Hello there. I know this blog is pretty empty, but I’m going to post my Terminator: Salvation review here because I think the review cannot be judged in 140 characters through my twitter account. Plus, one of my colleagues is already writing his review on WeAreMovieGeeks.com. So, that brings this review here…..read on.
Let me first start off with saying I’m a huge Terminator fan. T2 really spoke to me. I saw it at a 10pm showing at the old Ronnie’s 8 Cine here in St. Louis with my grandmother. It was a magical night. Sadly, Terminator 3 didn’t live up to my expectations. Schwarzenegger was reprising his role, which added a little bit of charm, but it really felt phoned in. Stahl, who I love, wasn’t John Connor. Clare Daines was useless and the new terminator model was…well…not menacing.
Terminator: Salvation stars Sam Worthington. Yeah, you may believe Bale is the headliner and while I agree he should share that top billing with Worthington, the story isn’t about John Connor. John Connor is not the John Connor we thought he would be…yet. He is doubted by some as being a false prophet, but a good soldier. The Resistance in this film is portrayed as not a bunch of ragtag ordinary people using military tactics & strategies to try to fight Skynet, but seem to know how to execute operations & missions like they used to be ex-military. Since they have had 14 years since Judgement Day (based on Terminator 3′s Judgement Day date of July 2004), they might have had training courses on how to be efficient in their military execution…who knows.
We are introduced to a character named Marcus Wright, who used to be a convicted killer back in 2003 and donated his body to Cyberdyne, as he rises from the mud & earth screaming to the sky. I assume he was cold & didn’t know where he was and that is why he was screaming, plus…it was raining & the man was naked. Wright progresses on across barren landscape to meet up with a teenage Kyle Reese (yes, that guy. You know…John Connor’s father. You better remember this because McG doesn’t tell you this story again) & his kid sidekick in what used to be Hollywood, CA. After battling off a T-600 (a newly introduced model to fans), they hear John Connor’s broadcast over a radio and decide to leave the L.A. branch of the Resistance- which only consists of Reese and the kid, well and an ill-fated character to which Wright grabbed his coat from – and trek onto find John Connor and meet up with where the Resistance’s home base seems to be.
The best way to watch Terminator: Salvation is with low to medium expectations (not applicable for Terminator fans) & the absence of seeing the trailer already (again, not applicable for Terminator fans and highly unlikely for filmgoers). The writers of the film are to busy trying to set up action pieces for McG to direct – which he does really well – and litter the filler with trying to piece the characters together and how they relate to the each other or how they will relate to each other with the memory of the past films. Since most of the action set pieces were shown in the trailer, along with most of the new Terminator models, this new film becomes pretty predictable.
McG’s Terminator lacks the intelligence & substance of what made Cameron’s Terminator films still memorable. James Cameron used the first Terminator film as a building block to expand on the story & history of Skynet & The War against the Machines while creating one of the most entertaining films in modern history with Terminator 2. However, Cameron spoiled me. Now, I expect everything in the Terminator universe to be on par with T2. The cast is underused – especially Bale. Worthington pulls out an good performance. He portrays Wright as a morally conflicted being & we as an audience get that. He also communicates a certain charm that somewhat borrows from Schwarzenegger’s T2 persona in scenes like violently pushing Reese out of the driver’s seat of a getaway Jeep after a chase sequence. What really irked me was that the last 30 minutes almost redeemed the whole film. A clever delivery is made via Helena Bonham Carter towards Wright plus a moment where the audience, presuming you are seeing this in the theatres, will probably go nuts over (applause broke out at the screening). The only thing that would warrant repeat viewings of this film, and I heard other attendees discussing this in the lobby, is to try to figure out what scene Bale went apeshit on the DP on (relating to the Bale/Hurlbut sound clip). Terminator: Salvation’s highlights still rely on what Cameron laid down in T1 & T2. While Salvation is an entertaining ride, it is still a ride. Once the film is done, it is something you won’t remember.
[Overall: 2.5 out of 5 - a rental or a cheap matinee - nothing to spend over $6 for]
Andy Triefenbach is a contributor to WE ARE MOVIE GEEKS & is the host and creator of the DESTROY THE BRAIN podcast.
