TERMINATOR SALVATION Review
5:18pm, May 22, 2009
I don't know why Terminator 3 has such a bad rep these days. I don't recall the hatred when it came out in 2003. Maybe because "The Dark Knight" himself got involved with Terminator Salvation, everyone assumed that the film would be of equal quality and just started dumping on Jonathan Mostow's film ahead of time? At any rate, hopefully now that Salvation has really stunk up the franchise, Rise of the Machines will get a 2nd appraisal.
Ordinarily a review would kick off with a plot synopsis, but there is no discernible plot in this movie. Everything that happens in Salvation is dictated by something else that happened in the movie; there is no real kickoff to anything. It's during the war against the machines, and the good guys... want to destroy Skynet. That's about it. They took a vague overreaching plot thread and made it the sole storyline of the film. There's also the story of Marcus (Sam Worthington), who in 2003 was on death row and has donated his body to Cyberdyne Research. He wakes up in 2018, looking the same and possessing some serious fighting skills. And yet, for some reason, they spend the next hour trying to hide the fact that he's a terminator.
And that's just one of the many issues in this movie that scream "SCRIPT REWRITES". We all know that blockbuster movies get rewritten as they are being shot, but it's rarely been as obvious as it is here. The biggest red mark is that the character of John Connor could be removed from the film entirely and it would have no difference on anything. This is readily apparent in the Marcus-centric middle act of the film, when Connor's entire role is limited to shouting things over a radio from a control room somewhere. Even in the big finale, he doesn't really do much; what little he accomplishes could have easily been done by Marcus.
Oh yeah, remember when Bale freaked out on the set and later said that it was because it was during a really emotional scene? There is no emotional scene in this movie, so either he's a liar or they cut stuff like that out.
(WARNING - MASSIVE SPOILERS AHEAD)
The finale is also where the dumbest of all dumb plot holes rears its ugly head. Skynet kidnaps Kyle Reese (Anton Yelchin, the best thing about the movie) along with a whole bunch of other humans - the terminators in this film never actually terminate anyone - because they KNOW that John Connor will come for him, and then they can finally kill their arch-nemesis. OK, well if they KNOW Connor will come for Reese, then they must know WHY Connor would hold Reese in such high regard, right? i.e. that he is Connor's father? So wouldn't it make a fuck of a lot more sense for them to just kill Reese and prevent John from ever existing?
But that would require some element of time travel, which this film eschews entirely. On the plus side, that means we never have to see any naked men walking into bars, but it gives the film a whole lot of plot holes and entirely unaddressed issues. The series as a whole always suffered from a loophole in the time travel narrative (if Connor sent Reese back to protect his mother (and in the process create him), how would he have been there in the first place?), but the other 3 films at least had compelling storylines and well-drawn characters to keep your mind off of such matters. Not the case here.
(END SPOILERS)
Also, it remains to be seen why Connor is the destined savior of humanity. Is it because he has been told as much since he was born? Is it because he knows he's a movie character with the initials "J.C." and thus has to take on some sort of Christ metaphor? Fuck if McG and his army of writers bother to explain it. In the film, Connor shoots some terminators and yells a lot, and that's about it. He also became British at some point after Judgment Day and lost all of his sense of humor and snarkiness (the closest he gets to displaying any sort of personality in the entire film is when he puts on "You Could Be Mine" on a boombox as he sets a trap for a terminator). Then again, Bale would have that same morose look on his face even if he was doing a shot for shot remake of Ace Ventura, so who the hell knows if this was intentional or just a result of casting the least fun actor of all time in the role.
Anything good? Well, the action scenes are well-constructed, the new terminators (Harvesters, i believe) are exciting, and both Worthington and Yelchin deliver good performances despite a shit script. If this was the newest Cyborg film, it would be hailed as a classic. But the Terminator films (even the 3rd one, whether you like the film or not) always delivered these things AND a good story with meaty characters, plus some minor thought-provoking stuff (fate, destiny, etc).
In the end, I feel the same way I did about Live Free or Die Hard; yeah, sure, it works as a generic action movie - but the series thus far hasn't BEEN generic. But worse, it simply has no identity - it's the type of sequel/prequel that requires having seen the other films, but at the same time, insults those fans with its laziness. Christ, if you're going to cater to a non-discerning audience, make sure they can at least follow what passes for its story.
Score 4/10
User Comments
 | ZaceryNova 2:26am, May 23, 2009
No male nudity? So what's the point in watching it then...? |
 | bangor09 2:36am, May 23, 2009
Well, I for one, really liked T3, I dunno why all the haters all of the sudden, as for this one... I still have to see it, let you know later.... |
 | Metlhed 9:01am, May 23, 2009
I liked it. |
 | flesheater123 2:32pm, May 23, 2009
Are you sure you watched the same movie as me and everybody else that loved it. I am begining to wonder NO. This movie is everything a summer movie should be, it was just fuckin amazing. It was a much different approach instead of just terminators coming back and back and back and back. That gets reallllllllly lame. |
 | Acathla 3:31pm, May 23, 2009
Just got back from this. It was so awesome!! I love all of the Terminator movies and this was just great. Can't wait for the next. |
 | JJWuniverse 8:32pm, May 23, 2009
I really liked it, especially the last "Major" termenator he faced.
Although I do have to say this. I wasn't really amped up to see this at first. But then I read the novel, "From the Ashes," which took place right the events in the movie and found that it would have been the better of the two. They should have shot "From the Ashes" and then "Salvation" be the sequel.
Look at it this way....Star Wars 4-6 was the story of Luke Skywalker. 1-3 the story of Anakin Skywalker.
Terminator 1-3 was the story of Sarah and Jon Conner. 4-6 SHOULD be the story of Kyle....plain and simple.
Still really good flick!! |
 | JGrayland 2:48am, May 24, 2009
flesheater - I didn't mind taking a different approach... another film of them trying to kill Connor in the past would have been dumb. I just didn't find what they were replacing it with nearly as compelling. |
| Dream Master08 1:10pm, May 24, 2009
I think the major problem with this movie is that the audiences weren't ready for it. Here you have a plot set in the future of a war ravaged world, and all critics can talk about is how the movie isn't fun. THAT'S THE POINT!!! I don't think there is anyone that is in hell that is enjoying themselves, those people in that movie were close to it. Imagine being a movie star, a CEO, or just happy with your life, and suddenly the world ends. Not by God, but by an Army of machines. What do you have to live for???
Bale played the role well. Angry and hardened is what he should be. These machines killed his father, tried to kill his mother, and even tried to kill him and his wife. He's rough and rugged because they made him that way.
Moving on... The movie didn't have any sit down cry/talk drama. This is to add a since of urgency in my opinion. It conveys the idea that he characters need to stay on their feet and alert at all times. Who would sit around waiting for their demise? The first 3 films were different because the characters were not surrounded by an on going threat. Once they escaped the Terminator, they were allowed a few minutes of peace. In this film, even though they are secluded from the Robots in certain places at certain times, they were all still on edge (except for Wright and Blair). We know whats goin on we've seen the other films and even if you haven't, it referenced to at several times during the film. What would have worked better for the sake of establishing who exactly the hero is (Spoiler coming) would have been if John Conner would have rescued wright from the basement of the place, and they became alias that way, in the same since that T2 and T3 did; and allowed him to discover where his father was, some other way.
Another thing I heard critics complain about is that the film offers nothing to contribute to the Terminator saga. I disagree. This film adds a lot to the series in that it changes the game completely. In the film John Connor even admits to being unprepared for what they are currently facing. Steps that had been taking in the past, events that have occur, that should not have or vice versa, as a result to of the war, the time traveling machines etc. have changed the current future. That is the message behind this movie. It also contributes the fact that the war will change with the creation on the Wright model Terminators. This adds to the already dark, gloomy, and dim era in which they currently live.
What really works for the film I believe is the atmosphere where the film takes place. It is the epitome of apocalyptic, broken bridges, damaged cars, etc. The variety of machines was also something to marvel at, especially the Arnold one. The T-600's scared the hell out of me.
In the next film I think the major challenge will be creating a since of survival amongst the characters, not physical but emotional. Even though there weren't a lot here, it still worked, in the next one the crisis has been adverted, and the characters can begin to relax a little. PS. I hope they bring Arnold back. |
 | slipknot611 1:32pm, May 28, 2009
Liked it. Seriously. Plot holes and all. The whole movie, once I thought about it afterward, was nothing more than a way to tell you something you'd forgotten you already knew (the Infiltrator model terminators were introduced way back in the first movie, after all). The first 45 minutes or so were pretty forgettable, tbh, and that's a cardinal sin for a summer movie. But yeah, wasn't TOO bad. And I liked the whole interplay between Marcus and Skynet (which finally got a face applied to it after all these years). There were some flaws in the movie, to be sure, but overall, they didn't destroy the franchise. Oh yeah, I watched T3 to get amped up for this one and gotta say it: outside of the painfully bad Arnold one-liners, the movie was decent. The whole thing ties pretty nicely into the TV series as well.
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