a horror film, it’s a post-apocalyptic movie, there’s so many elements to it. People will ask me, well, why do you think the other Terminators aren’t as good… I’ll say, James Cameron. I mean, that’s the only thing you could say. I mean, he’s the guy. He’s the guy.”
James Cameron plucked Robert Patrick from relative obscurity when casting him as the villain of his second Terminator movie, something that another director may have actively avoided and pulled in a big-name star instead. Partick known that it was down to Cameron that he was given a shot at the big time.
“That created the opportunity for me, and we got that, seized the moment, and the film worked out, and you know, 35 years later, people are still talking about it, and it’s with me everywhere I go.”
James Cameron Could Return to the ‘Terminator’ Franchise
While James Cameron’s time has been almost exclusively taken up by his Avatar movies in the last decade, he has been thinking about a possible return to the Terminator franchise. However, those expecting to see old Arnie back again for another round of explosive action, then you may be disappointed. If Cameron does return to the franchise, he has made it clear it will be with a brand new story. Speaking to Empire Magazine last year, Cameron said:
“This is the moment when you jettison everything that is specific to the last 40 years of Terminator, but you live by those principles. You get too inside it, and then you lose a new audience because the new audience care much less about that stuff than you think they do. That’s the danger, obviously, with Avatar as well, but I think we’ve proven that we have something for new audiences…So I have no doubt that subsequent Terminator films will not only be possible, but they’ll kick ass. But this is the moment where you jettison all the specific iconography.”
While the director is releasing his third Avatar movie in a couple of weeks, he has said that he has been actively working on ideas for a new Terminator film, but has found it “difficult” due to the way AI technology is no longer science fiction, but something very real.
- Release Date
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July 3, 1991
- Runtime
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137 minutes
- Producers
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Gale Anne Hurd