Who Could Play The ‘Real’ John Connor?

Some time ago I ranted that John Connor has always been wrongly cast.  Well, all but the ‘old Connor’ seen at the beginning of Terminator 2: Judgement Day, he looked the real deal.  The rest have all ranged from serviceable to shit.  Furlong wouldn’t have been my first choice for 10 year old Connor (that, in 1991, would’ve been the kid from RoboCop 2).  Stahl was a joke, that John Connor got owned by a veterinarian and locked in a cage.  The ‘TV’ Connor was a boyband momma’s boy and Christian Bale was an incompetent fool in Terminator: Salvation.  These do not correlate with the John Connor described by Kyle Reese.  In The Terminator, the John Connor he described was proof that man was still the baddest motherfucker in the valley.  That John Connor was described as a man who wouldn’t run, like everyone does in the chase movies set in the present; “He taught us how to smash those metal motherfuckers into junk”.  If that John Connor was confronted by an Arnold T-800, there’d be no running.  He’d stand his ground and fucking wreck it.

Ideally, the real follow up to Terminator 2 should’ve been about John Connor, they had the right idea in Terminator Salvation, but screwed it up.  Again, Christian Bale didn’t have the respect of the resistance in that movie.  He couldn’t handle a single Terminator by himself.  Ideally, a real Terminator sequel should have opened with the real John Connor killing a T-800 in the first ten minutes.  By himself.  That would’ve set the tone nicely.  With that in mind, you’ve got to wonder, who could really play that guy?  Here’s just three suggestions…

Scott Adkins

This man would be my number one choice.  John Connor in the Future War must be the ultimate alpha male. Scott Adkins could easily fill these boots.  And not just because he’s jacked and an amazing martial artist – although that doesn’t hurt – rather, the guy has classy, Manly screen presence.  He has the ‘it factor’ required, along with being an excellent actor.  Better than Tom Cruise, Christian Bale and others who are supposedly the best.  Some might say Adkins would make a good T-800.  True, but that’d be too predictable.  We’re tired of seeing the ultimate cyborg.  Now we want to see the ultimate human. A human now doing the hunting instead.  Now that I’m speaking of Adkins, this guy would make a great Predator opponent, should another Predator movie come about.

Thomas Jane

I’d never really paid much attention to Thomas Jane, until I watched him in the best comic book movie of the 00’s (you read that right):  The Punisher (2004).  The man was a wrecking machine, but even better, somehow, he was completely convincing.  After that movie, I’d always hoped we see more of Thomas Jane, especially as an action star, but we never got enough.  On being cast as John Connor, case in point:  the fight with Kevin Nash (AKA ‘The Russian’).  That could easily have been a Terminator.  Bang.  Down.  Owned.  Inside five minutes or so.  But Jane also has that aloof charisma we’re looking for.  He looks like he could portray a man who could give orders with the nod of a head and make complete sense to people under his command.  If you’ve never seen his follow up to The Punisher, check it out here.

Karl Urban

Ever see The Bourne Supremacy?  Someone had the much heralded Jason Bourne running like a cowardly son of a bitch in that movie.  That guy was Karl Urban.  Aside from having the distinctly Manly name of Karl Urban, the guy looks like he wouldn’t at all look out of place – at the very least – among John Connor’s leading Generals.  I’d go one further and say Urban could pull off the leader himself.  I wasn’t much a fan of the recent Dredd movie, I don’t know why, but I certainly did like Urban’s turn as the character.  One of my favourite scenes of the 00’s also features Urban, the FPS sequence from Doom (2005), the only good thing about that movie.

So then… it’s a pity that few actors are available to fill out this role nowadays.  I think one of the few other options would be to go with an unknown.  Hell, it’s what Cameron usually does anyway. Ideally, I’d have Adkins as Connor and Urban/Jane under his command.  It’s all moot anyway though, there’ll never be another good Terminator movie.  So what do you think?  This list is pretty slim. Suggestions welcome…