Terminator: Salvation - Review
The film is set in 2018 - a post-apocalyptic future several years after ‘Judgment Day’. The director McG never lets you forget that this is a ‘war movie’. There are several times that it feels more like Platoon than a science fiction film. There’s no time traveling in this one, the story focusing only on the Resistance fighters battling Skynet.
There’s been a lot of talk about the director McG not doing a good job on this, and also doubts that his vision for the franchise would work. I disagree. I rather like the way (most) of the movie was filmed, and the action is done well.
For much of the movie I honestly felt like I was watching “Call of Duty 4: The Motion Picture”. The war scenes are over the top and feel more like a video game than a film. This may be distracting to some viewers. That being said, there's a spectacular helicopter scene early in the film that was shot VERY well, and actually made me say, “Wow, that’s a really cool shot!”
The film for the most part is done well and seems to get progressively better. I remember ‘Terminator 2’ being a non-stop adrenaline rush. That doesn’t really happen in this movie. As interesting as some of the action scenes were, I never really got “ pulled in” to the movie the way that I would have liked. There were also several scenes with no score, so those parts started to feel kinda boring. (Boring is a state that a terminator movie should NEVER get to).
The main fault with the movie is the script. Unlike the recent Star Trek film (see here : [link] ) which had a FANTASTIC script, the story here barely holds things together. There are inconsistencies in the universe as well. One part of the city is safe, while another is not, and it’s never explained why. For a major part of the movie I found myself saying, “Wow…they have a LOT of explaining to do for this to make sense by the end.” And, wouldn’t you know it…they explain it all in one LONG scene. We get it. Move on. I personally would have preferred for it to be slowly revealed throughout the course of the film.
The ideas presented were fine. I just thought the execution wasn’t at all elegant. There are several things that I left the theatre pondering:
1. Why is Skynet collecting people instead of just killing them? They’re TERMINATORS not ‘transporters’.
2. Why are the women so pretty in this movie? Sarah Conner had a simple ponytail, blue jeans and a leather jacket. That’s it. You know why? Because this is war! It may be a small thing, but the illusion is ruined to me when in the middle of a war zone ladies walk around with makeup and styled/curled hair.
3. Why does the technology seem so ‘blah’? It’s kinda disappointing overall. There’s even a point in the movie when someone uses a USB drive. WHAT?! I thought this was the future. Ya know…sci-fi…with technology that I haven’t seen yet and stuff.
4. Christian Bale is by far the best actor in this movie. However, even his commitment to the role can’t save this film from feeling (as a friend of mine put it) “extremely average”.
5. I wanted to see new, cool stuff. Something I haven’t seen before. When the liquid metal Terminator (T-1000) was revealed in 1991, it was revolutionary. There’s nothing like that in this film. What we get are a few huge mechs and (I’m not making this up) “Terminator-Bikes”. I kid you not. See below:
Overall, it was an alright film, but not really worthy of note. I realize now that the only reason I went to see it was because of Christian Bale (who rocks!) Director McG has stated that Terminator: Salvation is the first movie in a new trilogy to revive the franchise. Let’s hope the following films will be better than this one.
Final Verdict: C
What do YOU think? Agree? Disagree? Let me know!
Well, that’s all for not. Much love!
Mike Crichlow
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Devious Comments
That said, isn't it hilarious how the angry eyebrow ridges of the robots keep getting more and more angry looking? In another two movies, they'll all just have a Clint Eastwood angry squint going on.
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Let no one rob you of that powerful motivational force known as vision...seeing not only what is...but what can be.
I agree when you said something like:
'back then, they made the liquid terminator (the mercury type) - it was revolutionary, and now they have terminator bikes.. "
i guess they were lost in the timeline.
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'why do we need another terminator? i mean i just dont get it'
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The Hidden Apple Ninja
The tech isn't as advanced yet because it's only 15 years into the future from the point when Skynet goes active (this changed the original storyline, so the events in T2 must have changed this). So the tech we have now would probably be the same tech they would have fifteen years later.
Skynet hadn't developed the newer terminators. Remember the action at the beginning showed that the T-800s were just starting production.
I had additional problems with the story, though. Marcus wanders around not knowing about Judgment Day or the terminators. No one found this terribly suspicious.
Skynet develops just one of Marcus's type of terminator for the mission. Why? Skynet so far has not shown any indication to do things on the small scale. Shouldn't there have been far more of these?
The "signal" was developed to track the resistance, but it still turned off Skynet machines. If it takes a strong signal to disable the technology for Skynet, then how was the HK above the ocean's waters able to track down the resistance's sub to destroy it?
Kyle states that the difference between humans and machines is that the humans bury their dead, but that no one will bury Marcus if he leaves to go to Skynet. After everything that happens, there is no followup to this scene. Shouldn't there have been a quick shot where Marcus was buried?
As you said, terminators are collecting humans instead of killing them. But more surprising, in Skynet there are fully functional prison cells. Why would Skynet have built these at all? If the mission of collecting the humans was to draw out John Connor, what was the purpose of putting in the time to build the prison cells? Corralling the humans would have still drawn out John Connor.
The T-800 shuts down in T2 when he is lowered into the molten steel. He says that he would be destroyed in the liquid. Yet in this movie, not only does the T-800 survive the molten steel, but he is unscathed. Skynet would not have known of the destruction of the T-800 sent back in T2. The T-800 in this film was one of the first. So how could this one survive and the one sent back in T2 know he would be destroyed?
It is leagues ahead of T3. This movie heavily referenced the first two films. It continued the idea of "Skynet goes after a target to stop John Connor from leading the resistance." But there were too many things that didn't make sense or didn't fit continuity.
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1. In the first movie, Kyle Reese talks about how the Terminators gathered humans and used them to bury and eliminate the humans. Think of it as morale degrading as well as terminating you in the process. Two birds, one stone.
2. You're kind of right about that one...
3. Nuclear Wars ruin your whole day! EMP destroys most of the stuff that you were developing, then you have the war with machines that can stifle a lot of progress. You know, because the government, ain't around any more to fund those little projects. And Skynet got most of the cool stuff anyway.
4. I can't agree with you, his acting was boring, plain. Sam Worthington was bad ass and hopefully they find a way to bring him back in the next film.
5. They brought back ARNOLD when he was slated to appear in the film.
Good enough for me.
I found it almost as Star Trek, I enjoyed it and I will see it again, reminded me of the Judgment Day, and it will tank higher than Terminator 3...
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"Non-violence is the first article of my faith. It is also the last article of my creed."
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Let no one rob you of that powerful motivational force known as vision...seeing not only what is...but what can be.
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