This week marks the fifth entry in the fastest and most furious car chasing franchise to ever hit cinemas with FAST FIVE, and maybe it’s because of this that the latest word from TOKYO DRIFT / FAST & FURIOUS / FAST FIVE director Justin Lin is that he’s in talks to possibly direct a TERMINATOR 5, and if that wasn’t crazy enough, he’s sorta considering FURIOUS star Vin Diesel for the lead role (read all about that news HERE). This could all be rumors or some wild fantasy of a journalist taking Lin’s comments out of context (specially since Arnold just signed on to come back as The Terminator) and exploiting it all over the internet for a few extra hits, but… it still begs the question: what would the world think of Diesel in a TERMINATOR movie? And in an effort to shock and surprise myself on a daily basis, I’m surprised to say that I f*cking LOVE this idea!
No qualms about it, I’m a huge TERMINATOR fan—TERMINATOR is fantastic and TERMINATOR 2: JUDGMENT DAY is still, by far, one of my favorite movies of all time. My love for the first two films is so evident that it was painful to watch TERMINATOR 3 and see my beloved franchise fall apart into the realm of silly and by-the-numbers action sequences. “Talk to the hand.”? Really? In a f*cking TERMINATOR movie? Are you kidding me? To say the least, it was a sad day in cinematic history checking out T3 opening day in 2003, and to my own dismay, this disappointment carried through to when it was announced that TERMINATOR SALVATION was going to be made. I wasn’t happy about that idea either and even decided against seeing that flick in theaters, but I did eventually see it (own it) on Blu-ray and found myself to have rather enjoyed it for what it was.
But let’s face it: TERMINATOR SALVATION was not the epic film that we wanted it to be, it didn’t save the franchise from the damage that T3 made, and it didn’t justify a kick-start of the TERMINATOR franchise all over again. It was entertaining, but not nearly as good as a Christian Bale movie should have been, nor as fun or over-the-top as a McG movie usually is. Anyway, the fact that there are talks of a TERMINATOR 5 being made is a little ridiculous, but since you, me, and everyone else on the internet has zero say in whether it should be made or not, we might as well go with it and embrace the idea… I mean, it couldn’t be any worse than the last two, right?
But back to the subject at hand: Vin Diesel as the new Terminator. Why does this sound like an absolutely fantastic idea? For starters, Arnold is way too far past his prime to reprise his role as the Terminator. For him to do it and for it to be believable, it would be the same CGI situation we saw him in TERMINATOR SALVATION. That’s the ONLY way. I’m not saying a cameo appearance wouldn’t be nice, but as the star? No effin’ way. So Arnold’s out. But who has the persona, the build, and the stone-cold acting chops to pull off playing a Terminator if not for Arnold? The only man that comes to mind is Diesel. If you need just one example of how he could pull this off, I ask that you watch PITCH BLACK again, and see Diesel playing a man of few words, but a man who gets the job done when the shit hits the fan. He can be cold like a Terminator should, he can inject some of the straight-faced humor that Arnold managed to pull off in T2 (and T3 *shudder*), and… well, he has the muscular build that’s required for the Terminator. No one wants to see a Robert Patrick-type Terminator lead a movie. They want the beef, the brawn, and the all-out machoness that Diesel would bring to the table, and in the starving world of action stars, Diesel just makes sense.
One of the reasons why T1 and T2 worked so well is because of the working chemistry between Arnold and director James Cameron. Throw those two in a movie together, and you have yourself one awesome ride. The chemistry wasn’t there for T3 and T4 and maybe that’s why those are the lesser of the two in the series. If Justin Lin and Diesel have that magic chemistry that worked for FAST & FURIOUS and FAST FIVE, then why the hell not continue the magic for another TERMINATOR movie? There are certainly worse places for the series to go and besides for maybe The Rock, there’s no better modern-day muscle-bound action star than Diesel that would be able to pull off being the new Terminator than Diesel. The build, the attitude, the action persona… it all screams “classic Schwarzenegger” Terminator in my book.
Maybe it’s the booze talkin’, but if they’re gonna do a fifth TERMINATOR movie, why the f*ck not Vin Diesel? Yes, making a fifth movie in a franchise that should just be dead and buried already now that the two main contributors of the series are no longer involved is out of this world ridiculous, BUT… if it’s going to happen and there’s nothing anybody can do about it, then they might as well cast Vin Diesel to replace the aging and (mostly) retired Arnold who would look simply out-of-place to return as the Terminator at this point. Diesel has the look of a cyborg, he’s already proven that he can rock the non-emotional character (Riddddicckkkk!!!!), and the chemistry between Diesel and the (potential) T5 director Justin Lim is there and can already be seen on screen, all leading up to the proverbial question that I can’t find the answer to: why not Vin Diesel? He’s the best shot at breathing new life into the franchise and if that’s their endgame, why the f*ck not indeed.