Set in 2018 we flash forward to the World today. Judgment day is behind us and we are all in peril. With the one prophet predicted, John Connor (Christian Bale), can he save all mankind? In “Terminator Salvation” the Terminators are mounting their numbers of humans, by capturing and killing, eventually routing them to their headquarters at Skynet. Small groups of survivors are determined to fight back and take back their land. These groups are known as The Resistance. When Connor feels his camp has been infiltrated by the enemy he begins to question his destiny and the chance at victory.
Marcus Wright (Sam Worthington) thought he had faced his toughest challenge by being on death row. Finding his true task when he is brought to Connor’s camp and discovers he has been re-manufactured as a Terminator, with a heart. Not only is he half-man/half-machine but any memory explaining his predicament has been erased. Connor finds it hard to trust Marcus, but he has to in order to protect the future. As the pair begins to work together to destroy Skynet we are left pondering what the future holds for all humans and how many more Terminators will need to be annihilated.
“Terminator Salvation” contains great action and captures the original predication of Judgment Day precisely, but overall the entire product was disappointing. Christian Bale fails to evoke any audience admiration. Despite his temper heard aloud through the media, which does not help matters, his emotionless portrayal of Connor was troubling. Connor did grow up, but not as the man we would expect him to become. The child we once knew who had a tender spot for the machines has somehow morphed into a dark angered man lacking compassion for all. Bale’s performance is upstaged by the new terminator, Sam Worthington (Marcus), half-human/half-machine. His performance as the lost soul with a second chance is sure to catapult his career. As for the direction by McG I did not know what to expect, but found a little too much of a bomb factor for my fancy. Lessons need to be learned that once a story has reached its true potential, please leave it alone and don’t ruin its success with an embarrassing attempt of upstaging it for a quick buck. If you are looking for something positive from the “Terminator Salvation”, look for Arnold Schwarzenegger’s computer generated re-birth. Skip to the end and save yourself the one hour viewing time. Nothing gets resolved, nothing is terminated and if anything is discovered it is just how rotten this film is.
If you attended the advance screening please share your thoughts.
3 Comments
First off, thanks for the chance to see the film tonight, Jo!
As a fan of the Terminator franchise, I thought the movie was a major missed opportunity. It would seem that there is a new zest in Hollywood for franchise reboots. These reboots have led to movies that, in many cases, outdo their predecessors — Batman, Transformers, and Star Trek, to name a few. Great reinterpretations. Unfortunately, Terminator Salvation doesn’t take the same creative license. Instead it just steals from other movies.
The future was exactly like we’d expect it to be from Terminator “prophecies” we’d seen in other movies. No surprises there. The plot and the general feel of the human costumes and quarters seemed like they’d been ripped from a never-produced 4th Maxtrix movie. The giant machines (while eye-popping) can be compared to the Autobots in Transformers and, in this viewer’s opinion, were just “as good” as those robots. Not better. And let’s remember that Transformers came out two years ago.
Perhaps my biggest disappointment with the movie stems from the fact that it didn’t advance the overall Terminator story line. It was merely one battle that took place. We don’t find out how the story ends. We don’t find out if the humans win. We really don’t find out anything new at all. We’re not even left with a cliffhanger. It’s really as if the film’s creators had some great action scenes that that they wanted to fit into a movie. So they decided that Terminator was a good setting for their action scenes, and they wrote a movie around them.
Nitpick alert!
– The robot guy had inconsistent strength. One minute he’s barely fighting off humans, the next he’s breaking the head off a Terminator.
– So many plot-advancing scenes were WAY too fast.
– Why didn’t SkyNet send more than one Terminator??
– Why didn’t SkyNet turn the turrets back on to blow up the helicopter that was hanging out outside the building for like 30 minutes??
– And what’s with the title? Salvation of what?
Ok I’ll stop.
Terminator Salvation: Terminator + Transformers + The Matrix + Waterworld + Halo
Terminator delivers to a large and diverse demographic.
High octane action!
Breathtaking CG!
Even some emotionally charged performances.
Along with some added details…for us Terminator geeks.
only intriguing part of this movie was the 4 to 6 characters standing behind the glass at skynet, who wher looking down at the captured humans (where they cyborgs or humans or aliens???)……other then that it was a shet movie