Terminator Salvation

Terminator: Salvation

Terminator: Salvation - Directed by McG, starring Christian Bale, Sam Worthington, Anton Yelchin, and Moon Bloodgood - Rated PG-13

Remember, this Kurgan worthy movie is just an action film.



Terminator: Salvation, the fourth film in the series, is quite different from the first three movies. The first three involve one or two terminators trying to kill John Connor, the future savior of mankind. The first three movies were also about preventing the end of the world in the first place, but in Terminator 3 (which I actually enjoyed) the machines won and the world as we know it came to an end. Fifteen years later John Connor (Christian Bale) has shed his punk image (T2) and drug habit (T3) and is now a hardened, almost emotionless (aside from extreme anger) soldier.

This movie is at its best when the action is going on and that’s how we are introduced to this new Connor. An amazing sequence (cut to look like one long take) follows Connor out of a pit, into a helicopter, the crash landing of said helicopter, and an intense one on one fight with an injured terminator. It’s a great way to kick off this new type of terminator movie. Connor isn’t going to have to run away from a single machine for two hours; he’s going to have to wage war with all of them. I, for one, welcome this change.



I didn’t need another Terminator with the protagonists constantly on the run. I wanted to see them attack, and that’s exactly what I got. Others might be disappointed, however. Aside from a few callbacks to the original three (a song, a couple of trademark lines that come off a bit cheesy, but are good for a laugh), this is more of a war film, than a survival film. For instance, we see the resistance, but we do not get the usual expository scenes that explain how they get food or weapons or even how they have bases that are “safe” after fifteen years.


Instead, we get a bleak, gray future where life is survival. I found the surroundings to be as much of a character as Connor because they create a real mood and style for the film. But it might be too bleak for some.


The acting doesn’t really help out with the depressing mood of this film, either. Bale does little more than scream angrily throughout, which may remind people of his curse-laden tirade that was released from the set of this film a few months back. Sometimes his yelling just didn’t fit with the scene. Sam Worthington (as Marcus Wright, an interesting new character with mysterious connections to the machines) on the other hand, adds some charisma to the cast. And even though Bale is featured heavily in the previews, this is as much Worthington’s film as it is Bale’s. That might turn some people away, as well. People expecting Christian Bale in every scene will be disappointed. But I found Worthington interesting enough that I didn’t mind when Bale wasn’t onscreen.

Anton Yelchin, Moon Bloodgood, and Bryce Dallas Howard round out the cast, but Yelchin (Chekov in the recent Star Trek) is the only one worth mentioning. That is only because he is playing the younger version of Kyle Reese (Michael Biehn in the original), who is actually Connor’s father, due to the time travelling element from the first three films. It’s cool to see the young Reese and see how resourceful he is and how that resourcefulness will eventually come in handy for the character.

If it seems like I have mentioned the story much, it’s because I didn’t find it that important and all a viewer really needs to know is that there is a war going on between man and machine. Some have complained that this movie is dumber than its predecessors and that the story isn’t nearly as profound. I think that people are sugarcoating their memories of the first two films a bit, though. Let’s face it, the first movies rely on the idea that robots travel back in time and that John Connor sent his own father back in time. That’s more ridiculous than profound. So I didn’t miss all those great “ideas” about humanity that were apparently featured in the original films. I viewed this one like I did the others: as an action film. Is it better than T1 or T2? No, but it’s better than T3 and the action holds up in comparison to all of them.

*Now for the weekly SPOILER section: The main thing I want to mention here is the appearance of Arnold Schwarzenegger was awesome. They did some great work making it look like 1984 Arnold was actually onscreen. To me, that scene alone makes this movie completely worth it. Just to see that classic, slow head turn after being punched put a smile on my face.

About the PG-13 rating: I've talked to a few people wondering if that hurts the movie at all. Honestly, I didn't notice any edits for content. No weird dubbing over cussing and no strangely cut action. These days, violence doesn't get you an R rating unless it's just ridiculously gory. And when you're dealing with robot violence, it's easy to be brutal without gore. The absence of the f-word isn't a big deal, either. Christian Bale is intense enough without strong language, so you get his drift without the vulgarity (but if you want the vulgarity, just listen to his rant).

Oh, and McG needs to use his actual name from here on out. "Directed by Joseph McGinty Nichol" would look much better onscreen. Even if he turns out to be a consistently good director, I will always laugh and/or cringe when I see the words: Directed by McG.

Eric Harris - www.canneltoncritic.com

Last updated: 2010-05-10 22:41:41 by user06

Terminator Salvation

I give the movie: 2.5/5

When you can keep predicting what's going to come next, you know you're not watching a good movie. Besides having a terrible plot, the movie effects all seem bloated and worst, recycled from the director's previous movie: Charlie's Angels. The man, McG, seems to have brought his brand of absurdity over to this serious franchise; this cannot be compared to the mind-blowing yet realistic action in The Dark Knight.

FINAL SAY:
Pity Christian Bale for acting in this. But if you're in for purely the action, this Terminator does deliver.

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Wilson Ng - http://wilsoniscurious.blogspot.com/

Last updated: 2010-03-14 05:05:26 by wilsoniscurious

Terminator:Salvation

Starring:

Christian Bale, Sam Worthington, Common, Bryce Dallas Howard, Helena Bonham Carter, Michael Ironside Anton Yelchin

Director: McG

Genre: Sci FI, Action, Adventure

Rated: PG-13

Set in Post Apocalyptic Los Angeles in 2018, John Connor (Chrisian Bale) is now an adult and a key figure of the Resistance. He meets Marcus Wright (Sam Worthington) a former death row inmate who was part of a Cyberdyne experiment. Connor who is not sure who Marcus is, due to no reference of him in the tapes his mother made Utilizes Marcus to infiltrate Skynet and Save Kyle Reese (Anton Yelchin) who has not yet been sent back in time to become Connors Father.

Terminator has always been an R rate experience. With grim images of a dark future where indestructible machines walk the earth crushing human skulls underfoot and annihilating Mankind. The first film was groundbreaking and introduced the mass population to Arnold Schwarzenegger as the original killing machine. The Second was equally as groundbreaking in terms of scope and special effects. The third was an abomination which most fans of the franchise refuse to recognize and now there is Terminator Salvation a Generic PG-13 version which brings nothing new to the franchise accept for making it family friendly. I was extremely hesitant when I heard that McG was Directing, McG happens to be The Director who helmed both Charlies Angels films and yet is still able to find work. He brings his “Style” to Salvation which is to say it’s big, loud and not very good with a mandatory Dirtbike scene. The trailers lead a person to believe that the film is centered on John Connor however he is more of a supporting character at best with most of the screen time being taken by Marcus Wright.

Salvation is another example of studios thinking big CGI and loud explosions is all that is needed to make a movie these days, and once again they are wrong.  The best part of Terminator Salvation is the leaked audio of the Christian Bale rant. That audio was R-rated in your face and got you talking, all qualities this Terminator Lacks. If Skynet ever becomes a reality hopefully they will send a T-100 back in time to stop McG from bastardizing this soulless robot of a 4^th installment.

‘Terminator Salvation’ Doesn’t Exactly Do It

'Terminator' comes up in a conversation or on a late-night talk show, automatically Mr. Governor of California Arnold Schwarzenegger and classic one-liners like "I'll be back" and "Come with me if you want to live" come to mind. Sadly, Terminator Salvation, the fourth film in the Terminator franchise, packs neither of those two things in this mess of a movie. Sure, it occasionally throws in a classic T1 or T2 quote, to make fans of the Skynet series go "Oh! They said that in Judgment Day!" to their friends (who for some reason are always clothed in something that has been praised at Comic-Con before), but unlike Star Trek, it just doesn't work.

Terminator Salvation stars Christian Bale as John Connor, son of Sarah Connor, in the year 2018. Skynet, the now self-aware computer program, has pretty much destroyed the entire human race in a post-apocalyptic Earth. Connor however wants to fight back, or "resist" the machines. So he forms a resistance team of survivors of the human genocide consisting of Blair Williams (Moon Bloodgood), Kyle Reese (Anton Yelchin), Barnes (for some reason, rapper Common) and John's girl, Kate (the cute Bryce Dallas Howard). Let's get one thing straight: two stars in Salvation rock. First, Christian Bale. Bale, the Dark Knight himself, can always make a bad movie good, turn rain into a rainbow. His scruff, Batman-like voice builds up drama and suspense for what's around the corner next in every scene that he lights up in.

The second, a small little role played by Helena Bonham Carter. She plays Dr. Serena Kogan, one of the Skynet leaders. Whenever I see Carter, I immediately recall Sweeny Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. I loved that movie, and she never disappoints in anything that she's ever done (especially Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, great!) Although she doesn't really have anything to give her two-cents in, Carter tries her best. And you got to love her for that.

Director McG (yes, strange name) is the other moderately decent part about T4. He directed both of the remakes of Charlie's Angels and is currently an executive producer for NBC's Chuck and the CW's Supernatural. I heard great comments about him pre-going to see this. I was, however, mislead. There was a lot of unnecessary shaking of the camera and such of that origin in Terminator Salvation. I was hoping for a Cloverfield style of directing, but it was comparatively more like a bad version of Quarantine. And Quarantine was a bad version of Quarantine.

A second-person view of a tragedy unfolding with lots of explosions and panic would have been fantastic in this kind of flick, but nope. There wasn't any of that.

Terminator Salvation is a disappointing summer movie.

A TV show on Fox and 3 movies later might not be enough of a sign that theTerminator series has come to an end, but when you have to address Arnold as "Mr. Schwarzenegger", than it's definitely time to stop.

2/5 stars.

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-Nick

Terminator Salvation

better than terminator 3: rise of the machines.  not near as good as terminator 2.

the whole thing looked a little too much like the matrix after they got neo into the “real world.”  all post apocolyptic and all.  which is what the world is after judgement day i suppose.  but still.

i did really enjoy all the “shout outs” to this films predecessors.  i’ll not spoil the cool parts for ya but be on the look out for “i’ll be back.”  in one scene john connor, played very seriously by christian bale, is baiting a terminator with a boom box blasting out “you could be mine” by guns and roses.  that’s from terminator 2 for you newbies out there.  and the coolest shout out of all i thought is also the most obscure.  only die hards i think will catch it.  in the original terminator the character of kyle reece, john connor’s father who was sent by john connor from the future to protect his mother, is played by Michael Biehn.  this time around the teen age kyle reece is played by anton yelchin.  who by the way plays chekov in the new star trek film.  (that kid has had a busy summer already)  the first words spoken by both actors in each of thier respective films is the same exact words.  and it’s really cool if you catch it.

other than that, this film kinda left me feeling a little flat.  the actors are all very good.  sam worthington does a great job as the secondary male lead.  moon bloodgood makes me want to work out harder at the gym.  bryce dallas howard is good at john connor’s love interest.  she’s pregnant with his baby in the film and it looks like she actually is pregnant.  her hands look swollen.  so that’s either a spectacular make up job or she got pregnant before the film started shooting and they just went with it.  either way, that is a beautiful woman.  way to go little opie cunningham.

maybe i’m just spoiled by star trek being so good and this film will be better on dvd.  but for now i’m giving it two severed T-800 heads out of a possible five.

there is one big surprise treat near the end of the film that i won’t give away but you may find yourself pumping your fist in the air and shouting “yes.”  i did anyway.

Cal Reed

Terminator Salvation

Basic Premise:

John Conner and the human resistance are fighting against the machines in this saga beginner.


Review:

This was a good installment to the Terminator legacy. It made me want to go back and watch the first movie all over again. This wasn't an action-from-stem-to-stern movie. But then none of the Terminator movies are like that. There are down times and emotionally charged moments and parts with humans-survive-like-cockroaches speeches. There are also huge honkin' (yes they were) robots shooting big guns and blowing stuff up. :D The Ducati Monster terminators kicked much ass (I know they're Ducati monsters because the guy in the "First Look" segment said so. :P)

I would have liked the movie more if I had never seen any of the previews. The previews took away the "secret" of the movie that they spent almost forty minutes building up to (is that a spoiler?). That ticked me off, very much badly. I wish they hadn't even put it in the previews. It's a Terminator movie. All they had to do was flash John Conner (Christian Bale) and a Terminator unit and everyone would have flocked to the theaters.

I've never known movie people to put such a huge flippin' spoiler in a preview before. But maybe they thought they needed to do it to get people to go see it.

Beyond that gripe, I liked it. Not loved, but liked. This was my "glad I saw it and I can wait for it to come on DVD to see it again" movie. Unlike Star Trek, which is a "I'm going to make some free time so I can see it again" movie.

Actually, I think my theater had a crappy copy or their DVD player needs to be cleaned because it seemed like the movie was skipping. I hope it was skipping. Otherwise, that movie had some really crap scene transitions.

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Recommendations: Star Trek (2009), Avatar, 300

D. Renee Bagby<br />
Building New Realms of Passion<br />
http://dreneebagby.com

Terminator Salvation

Uhm...well everyone can feel free to either a.) not watch this movie, and instead watch the Terminator movies that actually have Arnold Schwarzenegger in them (I haven't actually seen the first three, but I have heard great things about them, except the third one which you also can avoid, although I'm guessing it's better than this one. Or b.) Rent it for a dollar at Hannaford. The one thing "Terminator Salvation" has going for it is the visual effects which actually really impressed me. Also, it's always good to see Helena Bonham Carter in movies. Other than that Christian Bale sounds like Batman throughout the movie and there a scene with a fake Arnold Schwarzenegger (his face is digitally added to a body double...and it is fake and horrible) Definitely not memorable.

Terminator: Salvation

Here's why Hollywood is so frustrating.

A couple guys like John Brancato and Michael Ferris can get into the system writing cheap action sequels like "Watchers 2" and "Bloodfist 2," somehow write one good script (the Michael Douglas starrer "The Game") and thereby earn themselves permanent future employment, even if that means foisting Terminator 3, Catwoman, and -- sigh -- Terminator: Salvation on an unsuspecting public.

According to recent Christian Bale interviews, "Dark Knight" writer Jonathan Nolan did significant rewrites based on Bale's input, essentially creating a role for John Connor that did not exist in the Brancato/Ferris draft (and thereby creating two separate protagonists, John Connor and Marcus Wright, which to my knowledge has never worked in the history of storytelling.)

Given that Terminator: Salvation was written by hacks, rewritten by its own movie star and directed by the man who gave us the Charlie's Angels movies, it should come as little surprise that it... is... terrible.

Where to start? Like "Star Trek" and every other recent time travel movie, the plot makes no sense at all. This is especially upsetting when Skynet, whose goal is the death of John Connor, gets ahold of Connor's dad Kyle Reese before Reese has even met Connor's mother (these things happen in time travel movies), and instead of killing said Reese, thereby wiping out Connor's very existence, Skynet elects to use Reese as BAIT to lure Connor to Skynet's headquarters, whereupon Skynet attempts to kill him.

And boy does Skynet do a poor job of it! After allowing Connor to sneak into its headquarters, Skynet springs its deadly trap -- which consists of a single T-800 Terminator. 

All throughout the movie we've seen more robots than you could possibly count, but suddenly, with Skynet's survival on the line, it can only muster a single defender. And of course if Connor can overcome that single Terminator, he will be free to blow up Skynet itself. That was the plan??? Skynet, I'm verrrrry disappointed.

But logical insanity is the least of Salvation's problems. Despite a cast jammed with familiar faces at every turn (Helena Bonham Carter, Bryce Dallas Howard, Michael Ironsides -- does it mean nothing that the franchise-spawning original Terminator was cast almost entirely with then-unknowns?) there are no characters to feel sympathy for, or even to believe.

The most egregious offender is the Moon Bloodgood character. Supposedly a resistance fighter in a desperate war, Bloodgood wears her hair long and luxurious, her spandex tight and stylish, and when she walks it is with the hip-swaying sexuality of a catwalk model. This is the world in the year 2018 -- not nearly as desperate and terrifying as we were led to believe.

Even Christian Bale's John Connor is underwhelming. The plot depends on the scattered forces of the resistance being devoted to Connor with an almost religious reverence, but the character never exhibits the charisma that would explain this phenomenon. Interestingly, James Cameron did more to establish Connor as a leader of men with a simple wordless walk down a corridor in T2, wherein wounded soldiers dragged themselves to their feet for the privilege of saluting the scar-faced Connor as he passed, than McG and Christian Bale do in T4's hour and fifty-five minute running time. (Subjective running time: four hours, twelve minutes.)

As always with sequels, what was once an ultimate threat is now a minor annoyance. Terminators are dispatched in T4 with all the ease of stormtroopers in a Star Wars movie. The terminators of T4 are bigger, louder and more numerous than ever before. Previously they were only scary and dangerous. What was Cameron thinking?

With its limp and pointless script, its overstuffed cast, its preference for CGI over suspense, for THX sound effects over character, McG takes the Terminator franchise perilously close to Michael Bay's Transformer territory.

For all practical purposes, you can probably consider the following score equally valid for T4 and the upcoming Transformers 2. That way we can all skip the latter. Now if only we had skipped the former...

SCORE:

How Accomplished: 21/100

How Much I Enjoyed: 14/100

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Terminator Salvation

We wouldn’t win a war against the machines. Most of us struggle with spreadsheets. Humans, at a bare minimum, need: food, shelter, sex and shoes. Machines just need a plug. And therein lies my basic problem with Terminator Salvation; no matter how sexy the human resistance might be, you’d have to bet on the robots. Like theTerminator franchise, they can multiply ad-infinitum. They don’t need motivation to fight, or an explanation as to why they do things. I picture the resistance: bursting for a piss, unsure whose side the lights are on in the toilets. That’s not a battle I’d want to fight.

If anyone was going to punch a killer robot in the face, it would be Christian Bale. He starts the new movie by landing a helicopter on a Terminator. He’s the leader of the human resistance. Don’t bother trying to remember the other Terminator movies. We’re at war with the machines. The world looks like Duran Duran’s Wild Boys video. Bale looks so intense you could light a match off his eyeballs. But he’s not the only brooding hunk in this post-apocalyptic sandbox. There’s also a newcomer, Sam Worthington, who’s just woken from a cryogenic sleep. Together, he and Bale must kick some metal ass. Problem is: one of them is a machine.

Christian Bale works well in a post-apocalyptic environment. You can understand, here, why he’s so intense. In our world, he comes off like one of those guys who play paintball too often. But if the world ended tomorrow, I figure Bale wouldn’t take long to adjust. He scarcely even blinks at anything that happens to him in Terminator Salvation: whether he’s meeting his future father (long story) or machine-gunning a legless android to pieces. Still, would anyone follow Christian Bale? Tough as he is, I have a hard time seeing him as a leader of men. Bale’s more like the guy in the platoon whom everyone is secretly scared of. Even when he’s urging compassion, he sounds like he wants to bash someone’s head in.

Bale’s resistance movement is made-up of models and rappers. It’s the sort of army that marches on shampoo. Everyone dresses like they’re in a Che Guevara look-a-like contest (they’re all fashionably bedraggled). When Sam Worthington meets a sexy fighter pilot from Bale’s army, she seems amazed that he can actually fight. Actress Moon Bloodgood (birthplace: Marvel Comics) sums up the rest of the resistance: intensely turned-on by war, great hair, not especially convincing as a soldier. Worthington looks sturdy next to these guys because they lack gravitas. He’s tough the way G.I. Joe looks tough because a six-year-old is holding him.

“Future war” is a pretty antiquated concept in Hollywood. The main thing holding Terminator Salvation back is the way it imagines 2018. Director McG is more influenced by Cyborg than he is by The Matrix: there’s no sense of what the machine intelligence is after once all the humans are wiped out. For one thing, why does a computer program need a headquarters? I know the movie-answer is: so something can blow up. But it’s endemic of McG’s approach that the machines’ HQ is a office block-cum-factory. What is it with the Terminator franchise and big finales where guys crawl over pipes?

James Cameron never showed the war against the machines because he knew that was the crappy part of the story. Terminator 1 & 2 are warnings, not preludes. Once nuclear bombs lay waste to the world, it doesn’t matter if Christian Bale blows up a radio telescope. Win or lose, the post-apocalyptic world is only fit for machines. That’s why we rooted for Linda Hamilton in the first two movies, because she was fighting against further sequels. We need a world where dinner reservations are possible. As Terminator Salvation proves, there needs to be more to life than being stalked by your PC.

I'll be...Bale???

What can I say about a movie directed by McG?  Was it horrible?  No.  Was it as good as the Dark Night or Live Free and Die Hard?  Not really.

It was what it was...almost 2 hours of pure escapism...and during the summer months, that's really all I want in a movie.  Sure, another Dark Knight would be fucking awesome, but how many Dark Knight's came before The Dark Knight?  Hell Batman Begins wasn't even at the level of The Dark Knight and Dark Knight was the nullem style="font-style: italic;"nullsequel!

Speaking of...and fucking idiot that I am, I just realized I was comparing Bale's 2009 summer blockbuster to Bale's 2008 blockbuster.  What a toolbox I am!  Anyway...

Let's have a little chat about the guy from Newsies.  Come on in, have a seat with me.  Right here.  That's it.  We'll have a little round table discussion.  Light some candles and let's talk about Bale.  Are you ready?  Are you calm?  This is important now.  Take a deep breath and breath out: "BAAAAAAAALE."  That good.  Ready?

WHAT THE FUCK IS UP WITH HIS VOICE!!!!

What is the gruff, edgy American accent bullshit thing he's doing.  Batman has it.  Now John Conner has it.  He's going to tear something if he keeps that shit up!  You know what?  I can't wait for Public Enemies this summer, because from what I can tell in the preview he's not doing that.  Ugh, it's SO annoying.

Before you start typing the comments (*cough* Heather Murphy Raymond *cough*), I'm not trashing the dude.  I personally like Patrick Bateman quite a lot.  I always look forward to his flicks...but it doesn't excuse the choices he's making lately with his voice.
Back to the movie...a few critic's are complaining about the time travel storyline (mostly because Star Trek the week before) but guess what guys, Terminator has ALWAYS been about time travel.  HELLO!

I didn't mind it and I followed it just fine...you will too.  It's very dumbed down time travel.

I'd recommend this flick to anyone...it's good times, McG did alright...kinda.  The CGI was better than fucking Wolverine (who SHOULD have a gruffy voice by the way...anyone got Jackman's number?  I'll tell him.)

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Last updated: 2010-02-16 10:02:12 by mfonseca

TERMINATOR SALVATION (2009)

BOTTOM LINE: “Terminator Salvation” manages to come close to re-creating the iconic action, style and mood of the first two Terminator films, but the logic gaps in the story knee-cap the film to the extreme, and Christian Bale’s take on John Connor is highly off-key.

THE GOOD: Having a Terminator film directed by McG sounded like sacrilege when it was first announced. To give him a credit, he has managed to create a film that infuses some thrilling action sequences that re-establish the non-stop threat that machines as a force will never stop hunting humans, a threat which was lost in the last film. Whenever any of the characters go up against the machines, you really feel how lethal they are, with two standout sequences coming to mind: the opening scene where John Connor (Bale) fights a T600 in a desert location and his fight with the newly constructed T800 (with Arnie’s face brilliantly pasted on top for continuity – very cool!). There is an attempt in this story to amp up the intrigue with the Marcus Wright character, played by Sam Worthington who is essentially the core of the film. Worthington delivers an amazingly emotional, yet very physical performance and has the most to work with. Who is Wright? Where did he come from? Why is he so tough? His storyline makes the film worth watching as it comes to reveal Skynet’s devious plan to infiltrate the resistance, only to have it backfire when Wright decides, as a machine with a heart, that he would rather save Connor and his band than re-engage with Skynet. With Wright’s storyline and the thrilling action, the film is quite watchable and entertaining, much more so than T3 which did not have a mood or an atmosphere to it that this film has in spades. The war between humans and machines, as depicted in flashback-style sequences in the previous films, is wonderfully realised visually in this film, and McG deserves some credit for that. “Terminator Salvation” also has a lot of nice homages to the previous films.

THE BAD: The problems with this film start when you analyse its story and how it fits in to this franchise of films. The whole point of the Terminator story is that Skynet wants to kill John Connor, thus removing the leader of the human resistance and as such, the resistance will fall. This film continues this story, however, there is a major problem in logic in the story presented here; either that or Skynet is actually quite stupid. Skynet identifies Kyle Reese (Anton Yelchin) as Connor’s father early on, and manages to capture him as one of its top targets. Skynet then uses Reese as bate to lure Connor to its main base where Skynet can kill both of them. The glaring question of course is, if Skynet kills Reese straight away before Connor sends him back in time, Connor does not exist. Why waste time using him as bait? It would appear Skynet is stupid, but on the other hand, Skynet is clever enough in luring the resistance leadership in to a death trap using a false signal that appears to disable the machines. Another issue is the climax; the story establishes Skynet’s headquarters in San Francisco and through an ad-hoc plan in the film’s final act, Connor manages to blow up the entire facility. Yet the last shot of the film sees Connor and his team flying off in helicopters, announcing that the fight with Skynet continues as the machines are global, and thus the franchise can continue. If they destroyed Skynet’s main facility, a point described early on in the film as a way to end the war, why is there more fighting to be done by the end of the story? These logic gaps in effect destroy the credibility of the story, which is a shame because the action is very well done. One other point of contention is Christian Bale’s take on John Connor; he does not seem to play him in the same spirit as Edward Furlong from T2 or Nick Stahl from T3. He looks bored, blank and wooden most of the time, with the occasional moment where he screams at the resistance leadership. The character is a tough smart-ass; Bale plays Connor as tough, but with no life or fun in him, despite the apocalyptic conditions he finds himself in.

RATING: 6.5/10

Todd Murphy <br />
http://www.allaboutmovies.net

Terminator Salvation

Plot:  Judgment Day has come and gone.  The year is 2018.  John Connor strives to live up to his destiny in leading the human race against the machines in this Terminator sequel.

When I first heard about this sequel, my reaction was “whatever.”  It’s not that I hated 2003’s Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines…it’s just that I lost interest in this story.  All three Terminator movies are the same!  A Terminator comes back from the future to kill John Connor while someone else tries to protect him.  When I heard that Terminator Salvation was actually about the post-apocalyptic war that had always been hinted at, I was skeptical.  Seeing the robot war for a minute in the other films made it legendary and interesting.  Seeing it as a whole movie worried me a great deal.  My basic conclusion after watching Salvation though is this – the action scenes are absolutely incredible, and that kept me satisfied.

Let’s face it.  There will never be another Terminator as good as the two James Cameron films.  Get over it.  Because this one was about a war, it didn’t have that one on one conflict that made the other movies so endearing.  What Salvation does have though are action sequences that are equal to the previous entries and at times even better.  Of course every Terminator flick has to have its customary car chase where everything gets destroyed.  Honestly, the chase in this one might have been my favorite in all the movies. 

I was really impressed with the direction and effects.  Everything looked pretty good.  It didn’t look fake which is of course a big problem when using a lot of CG.  One of the most important elements in a Terminator movie is of course the robot effects.  Except in this one its importance is elevated 800% because it actually centers on the robot war.  And I have to say, all the robots here look fantastic.  They are terrifying and bad ass, which is the point.

The worst parts about Salvation are the supporting characters.  They are bland, predictable, and I just didn’t care about them.  I’m talking about people like the General of the resistance played by Michael Ironside.  Oh hey, do you think John Connor is going to argue with him a lot and undermine his authority through out the movie and the General is going to try and be a real hard ass!  Yea, we haven’t seen that a hundred times.  Also, Bryce Dallas Howard plays Kate Connor, John’s wife, and she is forgettable.  She’s supposed to be important but she just felt really forced here.  The two most important characters (John Connor and Marcus Wright) are very well developed though.  Christian Bale always brings intensity and is great once again.  I actually wanted to see more of John Connor.  There are long periods of time he’s not present.  Marcus Wright (Sam Worthington) is also a very intriguing character, but I can’t really go into his role without giving too much away.  I can honestly say though he keeps up with Bale’s intensity and the two work very well together.  The problem is these are the only interesting characters.

Bottom line: If you love action movies, this will be heaven.  I can’t stress that enough.  It doesn’t have the character development the first two Terminator movies had, but it’s better than the third one.  The last 20 minutes or so are just outstanding, and it gets you pumped for the next one.  That’s also a flaw with all these Terminator movies.  Nothing is every truly resolved.  I feel like we will never get to the end of this series.  Regardless though, I would check Salvation out.  The absolute best part of the movie though I don’t want to spoil, but when it happens, it’s pretty damn cool.   

Rating: 7.0 out of 10 

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Last updated: 2010-02-01 18:37:30 by danjewish

Movie Review: Terminator Salvation (2009)

I went to see Terminator Salvation with reasonable (albeit guarded) expectations, but the film absolutely exceeded them.  In my humble opinion, it’s the second best film (out of four) of the great Terminator franchise.  Bearing in mind that I thought Terminator 2: Judgment Day was one of the best action movies and sequels of all time, that’s a pretty big compliment for the new film directed by McG and starring Christian Bale and Sam Worthington.

As per usual, I’ll keep plot details to an absolute minimum.  All that needs to be said is that the story revolves around a grown-up John Connor (Christian Bale, or Edward Furlong from T2 and Nick Stahl from T3).  If you’ve seen the previous 3 films or have a vague idea what they are about, then no further explanation is necessary.

However, you don’t need to have seen any of the previous Terminator films to appreciate this one.  It stands up well as an independent feature, and is significantly different in style to its predecessors.  It’s substantially more dark, grim and gritty, capturing the pessimistic mood of the world perfectly.  But when it comes to action sequences, of which Terminator Salvation has plenty, it doesn’t do too shabbily when judged under the high standards set by the franchise.

While I said the story revolves around John Connor, the movie really belongs to new character Markus Wright, played by Aussie Sam Worthington (who will be appearing in Avatar later this year and will play Perseus in the remake of Clash of the Titans).  Worthington is arguably the lead character of the film, and shares just as much as screen time as (if not more than) Bale – and he has the more interesting story.  This is the second time in a row Bale has been relegated to second fiddle despite being the supposed ‘lead character’ for a major film (the first, of course, is when Heath Ledger’s Joker upstaged his Batman in The Dark Knight).  Maybe that’s the real reason Bale went American Psycho on the set!

While Bale and Worthington hog most of the minutes, Anton Yelchin absolutely steals the show as a young Kyle Reese.  He is terrific in this role, and I have become a big fan.  Also solid is Moon Bloodgood, a Resistance soldier, and Jadagrace Berry, too cute for her own good.  Michael Ironside grunts his way through the film for his paycheck, but it is Bryce Dallas Howard that has the most thankless role as as Kate Connor.  She really got short changed.

When people hear a guy named McG directed the film (you may remember him from such films as Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle), they cringe and refuse to give it a chance.  Poor guy, but that’s the nickname he was given from birth because too many relatives had the same names (real name: Joseph McGinty Nichol).  However, McG does a splendid job in Terminator Salvation, creating a realistic, believable world, keeping the action thrilling and dynamic (with creative camera angles and movements), while managing to add in some cool homages to the previous films.  I thought they were cool anyway.

The special effects were superb, but audiences don’t expect anything less than seamless these days.  Although there were some highly creative sequences, none of them were as iconic as those from T1 or T2.

I was surprised how relatively little fanfare accompanied the release of this movie, which was the first in the franchise without Governor Schwarzenegger in the lead.  I’m not sure if it was because I was hidden from the world during my studies, but to me, Terminator Salvation had none of the hype that surrounded the release of other recent major films such as Star Trek or Angels & Demons.  Of course, there was that infamous psychotic Christian Bale rant on set that made headlines all around the world, but I don’t believe it had anything to do with the unexpected low-keyness of it all.  Then again, that didn’t stop the early reviewers of the film from spoiling the many wonderful surprises in this underrated blockbuster (if you haven’t seen it yet, dear reader, then I hope you had more success than me in avoiding them).

Okay, now the verdict.  In my opinion, it’s better than a 4-star film, but not quite good enough to warrant 4.5 stars.  Hence, I will have to settle for 4.25 stars out of 5!

PJM

Last updated: 2010-01-06 22:40:54 by user04

Terminator Salvation

The Terminator is back. I have not seen the prequels but I enjoy the movie nonetheless.

You could say I’m unprofessional but I admit I’m having a hard time reviewing this. Why? Because I did not pay 100% attention to the film. Why? Because I was way too mesmerised by Marcus Wright! The role is played by Sam Worthington, an Australian actor born in 1976. He has acted in numerous Oz flicks such as Macbeth (2006), Fink! (2005), etc but I believe Terminator Salavation is his most commercialized movie to date. I wonder what took it so long for him to be spotted? He’s Hot! Lol.



Ok, let’s get serious.

Marcus Wright is on death row. Before he faces execution, Dr Serene Kogan (Helena Bonham Carter) convinces him to donate his body parts for a good cause as a second chance. He signs the paper but he doesn’t realise what he is in for.

Now in the year 2018, the legendary John Connor (Christian Bale) is the leader of resistance group fighting against machines. After fighting what seems like a losing battle, the resistance finally finds solution to shut down the machines and they devise a plan to destroy Skynet, the machines headquarter. The problem is they have to find Kyle Reese  (Anton Yelchin) who is held captive in Skynet. Kyle Reese is actually John Connor’s father… I can’t give much info here because I haven’t seen the prequels, therefore do not know about the exposition. Anyway, Kyle Reese is a key player and the only way to find him is through Marcus Dwight who has been turned into a robot with human heart. John Connor has to make the decision, whether or not to trust Marcus. But how did Marcus survived in the first place?

I must really, really apologise if I didn’t do a good job at giving insight to the storyline. But if you can trust me, I say the movie is alright.  The story is predictable but very decent. The abrupt ending is not so glamourous, leaving  a wide opening for next installment but I’ve seen that coming. On the good side, it caters for everyone; For guys, it’s the actions. For ladies, it’s the hottie. lol.

Mel says: 7/10

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Last updated: 2009-08-11 19:50:07 by popcornaday