W hen I was really young, we went on holiday to the East Coast (Reighton Gap, Filey and the like) and I'd always wake up early and on most days I would take my dad's hand and (leaving the car wherever it was parked) we'd walk through the quiet sun-rising morning to get a newspaper and if I was really lucky one of the comic summer specials (Monster Fun, Whizzer and Chips, anyone?) which I'd read and reread again and again later. Wherever we were, it would be long before the hustle and bustle of the day and the crowds of other inevitable fellow holiday-makers and it was as if the world was breathing in, just for a while. There'd be tons to do later, but right at that moment, my comic and my dad were the world and the only reason to rush would be to have the breakfast that my mum was rustling up back at the ranch bungalow/flat/etc. I can almost taste it now.
Yesterday was one of those rare days when a) Britain was hot, cloudless and balmy and b) I was up early enough for the world to be on the starting blocks rather than racing headlong into oblivion. Leaving the house and not yet onto the noisy New Road Side, I suddenly flashed back to those calmer, early days. Lots of water under the sandcastles since then. But whether it was the less-than-typical weather or the hour, I couldn't help smiling at the memory. I'm sure I worried a few people doing that. (Good, it'll keep 'em on their toes ;))
Never mind, though, we could soon wipe that smile off my face with a preview screening of the slightly less than monsterly fun and terribly angsty new TERMINATOR film. Now, I didn't hate it half as much as some critics have done. I've seen much, much worse and in many ways there's a fair amount of enjoy in a formulaic summer-blockbuster way. But it IS one of those films that the further you get away from it, the more you have trouble with it. As an adrenaline rush it has certain obvious steroid-induced qualities, pumped up and chest puffed out and daring you to walk across its line of sight. But ultimately, once you notice the casual plotting at work (and admit it feels like a plot that has had other stuff shoe-horned in there rather than naturally evolved) it clearly becomes less than the sum of its cybernetic parts. It starts like Black Hawk Down, turns into Mad Max, takes a turn into Transformers and then decides it better nab some past Terminator lines and sequences to keep the die-hards happy... and, oh, yes, we need to remember that John Connor was supposed to be the star. Or not. A little like the character of robo-bait John Connor over the years, there's a lack of continuity and momentum and though it's a perfectly okay rollercoaster ride which I'd recommend for the quick fix, it's not going to have the longevity of the first two films. There's much potential in there - even if not always realised - and one hopes they build on it if another sequel comes about.Today's been cooler and the weather will be positively bracing by the end of the week. Holidays are now taken further afield. I no longer hold my dad's hand when he gets the paper (it's one thing to keep people on their toes, but let's not get silly...) and I think Monster Fun went out of circulation around three decades ago. Come to think of it, so did most summer specials entirely.
Sarah Connor told her son John that the future is what you make it. But as long as it doesn't involve robotic assassins, I'd like to think the past is too.
