BEVERLY HILLS, California — After a half-decade of hope, fans can finally lay their eyes again upon the red-eyed machines of the "Terminator" franchise, as "Terminator Salvation" storms into theaters with a post-apocalyptic update on the adventures of John Connor. But when you go and watch the movie this weekend, will you see the whole picture?
Christian Bale, director McG and the other behind-the-scenes "Salvation" stars have packed the new film full of winks to the franchise's past — some subtle, some more deliberate. Below, we present five spoiler-free nuggets to keep an eye out for while watching the blockbuster.
The Clothes Make the Man - Sharp-eyed viewers should keep a close watch on Christian Bale's pants, which costume designer Michael Wilkinson designed with "Terminator 2" in mind. In "Salvation," John Connor wears tiger-striped Army pants, a subtle reference to the clothes worn by Edward Furlong in the 1991 classic. "You know what? I was completely oblivious to that," Bale laughed, admitting that the homage was news to him. "With that stuff, they gave me a selection. They had different kind of amulets and pagan-looking things, and I really wanted to strip Connor down to the bare essentials and I picked those pants but I picked them being oblivious to any reference."
Sneaking in a "Terminator" Reference - Wilkinson made a similar nod to the past in the wardrobe of Anton Yelchin — cast as Kyle Reese, the character so memorably portrayed by Michael Biehn in 1984's original "Terminator" film. Look closely at Yelchin's sneakers and you might see a resemblance to the boots Kyle Reese will wear as an adult. The wardrobe crew adapted the sneakers using shearling lining and cord laces.
Lines in the Sand - The "Terminator" franchise has always been about catchphrases. Whether any new ones emerge out of "Salvation" is anyone's guess, but the film's dour tone didn't stop McG from sneaking in a handful of classic lines from the past. We've already glimpsed Kyle Reese uttering the same "Come with me if you want to live" line that was the original film (and the T-800 said in "T2"). In another scene, Christian Bale takes the torch from Ah-nuld by invoking the Governator's line before he heads off to battle: "I'll be back."
You Could Be Mine...Again? - In one pivotal scene, John Connor uses a boom box to attract the attention of a Moto-Terminator. His music of choice? Guns N' Roses' hit song "You Could Be Mine," an early '90s classic that featured prominently in "Terminator 2" and resulted in a now-classic video that had Axl, Slash and the gang meeting Arnold Schwarzenegger but being dubbed a "waste of ammo." Trust us, kids — back in 1991, it was a really big deal.
The Scene That Launched a Thousand YouTube Videos - As the entire world now knows, Christian Bale has a tendency to get a bit ... impolite ... when someone walks into his line of vision during a take. The actor has apologized for what he said was a very intense day of filming, but McG clued us in on the difficult take so that we can see what moment, exactly, Bale was channeling all that rage to capture. "It's actually a scene from Connor fighting the war against the T-600, at the top of the film," McG, who has taken full blame for pushing Bale to the breaking point, revealed. "Naturally, I wanted him to be very physical there."
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